Jerry Jenkins, Co-author of the Left Behind Series, on How Learning to Tell Good Stories Improves Sermons

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October 22, 2020

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Jerry Jenkins has been a professional writer for over 50 years. He’s written more than 185 books across several genres and his writing has also appeared in magazines like TIME, Reader’s Digest, Parade, and many others.

Big Questions:

A lot of people don’t realize that Left behind was your 125th book. How did your early writing career prepare you to write Left Behind?

Is there anything you would change about the Left Behind series?

What are some writing tricks pastors can use to improve their storytelling?

Do you have a writing routine? Rhythms you do the same way every time?

How do busy leaders make time for writing?

Who are some of your favorite authors to read?

Tweetables:

[Tweet “It’s not too much different to tell a story through speaking or writing.”]

[Tweet “Every time you narrow a story, it gets better.”]

[Tweet “If the writer loses interest, the reader will lose interest ten times as fast.”]

[Tweet “Like all other gifts, you need to be called and trained to write well.”]

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Pastoring Through a Contested Election: A Kenyan Perspective

By

Ken Mbugua

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October 22, 2020

Since I’m about to talk about a topic as precious to us as politics, allow me to make a clarification as I begin. Contrary to popular opinion—perhaps even including that of the editors of this article—this is not the African perspective, nor is it the Kenyan perspective. In fact, what I’m about to say might not even be the perspective of the members of our congregation. I’m simply sharing one pastor’s best efforts to lead his congregation through a season of political turmoil and a contested election. So draw any counsel you might from the words below with caution. This is simply what Ken from Kenya thinks; Africa has not approved this message.

I’m yet to witness a Kenyan election that was not contested, save the General Elections of 2002 where we all got what we wanted: the ousting of the incumbent who had ruled for 24 years and the installment of a coalition government which we all believed would usher in the kingdom. Five years later, the elections were bitterly contested, and the country stratified yet again along tribal lines. Promises were broken, alliances were redrawn, and lives were lost. Beaming optimism devolved into bitter cynicism. The evil of our tribalism that we had managed to domesticate so well and for so long violently erupted into our society in all of its grotesque ugliness.

THIS IS US

Sadly, this affected our church.

Unkind, evil words were spoken with conviction by professing believers on both sides of the divide. Words were scrutinized, motives were judged, opinions were dichotomized, and the options were tyrannically simplified. Members displayed little empathy for one another.

So what did we do? We confessed our sins in our corporate prayer. We confessed not as tribalistic units but as united sinners who have been brought together through the blood of Jesus.

We also sought to interpret the state of our country primarily through our doctrine of sin. Our division as a nation was the surest evidence of our “division” from God. Our countrymen hated each other because they were haters of God. The nastiness in our national politics embarrassingly exposed our nastiness as humanity, reminding us that we’re all self-destroying rebels who cannot fix ourselves. We need a Savior.

Even in the church, we need to remember this. We’ve not yet been totally purified of sin. We’re still tempted toward everything that defined us before we came to Christ: “evil, covetousness, malice. . . envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. . . gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (Rom. 1:29–31). For these sins and many more we sought forgiveness from God.

If your aim is to be a faithful witness of God’s truth in a season of political turmoil, then I suggest you start with a robust confession of sin. This strips us of any self-righteousness and self-pity that muddies our gospel witness to our communities. After all, the saints who see themselves primarily in the light of their well-studied political opinions are least likely to be the fragrance of God’s truth to the onlooking world. We must remember that, apart from Christ, we would be miserable sinners. We ought to cry, as wretched men and women, “Who is sufficient for these things?”

POTENTIALLY PREJUDICED VS. GUILTY AS CHARGED

During this season of of a contested election, it occurred to me that my voting choices were strangely aligned to my ethnicity. Do you know what else I noticed? The same was true for many of my friends, even though their particular voting choices were different than mine. All our votes closely aligned to our ethnicities even though each one of us would have argued that our tribal identity had little to do with our opinions.

I want to be clear: I hold my opinions because I believe them to be true. And yet, it’s hard to say that I am entirely untainted by the tribal prejudices I have inherited not merely from Adam but also from my particular ethnic heritage. Without having to confess my political views as sin, I’ve found it useful to hold them with a healthy dose of suspicion.

As a pastor, this insight into my potential prejudices helped me hold to my political opinions with humility. That meant not sharing them broadly and avoiding arguments about politics in which I tried to convince others to cross over to my side of the divide. In short, I refrained from moralizing my political opinion. While some suggested it was sinful to celebrate the electoral victory of the president, others described the results as an answer to prayer and insensitively exhorted those who felt robbed and wronged to pray for the president “as the Bible clearly instructs.”

I and our church benefited because I didn’t correct every perceived error nor did I engage every discussion. The complexity and intensity of politics can easily overshadow the unity that is ours in Christ. We can’t let that happen. Instead, we must strive in the Spirit so that we display the gospel clearly to the glory of God. What did that look like in our church? Instead of intensity, we strove for gentleness. Instead of drawing lines and making demands, we strove for patience. Instead of making enemies with all who disagreed, we strove for bearing with one another in love.

LET BROTHERLY LOVE CONTINUE

After a bitterly contested election, it doesn’t take a genius to know that some of your members will be angry and maybe even a little bitter. Meanwhile, others will be giddy and relieved. In our particular case, we had members who spent several nights huddled with their kids, frightened by the smell of teargas from the riots near their homes. We also had members who slept soundly. What did we do? We encouraged those who rejoiced at the result to abandon their rights for the sake of those who are not. We encouraged them to do a little more than spare a thought for those who were afraid. We encouraged them to actively serve them.

Pastoring through a contested election isn’t like writing a position paper. It’s attending to wounded sheep. It’s calling members as brothers and sisters to check in on each other. It’s opening up our homes for anyone who felt unsafe. It’s fewer barbershop conversations about various theories related to politics and sociology and more empathetic interactions with a focus on the obvious needs around us. We don’t need to agree on all the answers to show compassion, or to lament an obviously sad state of affairs.

And pastors, some people you’ve shepherded for years may call you an apostate because you mentioned the “J” word. Some may think you don’t care about their pain because you pray about God’s command to submit to the government. It’s okay. In a time of turmoil, keep your primary focus on your sheep, and incessantly express compassion and love. This will go a long way.

PREACHING THE WORD

It was a fight not to get sucked into the categories society had established for us. When the political lines are drawn between “Justice” and “Peace,” it’s unlikely that believers will comfortably identify with either side of the divide. Though the heated conversations of the day sound all-important, we should remind ourselves that the Word of God endures forever. News channels, newspapers, and social media are filled with mere opinions. So, pastor, make sure you execute your God-given charge and preserve your pulpit for that Ancient Word. Don’t confuse the value of any political insight with the value of God’s Word for God’s people.

In our case in 2017, the elder scheduled to preach on the Sunday after the controversial election preached from Obadiah. In that book, God had prepared a rebuke for many of us and an encouragement for all of us. Points in the passage weren’t forced to fit into the political season. Instead, this brother faithfully preached the passage in front of him and allowed God to do the hacking and healing he wanted.

Just consider what Obadiah covers: God’s justice, which had been directed to Judah in judgment, was now directed at the Edomites who “stood aloof on the day that strangers carried off the wealth of Judah.” Those who gloated at the destruction of others were warned of God’s coming judgment. And the sins God promised to judge went well beyond mere actions. He who sees all things will bring his righteous judgment upon their sinful attitudes toward their “enemies.” What’s more, God announced that all nations would face his impending judgment. Meanwhile, Obadiah offered the hope of God’s coming kingdom.

If there’s ever a time to trust in the sufficiency of God’s Word, it’s in the midst of political turmoil. When your people look to you and ask what “word” you have for them, make sure that you aspire for nothing more than being a faithful herald of God’s Word both in season and out of season. Faithful preaching in a season of political turmoil will offend and encourage indiscriminately. It will reshape the boundaries politics has erected and promote a peculiar unity not around shared political viewpoints but around deeper, more enduring truths. Faithful preaching will lead you and your people to regular repentance and reified faith in our crucified, raised, and ascended King, the One who is indeed coming soon.

This article originally appeared here.

Give Jesus Your Worries (and Don’t Take Them Back)

By

J.D. Greear

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October 22, 2020

Give Jesus Your Worries (and Don’t Take Them Back)

In Luke 18 Jesus tells the story of two men that went into the temple to pray. One man was religiously and professionally accomplished, and a sense of self-sufficiency filled his heart as he prayed. Jesus said that God did not even listen to that man.

By contrast, another man, a despised sinner with a messed up life, was so ashamed to be in the temple that he sat in the back so no one could see him. That man, who humbled himself before God, left with the help he needed.

The only thing you need to access God’s help is need. All you need is need.

One of the most important parts of effective waiting is to humble ourselves before God (1 Peter 5:6), which means a couple of things. First, it means we simply receive our time of waiting as part of God’s goodness in our lives. It means we don’t rage against it.

Second, we admit we need God’s help. What we naturally want to do is tell ourselves we can get through it and fix it on our own. We say, “It’s not really an addiction.” “It’s not a crisis.” “I don’t need help.” But that’s our pride talking.

Peter’s instruction is not just a command to “be humble!” It is an invitation to stop pretending we can do it on our own and admit we need God’s help.

All you need is need. Without it, you’ll never get God’s help.

Don’t Just Pray About It

When Peter says to “cast all your anxiety on him” (1 Peter 5:7 NIV), he is using a word that in Greek literally means to “hurl.” A lot of times we pray about our worries, and then when we’re done, we pick them right back up. But Peter’s not just telling us to pray about it. He is saying, “Hurl your worries onto Jesus. Make him responsible for that problem. Set it on his shoulders. He will carry it.”

That doesn’t mean you don’t ever do anything about it. There is always a responsibility on our part. But when you hurl your problems onto God, they become his problem. He may get you to do something about it, but the weight of solving your problems is not on you but on God.

“Cast” in Greek is also a participle that modifies the verb “humble yourselves.” In other words, casting is a form of humility. The opposite of casting is keeping, and that keeping manifests in worry. Worry, in this way, is a form of pride, assuming the mantle of control instead of entrusting our problems to God.

I’ve struggled with this. I would often pray about a problem but then, when I was done praying, I would pick the weight of it right back up and start carrying it again—as if I thought I had the strength to bear it on my own. So I’ve started to do a small thing to help me with this. After I pray about a problem, I often say to God, “I trust you with this.” It’s my way of reminding myself that the burden now lies with God. I don’t know how he’ll respond, but in saying, “I trust you,” I know that he’ll respond.

What a friend we have in Jesus! We can carry all our griefs to him in prayer—and humbly leave them there.

This article originally appeared here.

6 Characteristics of a God-Sized Vision

By

Dwayne Moore

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October 21, 2020

Dreaming about the future of your church and ministry? Wondering what God might do through you and your congregation or team?

Whatever He has for you, you can be sure that every God-inspired vision has six distinct characteristics. All of them can be clearly seen when God commissioned Joshua to lead His people into the Promised Land …

1. It’s bigger than you think.

God told Joshua He was giving them “all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them” (Joshua 1:6). It’s been estimated that the total territory for the Hebrews was upward of 15 million acres! It would be hard for anyone, including Joshua, to fathom that much land mass.

On an even grander scale, Joshua most likely had no idea he was a type of Christ, symbolizing through his own obedience and actions how Jesus would later save His people from their sins. God is always working through our lives to do things that are much larger than we can comprehend or see at the moment!

2. It’s harder than you can do.

Joshua had been given a God-sized assignment. Leading over a million Israelites across the Jordan to possess a new land certainly isn’t for the faint of heart! Like Joshua, following God’s plan means we’ll be in over our heads. We can roll the stone, but only He can raise the dead. In other words, we should do what He tells us to do, and then watch and anticipate what only He can do!

3. It’s better than they can imagine.

Joshua knew something about the Promised Land. He’d spied it out when he was a young man. So, he knew what Moses meant when he said it was a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 26:9). Joshua had seen the Promised Land—the Hebrews had not.

The story is told that during the dedication ceremony of Disney World, someone turned to Mrs. Walt Disney and said, “Isn’t it a shame that Walt didn’t live to see this?” Mrs. Disney replied, “He did see it, that’s why it’s here.” Often God will give one man or one woman a vision of what can be—a glimpse into the future that others around them simply can’t imagine for themselves (and as visionary leaders we shouldn’t expect them too).

4. It’s more restrictive than you might like.

Visionaries usually don’t appreciate boundaries. We enjoy thinking “outside the box” and being free from limitations. Yet, God gave Joshua some clear boundaries. Although the area they were being given was huge, it was nonetheless limited. God said, “Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west” (Joshua 1:4).

This flies in the face of the “name it and claim it” mentality, as though we can have anything or go anywhere we want. It is only “if the Lord wills” (James 4:15). We love that God said to Joshua in verse 3, “I will give you every place where you set your foot”; however, a far-reaching promise like this is almost always followed by a verse 4, where the Lord begins to show us boundary lines that He has put in place for our vision.

5. It’s impossible without faith.

Faith can move mountains. Faith can sooth our fears and calm the storms (Matthew 8:26). Without faith it’s impossible to please God, for we must believe that He is God (Hebrews 11:6). Joshua led the people of Israel by faith; they watched the Walls of Jericho fall because of their faith (Hebrews 11:30).

Great visions and God-sized plans require great faith. But it’s not faith that we try to conjure up in our minds. It’s not pseudo-faith with no basis to stand on. Real faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17), and God told Joshua over and over that He would be with them, that they would be successful if they carefully obeyed Him. If you know your vision is from the Lord, then go forward in bold faith.

Church Restrictions Eased After Hillsong Pastor Cries Foul

By

Jessica Lea

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October 21, 2020

Following complaints from Hillsong pastor Brian Houston, the government of New South Wales (NSW) has decided to loosen restrictions on houses of worship that are in place due to COVID-19. As of Oct. 23, the number of people allowed to attend religious services will be increased from 100 to 300 as long as the house of worship has a COVID-19 safety plan and attendees provide contact details in case contact tracing is needed.

“There was [sic] some churches who felt that they weren’t being listened to,” said Brad Hazzard, Health Minister for NSW, when he announced the new measures. “I assure you they were.”

Hazzard is alluding to a series of tweets Houston posted at the beginning of the week, one of which said, “We are all committed to keeping people safe, but it seems churches are not even being considered for steadily relaxing restrictions.”

It’s time church leaders unite to take. Stand. We are all committed to keeping people safe, but it seems churches are not even being considered for steadily relaxing restrictions. https://t.co/aYjr4otE12

— Brian Houston (@BrianCHouston) October 19, 2020

Pastor Brian Houston: This Is Discrimination

On Monday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that starting Dec. 1, the number of people who could attend a wedding would increase from 100 to 300. Guests would be required to practice social distancing and stay two square meters apart from one another when outdoors and four square meters apart when indoors. Attendees would also be required to give their personal details for the purposes of contact tracing.

Along with the announcement about weddings, NSW said that beginning Oct. 23, it would ease restrictions on the number of people who could gather in outdoor public places, as well as the number of people who could gather at hospitality venues.

It was after NSW made these announcements that Houston posted a tweet saying, “So interesting that the NSW govt are about to allow 300 people to attend an indoor wedding, and things are being relaxed for the hospitality industry, but still no changes for churches.

He followed it with two others, observing that even though churches were capped at 100 attendees, Hillsong has space to seat 4,000. The pastor added that treating weddings differently than worship services is discriminatory since people are just as friendly with one another at either event.

View this post on Instagram

It’s time church leaders unite to take a stand. We are all committed to keeping people safe, but it seems churches are not even being considered for a steady easing of restrictions.

A post shared by Brian Houston (@brianchouston) on Oct 18, 2020 at 8:38pm PDT

Houston also voiced his beliefs on 2GB radio, saying, “Churches seem to be left behind.” The pastor clarified he was not pushing to “pack out” church services, but that he simply wants civil leaders to be consistent in how they are applying COVID-19 safety precautions across different parts of society. Houston specifically mentioned this Sunday’s National Rugby League (NRL) grand final, which 40,000 people are allowed to attend.

Houston’s daughter, Laura Toggs, defended her father, saying that Hillsong has gone above and beyond in following COVID-19 safety precautions. “The point Dad is making,” she said, “is that currently in NSW—you can have thousands of people gathered at sporting events, hundreds crammed into public transport, thousands are rubbing shoulders within shopping centres, hundreds even within a restaurant if the space permits and yet the restrictions for churches and places of worship aren’t easing. Trust me—you won’t find me protesting “let us worship” in the streets anytime soon (smh…haha… ) but I have to admit that the rules seem very inconsistent.”

Lecrae’s New Single Gives Voice to the PTSD We Are All Experiencing

By

Megan Briggs

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October 21, 2020

Lecrae, Christian rapper and Grammy Award winner, released a single from his upcoming album today (Oct. 21, 2016). The single “Can’t Stop Me Now (Destination)” gives a candid look at how our nation’s recent turbulence stemming from racial tension affects us on a spiritual and emotional level.

The song starts out with the line, “All those feelings of depression and doubt, you gotta tell them go away. You gotta say get out the way.” And then it just gets better from there. Any fan of jazz or rap or R&B will be able to get behind this one. Not to mention fans of stream of conscience poetry.

In an interview with Billboard, Lecrae gives the story behind the song, which he wasn’t even planning to turn into a single at first. “When people put their ears to it, they said man, people need to hear this perspective. It’s me being raw, real and as transparent as I can be,” Lecrae explains. He said the senseless loss of people like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Philando Castile affected him deeply, because “these men and boys represented people who could be my family: nephews, cousins, brothers.”

Lecrae then did something most people do when they are grieving: He spoke up about it. However, instead of receiving comfort and empathy from people “with whom I may have shared similar beliefs in terms of faith,” the rapper encountered opposition instead. Lecrae explains, “they lashed out and accused me of being political,” which caused him to retreat to “a place of deep despair and depression.”

Additionally, the experience caused Lecrae to realize “a lot of us are wrestling with PTSD. You can’t be exposed to that much death and injustice and walk around unscathed.” The combination of the racial tension in the nation with a handful of personally troubling events (the loss of his cousin, his DJ, and a close family friend betraying him) caused him to lose sight of God’s presence. He confessed the doubts plaguing his mind this way: “God, I don’t know how I feel about any of this right now. And if you’re here, I don’t hear you, see you or feel you.”

Sounds like a recipe for good art. Which is exactly what was birthed out of Lecrae’s wrestlings.

Not one to hide behind appearances, Lecrae says, “People don’t get healed unless they can see your scars. People hide their wounds and won’t get help because they’re scared. But I’m saying ‘look man, I’m scarred up.’ I’m going to show my scars so you all can look at them and say wow, healing is real. I’m grateful for the people who’ve come before me and have showed all of their mess and scars.”

If the rest of the album is anything like this single, it will be a very real and tangible expression of the struggle in which a lot of believers find themselves during this turbulent season. Particularly those of us who call America home. What makes Lecrae’s song so powerful, though, is the hope it offers and the reminder that as believers in Christ, God has given us the tools we need to overcome problems like depression.

Liberty Launches Independent Review of Business Operations

By

Stephanie Martin

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October 21, 2020

As part of a comprehensive review of its finances and real-estate dealings, Liberty University has hired a “global forensic accounting firm” to investigate potential misconduct. The firm, Baker Tilly US, set up an independent web platform that’s accepting confidential submissions until December 20. The investigation is limited to business matters, not the sexual-misconduct allegations that led to the departure of longtime President Jerry Falwell Jr.

The encrypted web portal, Liberty says, “permits confidential submission of sensitive information from current and former Liberty University employees, contractors, and business affiliates.” The school encourages “anyone with pertinent information” to submit a report, saying the information will help complete an investigation that Baker Tilly “has been quietly working on…since early September, conducting interviews and collecting documents and other data.”

Reuters: ‘There may be much to entangle’

Last month, Reuters reported that Falwell, a lawyer who handled Liberty’s real-estate interests before becoming president in 2007, “intertwined his personal finances with those of the evangelical Christian university founded by his father.” A lengthy exposé details a variety of “potentially conflicting interests” that one expert says “deserve intense scrutiny.”

Falwell, 58, added his two sons (and their wives) to Liberty’s payroll, hired a friend’s construction company for on-campus projects, transferred a school facility to his personal trainer, and was involved in several property deals that reportedly benefited his own ventures.

Falwell has denied inappropriate business dealings and says he welcomes the investigation, which is limited to his tenure as Liberty’s president. “It will prove that all you [media] guys are liars,” he told a reporter, adding that his family is off-limits. “You do not want to mess with me,” Falwell said. In a statement from his attorney, Falwell says his sons and daughters-in-law “get paid fair value for their work and have performed that work very well.”

In September 2019, Politico also ran an exposé about Falwell, leading him to request an FBI investigation into what he called a “criminal conspiracy” against him.

Despite Troubling Headlines, Liberty Enrollment Soars

Tax experts say although nonprofits such as Liberty have some leeway regarding officials conducting personal business, those deals can raise red flags. Falwell’s “sweetheart land transactions are certainly eyebrow-raising,” says Eric Chaffee, a University of Toledo law professor. “There was so much control and domination by Falwell in regard to the transactions.”

Falwell maintains that the deals all benefited Liberty and its students. One associate says his partnership with Falwell saved the school time as well as “millions” in construction costs.

Despite the scandals, Liberty, based on Lynchburg, Virginia, reports a 10.5 percent enrollment increase from last fall. The school’s robust virtual presence, with 108,000 online students, is credited for much of that growth. On-campus enrollment is at 14,500.

Liberty’s interim president, Jerry Prevo, says, “We are especially grateful that the early predictions for colleges across the country did not hold true for us,” referring to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spokesman Ron Kennedy calls the school “a national draw,” saying its “brand has grown to become much bigger than just one person.”

Christian Migrant Worker Martyred by ISIS With Coptic Christians Finally Laid to Rest

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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October 21, 2020

The remains of Matthew Ayariga were laid to rest with the rest of his Coptic brothers in Egypt. Ayariga was a Christian migrant worker from Ghana who was beheaded by the Islamic State in the widely publicized brutal Libyan beach execution of 21 Christians in orange jumpsuits because of their faith in February 2015. The Copts are an indigenous Christian ethno-religious community located primarily in Egypt but are spread throughout the world. An estimated 60,000 live in Libya today.

A Cairo reporter posted the news on Twitter Friday, Tuesday 29, 2020 that “Matthew Ayariga, a migrant worker from #Ghana, was beheaded by #ISIS in #Libya in 2015 along with 20 Copts in a gruesome video. His remains finally arrived today to #Egypt to be laid to rest, w/his Coptic brothers, after 5+yrs of his body not being claimed.”

Matthew Ayariga, a migrant worker from #Ghana, was beheaded by #ISIS in #Libya in 2015 along with 20 Copts in a gruesome video. His remains finally arrived today to #Egypt to be laid to rest, w/his Coptic brothers, after 5+yrs of his body not being claimed https://t.co/ycU8pGrc6o

— Farid Y. Farid (@FaridYFarid) September 29, 2020

A Coptic Christian favored newspaper reported that the families of the martyrs “expressed their joy at the return of the remains of the martyr, saying ‘Our joy is complete.’ ” In 2018 the twenty other Egyptian martyr’s bodies arrived in Egypt which didn’t include Ayariga’s remains, which brought great sadness to the Coptic families according to the Watani Newspaper.

A mother of two of the martyrs said, “We collapsed with great joy because the martyr Matthew is dear to us, and he is one of our children because he was martyred with our children and adhered to his Christ. We thank our master because he succeeded in returning the remains of the martyr so that he would be next to his sisters in the church.”

Majid Shehata, a daughter of one of the martyrs, said, “It was a surprise to all of us that we see the remains of the martyr Matthew inside the Church of the Martyrs, and this is a long-awaited news and all the families are in great joy and we thank God for having responded to us in the return of the martyr.”

The men were working in Libya to support their families back home in Egypt. In January 2015, Islamic State fighters went door to door looking for Christians among Muslim migrant workers and took them into captivity until they were executed on the Libyan beach.

It has been reported that Matthew Ayariga rejected the terrorists’ demands to convert to Islam, and told them “Their God is my God” referencing Christ. His bold statement came before the terrorists beheaded him with a large blade as they did to the others.

Michigan Pastor Leaves Church Over Congregation’s Support of Trump

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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October 21, 2020

On October 11, 2020, Pastor Mannes preached his final sermon at East Saugatuck Church because he feels the congregation supports President Donald Trump too much. Pastor Keith Mannes has served at East Saugatuck Christian Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan for the last four years.

Division due to political tension continued to increase and Mannes told the Holland Sentinel that “the church as a whole has ‘abandoned its role’ as the conscience of the state in support of Trump.” He quoted Martin Luther King saying, “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.” Pastor Mannes followed King’s quote by expressing, “That just hit me hard because I think, broadly, the white evangelical community in our country has abandoned that role.”

He’s not the only one feeling this way, Mannes said, “It’s not only me, but quite a number of pastors I know are just like, ‘This is it? All this preaching we did about Jesus and there’s this big of a disconnect?’ I think that’s a real burden on a lot of pastors’ hearts. I love these people, I love God, I love Jesus, I love the church, but there’s something happening here.”

After a meeting with the Elders at Christian Reformed Church, praying together, and discussing the tensions Pastor Mannes had been feeling, he said, “It was time for me to lovingly and with great peace and loss separate from the church. It was really crushing because I’ve given my life to the church, and thankfully so.”

“I would just implore anybody who claims Christ to just look very seriously at the core things Jesus called us to do and be,” Mannes said referring to Christians who will vote for Trump to continue his presidency for the next four years. “Do some serious soul searching,” he said, “about who you’re serving and how you’re trying to accomplish that purpose in the world.”

Mannes told the Holland Sentinel, “We’re supposed to be the conscience of the president and we have refused to do that,” speaking about Christians. “I don’t know that a church who believes in Jesus as we do, can abandon its conscience and not say, ‘Mr. President we’re calling you to better than that and you need to call our nation to better than that.’ ”

Unsure of what the future holds after the election and where the pastor was going to go next, Mannes who has pastored for over 30 years, said at least he has his conscience.

A recent study conducted by PRRI shows that white evangelicals approve of the job Trump is doing at a rate of 76 percent, compared to 52 percent of white mainline Protestants and 49 percent of white Catholics.

Influential Southern Baptist leader Rev. Albert Mohler announced earlier this year that he intends to vote for Trump in this year’s election. Molher has strongly opposed Donald Trump in the past and said that he gave his 2016 vote minimal importance by voting for a third-party candidate. He said as long as the GOP platform continues to oppose abortion and support religious liberty he will vote Republican for the rest of his life.

Francis Becomes 1st Pope to Endorse Same-Sex Civil Unions

By

Nicole Winfield

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October 21, 2020

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary “Francesco,” which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival.

The papal thumbs-up came midway through the film that delves into issues Francis cares about most, including the environment, poverty, migration, racial and income inequality, and the people most affected by discrimination.

“Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” Francis said in one of his sit-down interviews for the film. “What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”

While serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of civil unions as pope.

The Jesuit priest who has been at the forefront in seeking to build bridges with gays in the church, the Rev. James Martin, praised the pope’s comments as “a major step forward in the church’s support for LGBT people.”

“The Pope’s speaking positively about civil unions also sends a strong message to places where the church has opposed such laws,” Martin said in a statement.

One of the main characters in the documentary is Juan Carlos Cruz, the Chilean survivor of clergy sexual abuse whom Francis initially discredited during a 2018 visit to Chile.

Cruz, who is gay, said that during his first meetings with the pope in May 2018, Francis assured him that God made Cruz gay. Cruz tells his own story in snippets throughout the film, chronicling both Francis’ evolution on understanding sexual abuse as well as to document the pope’s views on gay people.

Clergy sex abuse survivor and victims’ advocate Juan Carlos Cruz poses during the red carpet for the movie “Francesco” at the Rome Film Festival, in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Director Evgeny Afineevsky had remarkable access to cardinals, the Vatican television archives and the pope himself. He said he negotiated his way in through persistence, and deliveries of Argentine mate tea and Alfajores cookies that he got to the pope via some well-connected Argentines in Rome.

“Listen, when you are in the Vatican, the only way to achieve something is to break the rule and then to say, ‘I’m sorry,’” Afineevsky said in an interview ahead of the premiere.

The director worked official and unofficial channels starting in early 2018, and ended up so close to Francis by the end of the project that he showed the pope the movie on his iPad in August. The two recently exchanged Yom Kippur greetings; Afineevsky is a Russian-born Jew who lives in Los Angeles.

Director Evgeny Afineevsky poses for photographers during the photo call for the movie “Francesco” at the Rome Film Festival, in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

But “Francesco” is more than a biopic about the pope.

Wim Wenders did that in the 2018 film “Pope Francis: A Man of His Word,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. “Francesco,” is more a visual survey of the world’s crises and tragedies, with audio from the pope providing possible ways to solve them.

Afineevsky traveled the world to film it: the settings include Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh where Myanmar’s Rohingya sought refuge; the U.S.-Mexico border and Francis’ native Argentina.

“The film tells the story of the pope by reversing the cameras,” said Vatican communications director Paolo Ruffini, who was one of Afineevsky’s closest Vatican-based collaborators on the film.

Ruffini said that when Afineevsky first approached him with the idea of a documentary, he tried to tamp down his hopes for interviewing the pope.

“I told him it wasn’t going to be easy,” he said.

But Ruffini gave him some advice: names of people who had been impacted by the pope, even after just a brief meeting. Afineevsky found them: the refugees Francis met with on some of his foreign trips, prisoners he blessed, and some of the gays to whom he has ministered.

“I told him that many of those encounters had certainly been filmed by the Vatican cameras, and that there he would find a veritable gold mine of stories that told a story,” Ruffini said. “He would be able to tell story of the pope through the eyes of all and not just his own.”

This article originally appeared on APNews.com.

Steve Cunningham: Are You Living Out the Second Part of the Great Commission?

By

Jason Daye

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October 21, 2020

Steve Cunningham is a devoted Christ-follower and entrepreneur who is passionate about leadership development. He is the CEO and founder of Readitfor.me and, among his other projects to help people grow as leaders and disciples, has developed GLN SkillAcademy in collaboration with the Global Leadership Network.

Key Questions for Steve Cunningham

-Do you think churches struggle to help people to translate their workplace skills and abilities into kingdom impact?

-How does leadership development connect to developing as a disciple of Jesus?

-What suggestions would you make to local church pastors for taking their faith and putting it into action by using their workplace skills and expertise?

-How are you helping people to be intentional about their growth as disciples of Jesus?

Key Quotes from Steve Cunningham

“I can’t actually remember one time being asked to use any of my skills or abilities to serve in any capacity in the Catholic church…but I think that would be something I would welcome if I was asked.”

“I spent most of my adult life not having much interaction in my friend group and my business group network with other Christians. So for me it was an amazing experience to be sitting around a table every month with a bunch of Christian business leaders.”

“I read through the Bible from front to back, and obviously there were many things that hit me like a ton of bricks, but the one thing that made me pause and I would say changed the course of my life was the Great Commission, and particularly, the second part of the Great Commission, which was, ‘Teach them to obey all of my commands.’”

“I was shocked to find out that there were only two books written specifically on [the Great Commission] by what I would consider to be mainstream publishers.”

“It’s been a transformational journey for me to see that there’s this life that we’re invited into [by Jesus].”

“Average leaders consume a lot of information… Exceptional leaders, what they do is they’re hunting for the best-known way to solve a problem that’s related to an important goal that they have.”

“Everybody could benefit from studying what exceptional people are doing and then just copying what they’re doing.”

“Get clear on what [Jesus’] commands actually are, and then bring people through a process of them living those out or attempting to live those out.”

The Divine Imagination

By

Manuel Luz

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October 21, 2020

Before you read any further, do this one thing. Put your open hand in front of you, close to your face. Now tighten your grip slightly. Now close your eyes, and as you do, imagine that you have just grabbed a handful of crayons.

Do you feel them roll around in your palm? Do you see the different colors of each crayon? Can you smell the wax?

Maybe it’s just me, but I think that is pretty amazing—to have the ability to see and feel and smell and completely conceptualize something that isn’t materially there. Our ability to imagine is a remarkable gift from God.

If imagination had a smell, it would smell like crayons.

THE DIVINE IMAGINATION

Have you ever considered the idea that Jesus has an infinite imagination? Well, He does. He might have limited Himself in some ways through the confines of His incarnation, but I contend that it is clearly inferred that He saw the world differently than any other person who ever lived. He saw the tax collector and the prostitute and befriended them. He saw a motley group of fishermen and made them His disciples. His Sermon on the Mount is filled with an invitation to imagine a world where the poor and the meek and the mourning were actually blessed. Where the world is permeated by His Kingdom. And finally, we know that all things were created through the person of Jesus:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:1-3 NIV

Think about all that there is. The duckbill platypus. The aurora borealis. The Milky Way galaxy. Hammerhead sharks. Black holes. The monarch butterfly. The double helix DNA. Redwood trees. Electrons and protons and neutrons.

All that we can name and more. All that we can see and more. All that is invisible and more. “All things have been created through Jesus and for Jesus. Jesus is before all things, and in Jesus all things hold together.” And then He sustains the universe as well, through His very will. He spins the atoms, and holds together the solar systems, and causes the rose and the lily to blossom. All of creation then displays itself as a reflection of the manifest glory of God. If we could just more fully grasp this idea, then perhaps we could understand the heart of the psalmist, when he declares:

“The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world.” Psalm 19:1-4 NIV

All creation exists as a silent testimony to His glory, His majesty, His eternal Being. And here is the thing. In order for us to comprehend the amazing glory of God, in his infinite and eternal being, we have to use our imaginations, use our God eyes. Imagination is a part of how we can understand and worship God, as well as how we can understand and interact with His visible and invisible creation.

THE HUMAN IMAGINATION

Our imaginations are one of the very important ways in which we are made in the image of God. Now, our imaginations aren’t as vast as God’s. Fruit Roll-ups, the Slinky, tube socks, the infield fly rule, the Chicken Dance. Nevertheless, we do have this amazing capacity to imagine and conceptualize and dream, which is a very special and important gift from God.

There are at least two reasons why God gave us imaginations. First, human imagination is a necessary part of the cultural mandate. Now, I’ve mentioned the cultural mandate in Imagine That and in various blog posts, so I’ll just briefly reiterate that the cultural mandate is kind of like our job description here on earth—to be fruitful and to fill and subdue the earth, as it says in the first chapter of the book of Genesis.

“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” Genesis 1:28a NIV

So our imaginations allow us to conceive of the things which help us to thrive in this world, from farming to city building to communicating with languages to inventing machines to expressing the arts. Curiosity and creativity and imagination all come together in the cultural mandate. That in and of itself makes imagination crucially important.

But the other reason why I believe imagination is important is because it allows us to interact with God in ways beyond the concrete and rational, beyond that which can simply be seen. Theologian Charles Sherlock contends that the ancient apologists and theologians were influenced by Hellenistic philosophy, and believed that knowing God was primarily through the intellect. But intellect also included the imagination. He says this:

“They saw rational knowing as contemplative and imaginative, a reflective journey in truth…The word ‘imagination,’ a Latinism, reflects this intellectual, yet non-rationalistic, understanding.” [The Doctrine of Humanity: Contours of Christian Theology, Charles Sherlock]

In other words, in ancient times, the imagination was considered an intrinsic part of the intellect, and a necessary attribute of knowing an unfathomable God. This is kind of different than our modern understanding of things, where we often think of imagination as somehow different from intellect. But to them, imagination was just a part of intellectual thought.

Clyde Kilby goes even further. He says: “The word translated imagination in the Scripture means to think, deliberate, meditate, or weigh the evidence, and the word is morally neutral. It is equally as impossible to think about God without using the imagination as it is to think about evil.” [Arts & the Christian Imagination, Clyde S. Kilby]

Once again, it is helpful to look to the example of Jesus. Think about how Jesus interacted with people while He was in His earthly ministry. He taught not only with great intellect and understanding, but with great imagination as well. Indeed, Jesus said some radical, counter-intuitive things that could only be understood if one had a good imagination. The Kingdom of God is like a pearl of great price. Faith is like a mustard seed. The bread is my body, and the wine is my blood. In fact, I personally believe that one of the failings of the Pharisees is simply that they had bad imaginations.

Robert Webber contends that, “At least one-third of the Bible is poetry,” and if that is true, then we may indeed need to foster the hearts of poets to understand the word of God, and the heart of God. I really believe that one of the keys to reclaiming a fullness of worship in our sanctuaries—and in our souls—is to rekindle our God-given imaginations.

If we are to understand that pearl of great price, or the faith of a mustard seed, or the wine and the bread; if we have any hope of relating to an unfathomable, invisible, gracious God; if we are to revel in the world God gave us, and envision the Kingdom that God gently invites us into—then it is through the imagination that we must tread.

When we grasp at imaginary crayons, we are closer to God than we think.

This article originally appeared here.

Things to Know—and Not to Know—About Bible Prophecy

By

Joe McKeever

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October 21, 2020

Things to Know—and Not to Know—About Bible Prophecy

“But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of Heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36).

“But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 12:32).

Make a list of what we do not know concerning the end times. What we put on the list would tell a great deal about us.

One of the greatest Bible teachers of the past 50 years is (or has been) Dr. Warren Wiersbe. Once, when he was asked to speak on Bible prophecy, he began with this disclaimer: “I used to know a lot more about prophecy than I do now.”

I appreciate that.

What Dr. Wiersbe was saying was that in his earlier years, he sounded forth with certainty on matters about which he knew little. But with maturity came a healthy dose of humility. In time, he was able to say just as confidently that “I do not know” concerning some of these prophetic subjects. That’s what maturity and integrity do: Admit when they do not know something.

I’m personally convinced that no one has all the answers to the mysteries of Revelation. The only way, of course, to prove that assertion wrong is for the events to proceed to unfold just as someone has predicted. Until then, every Bible teacher who sounds forth claiming to have the answers does so by faith.

“We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Our faith may be in Christ, it may be (also) in Scripture, but it just as easily could be in ourselves, as I suspect is true of some of the most dogmatic interpreters.

Now, let us admit up front that not everyone who heard Dr. Wiersbe appreciated his honest admission that he no longer has all the answers. Some in his audience wanted their prophecy straight. No uncertainties, no ambiguities, no “both sides of the issue.” This yearning for the pastor/teacher to identify the Antichrist, name the beast out of the sea, to point out the powers to be found at the final showdown at Armageddon, to identify the United States in Bible prophecy, to connect “the abomination of desolation” with something going on somewhere at this very moment—on and on, ad infinitum!—is precisely what Paul meant when he said in the last days people would run after the preachers who tickled their ears. They wanted what they wanted and would not abide anything less. Or more.

And mark my words, a lot of preachers have figured this out. They have correctly decided that the best way to get an audience (of a certain type, to be sure) is to claim to know all the mysteries, to have all the answers.

Now, I believe there are great preachers and teachers who know a hundred times as much on this subject as I do. I do not present myself as an authority on prophecy. And frankly, neither should they.

Experts?

I submit there are no experts on Bible prophecy.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, who claim that honor. And if public acclaim is the standard, then some have it. So, this is my personal bias, if you will.

Let me hear some humility from those who would teach us of final things.

7 Questions to Find the Purpose of Small Groups

By

Steve Curran

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October 21, 2020

On a recent episode of the Small Group Network podcast the fantastic Caroline Taketa interviewed the authors of Leading Small Groups that Thrive: Five shifts to Take your Group to the Next Level. You can listen to the entire episode here.

One of the comments the authors’ made that stuck with me was that the biggest factor contributing to the spiritual growth of small group members is their small group having a purpose focused outside the group. If the primary purpose of the small group is fellowship, or community, or bible study, the group might feel great and the members really like each other. But to create an environment for spiritual growth the small group needs a purpose outside of the group.

I can see how this is true, but that naturally leads to the question. Well, how do I find a purpose for my small group? Because, to be honest, the group I lead does not have a clear purpose outside of fellowship and bible study.

There are lots of great resources out there for why small groups are important and why you need to be in one. In Leading Small Groups with Purpose, Steve Gladen does a great job of laying out the five purposes behind Saddleback’s small groups; fellowship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism, and worship. Your church’s purpose for small groups is great place to start.

Because your small group’s purpose should not exist outside of the purpose of your church. However, each small group must have their own individual purpose. Simon Sinek calls this “the nested why”, it will be specific to each individual group, but still align with the purpose of your church.

We each need to answer, why does MY small group exist? And is that the purpose Jesus and I want it to have?

Seven Questions

Here are seven questions to process with your small group to help discover your group’s purpose.

Why did you join/lead this group, and not some other group?
When telling others about your small group, or when your group gathers, what stories keep getting retold? What stories do you wish you could tell?
What are the things that when your small group talks about them you forget about the time and find yourselves super focused and engaged?
How is your small group going to be a part of changing the world?
What is true about your small group today that would make the you who just joined or started leading this group disappointed?
If you had to be with your small group all day, every day, where would you go and what would you want to be doing?
If you knew you were going to die in exactly one year from today, what stories would you want the other members of your small group to share with your spouse and kids, or at your funeral?

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you as you process through these questions. And remember, the small groups that experience the most spiritual growth have a purpose focused outside the group.

My hope for each of you is that your small group will be so active and challenging and grace-filled and involved that the members of your group will look back and point to their time with your group as a moment of spiritual growth and closeness to Jesus.

Action Steps

Spend some time and process these questions with your personal small group.
Share these questions with another small group leader and challenge them to process the questions with their group, then share your individual small group purposes with each other.

This article originally appeared on smallgroupnetwork.com.

Why Churches Should Study Systematic Theology

By

Randy Alcorn

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October 20, 2020

I was one of the two original pastors of a church started by 40 people meeting in a basement in 1977. I served in that role for just over 13 years before I had to resign due to abortion clinic lawsuits related to my peaceful, nonviolent disobedience on behalf of unborn children. Nanci and I are still part of that same fellowship, Good Shepherd Community Church, nearly 40 years later.

Our church has been through some very hard times over the years, but with all its (our) imperfections, we love the body and bride of Christ. And if you’re disillusioned with church, as many people are, we encourage you to either get more deeply involved in your church (e.g., in small group Bible studies) or if you need to leave, do so, but don’t give up until you find a Christ-centered, Bible-teaching and grace-filled church—which will still be very imperfect, of course, especially once you arrive!

Probably 10 years ago I was asked what I would do differently if I were a pastor today. The answer was easy, because I’ve thought about it often based on what I’ve seen in the 25 years since I was a pastor. What I said was this:

If I had it to do over again, I would teach the church not only the Bible, but also systematic theology. I would use some of the great resources we have today (e.g., Wayne Grudem’s Bible Doctrine), have an ongoing weekly class teaching it chapter by chapter, and encourage every person in the church to plug into that class until they complete the study. This could also be done in small groups. Once people complete the study, whether it takes one, two or three years, I would encourage them to go through it again, because the second and third time great truths would sink in and be reinforced.

The reason I said this is because over nearly four decades in my church (a church that has always taught and emphasized God’s Word), I’ve seen a noticeable, even startling, reduction in the average person’s grasp of biblical truth. It’s possible for someone to hear Bible-based sermons while at the same time they’re adopting a worldview that is less and less biblical. This happens because most church people spend very little time studying God’s truth during the week. Compare the time spent reading Scripture and great books that teach biblical truth versus the amount of time spent watching television and reading social media that exemplify not only a non-Christian worldview but often an anti-Christian worldview. What chance does one 30- to 40-minute sermon a week have, no matter how biblical, when it must fight off and correct 30 to 40 hours of worldview that’s contrary to Scripture and the Gospel of God’s grace?

Moody Students, Alumni Say the School Failed to Act on Sexual Abuse Disclosure

By

Megan Briggs

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October 20, 2020

Almost 3,000 Moody Bible Institute students, alumni, and parents have signed a petition urging President Mark Jobe to initiate changes to the school’s approach to disclosures of sexual harassment and abuse. A handful of students and former students have come forward claiming that the school’s dean not only dismissed their complaints but actually threatened disciplinary action against those disclosing the abuse, among other complaints.

“While many of us have found God and His calling on our lives within the walls of Moody, some of us have also faced harm. Harm that includes instances of stalking, discrimination, sexual assault, and rape,” the petition posted to Chang.org reads.

Petition Claims Title IX Requirements Are Not Being Followed

Two employees of Moody—Dean Timothy Arens and Title IX Coordinator Rachel Puente—are painted as the bad actors in this situation, according to the petition and the accounts of numerous students who attended Moody. A Google document shared with the petition shares the statements of students who had encounters with both Arens and Puente when disclosing sexual abuse and harassment.

One of the complaints the petition raises is that Arens is a Title IX decision maker for the school, a fact which they point out violates the rules of the law. Title IX requires that “personnel (Title IX Coordinators, investigators, decision-makers, people who facilitate any informal resolution process) to be free from conflicts of interest or bias for or against complainants or respondents.” The writers of the petition believe Arens’ role as dean of students places him in a conflict of interest with his Title IX duties due to the fact that he also makes disciplinary decisions regarding students based on Moody’s student code of conduct, called the Student Life Guide.

This conflict of interest was highlighted in one student’s testimony. Anna Heyward writes that while attending Moody she was sexually abused by a former boyfriend, who also attended the school. Heyward says that her boyfriend pressured her into drinking (an act which is punishable per the Student Life Guide) and then forced her into non-consensual sexual acts. When Heyward reported this to Arens, she says he focused on the fact that she had been drinking, thus implying she was at least partially to blame. Arens also allegedly told her that if she filed a Title IX complaint, she would “ruin your ex’s life.”

The writers of the petition are asking Jobe to take specific actions, including allowing students and alumni to be involved in the process of selecting a new dean of students while replacing Arens (he is retiring on June 30, 2021); replacing Puente and allowing for students and alumni to weigh in on a new Title IX coordinator; removing any Title IX decision makers who also have disciplinary powers (referring to Arens again); and publishing any Title IX complaints (with identifying details redacted) each year so students, staff, and parents can access the information.

President Jobe Addresses Concerns in Tuesday Chapel

On Tuesday, October 20th, Jobe addressed the petition in the school’s weekly Chapel session, which was streamed online. “These allegations deeply trouble me,” Jobe began as he addressed students.

Jobe explained that the school is committed to finding out whether the Title IX office has mishandled complaints brought to its attention. He assured the students they are committed to handling “complaints and incidences of sexual harassment or abuse in a way that honored the voice of the victims or ensured their safety and wellbeing.”

The school’s president encouraged students not to jump to conclusions about those involved in the Title IX office. Jobe said it would be unfair to Dean Arens and others who have served the school for years to do so. According to Jobe, Arens “cares for students and loves God.” In a similar way, Jobe believes Puente is a “compassionate advocate for those who are hurting.”

Jobe announced the school would be commissioning an “independent outside investigation” to clarify the facts.

“I believe that we as a community of faith…should be more committed than any other people towards hearing truth, proclaiming truth, healing those who have been hurt, advocating for those who have been wounded, walking alongside those who voices possibly are diminished or quieted down,” Jobe concluded.

Our Church Suspended In-Person Worship Until 2021. This One Question Sealed the Deal

By

Andy Stanley

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October 20, 2020

what does love require of me — This illustration provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2020 shows the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Image courtesy of CDC

(RNS) — The year 2020 has been short on answers and long on questions. Must we wear masks in public places? Which candidate deserves my vote? Should we hold church services in person or online?

Private decisions almost always have public consequences, so we debate these questions online and in the public square. We lob our opinions at one another, convinced that our team has the right answers. In the middle of the chaos, I can’t help but wonder, Are we even asking the right questions?

I first learned the value of good questions when I was just a kid. Like most kids, I didn’t like being told what to do. But on occasion, I wanted my dad to tell me what to do. And he wouldn’t. Worse, instead of answering my question, he asked me questions! Why answer a question with another question? He was teaching me how to make decisions on my own.

As important, he was teaching me to appreciate the relationship between good questions and good decisions. As an adult I’ve settled on five questions to ask before making a decision of any significance, in both my personal and professional life.

By midsummer of this year, some congregations in the U.S. were slowly inviting people back indoors for church services while others continued to meet exclusively online. The question of when to re-open churches quickly became political and divisive. Many folks on both sides declared their answer the only “Christian” way forward.

It was a good time for better questions.

Since North Point Ministries holds weekend church services for some 30,000 people across seven campuses in and around Atlanta, our leadership took COVID-19 transmission seriously. We talked, we prayed and we asked questions. Good questions lead to better decisions. In the middle of July we announced that our Atlanta-area churches would suspend in-person worship for the rest of 2020 due to coronavirus concerns.

Which question put our decision over the top? I call it the relationship question: What does love require? In our case, What does being a good neighbor require?

We considered our church community—and the communities around our campuses—and we knew what love required. It required us to love one another, to love our neighbors, especially those who were vulnerable and at-risk.

If that question doesn’t feel specific enough for your big decision, let me expand. Directives scattered throughout the New Testament offer real-world applications of what Jesus’ brand of love looks like (for those who dare to ask).

The apostle Paul, in a letter to Christians living in the Roman province of Galatia, addressed the relationship question. He showed that God always nudges us in the direction of kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. I like to tell people, “When in doubt, max those out.”

But Paul’s most detailed description of what real-world love looks and acts like is found in his first letter to the Christians living in first-century Corinth. Try reading his words as the answer to What does love require of us?

Poll: White Evangelicals Are Religious Outliers on Every Issue of Concern to Voters

By

Yonat Shimron

-

October 20, 2020

(RNS) — As they head to the polls, nearly all religious Americans say the coronavirus is the most critical issue facing the country, a new study by PRRI shows. But there’s one notable exception: white evangelicals.

Only 35% of white evangelicals said the coronavirus is of critical concern, PRRI’s 11th annual American Values Survey, released Monday (Oct. 19), shows. Among this group, abortion and terrorism top the list of critical concerns. No other religious group identified abortion among its top three concerns.

On this and other issues, white evangelicals are outliers among U.S. religious groups.

“White evangelical Protestants do seem to be out on a limb on their policy views and views of Trump,” said Natalie Jackson, PRRI’s director of research.

“It’s more a fact of other types of Christians—mainline Protestants and Catholics—shifting away toward a more centrist outlook and increasingly leaving white evangelicals out on their own as the one religious group that very much supports Trump and is locked in with their party ID.”

The study, conducted in September among 2,538 U.S. adults, shows that overall, 35% of Americans approve of how President Donald Trump has handled the coronavirus pandemic, while 65% disapprove.

But white evangelicals approve of the job Trump is doing at a rate of 76%, as compared to 52% of white mainline Protestants and 49% of white Catholics.

Heading into the 2020 election, their support for the president remains steadfast.

Majorities of every other religious group say the president has damaged the dignity of the office of president. But only 36% of white evangelicals believe that. And among white evangelicals who identify as Republicans, only 20% say he’s damaged the dignity of the office.

White evangelicals are also the only major religious group to say the country is moving in the right direction, with 59% agreeing. By comparison, only 40% of white mainline Protestants, 39% of white Catholics, 40% of Hispanic Protestants and 28% of Hispanic Catholics said the country is headed in the right direction.

That assessment drops even further among non-Christian and unaffiliated Americans. Only 24% of non-Christian religious Americans and 18% of religiously unaffiliated Americans say the country is headed in the right direction.

6 Important Factors to Re-Open Your Church Well

By

Dan Reiland

-

October 20, 2020

What a new and strange thought. . .how to re-open a church.

But we’re all in it and figuring it out while the playing field keeps changing.

Many churches have been re-opening for months now, and others won’t begin until sometime in 2021.

Let’s start there, churches don’t simply re-open, and you’re done. Re-opening is a process, and it could be a long one depending on when we finally get to the post COVID era. It requires a new leadership mindset.

As long as culture and circumstances keep changing, the church continues its re-opening process.

There are so many options in re-opening your church. Here are a few examples.

With children’s ministry, or without children’s ministry.
Shortened services or full-length worship service.
Emphasis on the in-person gathering, or emphasis on the online experience.
In-person student ministry, or online student ministry, or both.
Self-serve coffee and prepackaged snacks, or no coffee at all … (What! – No coffee at church?!)
What does community outreach need to look like?
Not to mention a long list of things like baptisms, weddings, and funerals.

As you continue to work through your specific choices, there are some factors that ring true for all of us.

The following thoughts and ideas will be helpful as you pursue the re-opening process.

6 important factors to open your church well:

1) Expect more change and surprises than you anticipate.

If there is anything, you can count on its constant change. The more you can anticipate change, the better, but in this season, you are doing well to respond to change with adaptability and a mindset of seeking opportunities.

Your ability to be nimble and shift according to the cultural issues is critical. That doesn’t mean to abandon the essentials, and certainly not the gospel, but otherwise, remain open and ready to change.

Adaptability is especially essential when it comes to your combination of online and in person. That is likely to require the most updating and innovation within your ongoing re-opening process.

One of the top surprises leaders are experiencing in the re-opening process is who leaves their church and why.

Do your best not to become discouraged about those who don’t return to your church, mainly if they chose to attend another church. Instead, let anyone who leaves know they are loved and welcome to return any time.

Focus your attention on the new people God wants to bring to your spiritual care.

2) Recalibrate what it means to build or grow a church.

Many churches have been blessed with rapid growth in the past and may see it again sometime, but it is more likely that we will enter a season of slower and more layered growth.

Determine now that whatever it takes, you will build again the church God has given you to lead.

The spiritual strength of your church is more important than the physical size of your church.

And of course they are not mutually exclusive.

That doesn’t mean we’re no longer biblically responsible for reaching more people or that we can assume a “hold what we have” mindset.

It does mean that culture has changed dramatically, habits of church attendance have shifted, and spiritual strength and maturity are the greatest form of outreach we have.

The world needs a reason to come to church again, online, or in person. Let’s make that plain to see.

3) Hospitality has a new face and feel.

Hospitality today often feels (ironically) socially awkward. We are learning how to navigate intimacy and connection with distance. That’s not easy, but it’s the new reality.

The most friendly and welcoming people on your church teams wear a mask, hold a sign, and show people lines to follow.

That’s what we need to do, I know, but that doesn’t make church seem more warm, friendly, and welcoming. It does communicate we care about everyone’s health and well-being, and that is vital.

Our effort must be double what it once was to communicate we genuinely care.

For example, figuring out how to learn names and remember them is more challenging now, but it deserves our effort.

Follow up of new guests and invitations to take the next step has become even more critical than ever.

Remember, those you greet can see a smile hidden by a mask through your eyes.

4) The reason people come to your church may have changed.

What your church was once known for may have changed, not because you actually changed at a core values and belief level, but because the culture has changed, and therefore people see you differently.

We need to become great students of current culture to understand people’s perceived needs and how they see the church today.

How do people see your church?
What do you think they perceive your purpose is?

In the same way that you may be surprised by who does not return to your church, you may be (delightfully) surprised by who does come. Thank God for every person he brings and put your leadership energy there.

One of the most productive things you can do right now is ask your new guests what brought them to your church or why they came. Look for patterns to see how God is moving.

5) How and what you measure may need to change.

Measuring church strength and growth is different right now, and it may never completely go back to the way it was.

Numbers matter; they always have; they help keep us “honest” about reality. Even now, your last year’s numbers serve as a benchmark to compare to. But equally important is to not frustrate yourself by fixating on “the way things were.” This is a new day.

For example, at 12Stone Church, we’ve changed our entire budgeting system, from an annually based system to quarterly, and I doubt we’ll ever go back.

Of course, you want to keep track of the increases in attendance, but again, don’t get stuck there. It’s more important right now to:

Place your leaders in the right positions doing the right things.
Adapt your ministries to what is needed now to meet the needs of the new reality.
Continue to take the next right step.

You don’t need all the answers for eighteen months from now, but your congregation is counting on you to make each next strategic decision a smart one.

6) Nothing is more important than the life and message of Jesus.

The world has always needed Jesus, but I can’t remember a time where the stakes seemed higher.

Keep your passion for the mission strong through all the change, don’t let anything or anyone move you from the biblical standards the church has been built upon for centuries.

Jesus is at the core of your vision and values; hold firmly to them. He is the rock that holds us steady through all the uncertainty.

This article originally appeared here.

The Power of Gen Z

By

Dale Hudson

-

October 20, 2020

Gen Z (currently ages 7 to 22 years) is a powerful generation.

They know how to harness the power of the culture they are growing up in and they want to use their power to change the world.

According to Viacom Global Consumer Insights, 61% of Gen Z believes their generation is more powerful than any other before it. They believe that power comes through collaboration.

One of their best methods of creating change is through social media. You can see this with YouTube videos they create that go viral and influence thousands and even millions of people. You can see this when they have millions of views and likes on their Instagram photos. 63% of them believe social media has a huge impact on the country.

Help them embrace the power they have to share the Gospel through social media. Partner with them and collaborate with them to create strategies for this. I have noticed several Gen Zer’s sharing the Gospel through TikTok.

They have a spending power of over $140 billion dollars. Retailers and brands are trying to win their dollars. They are working on how to appeal to them. Teach Gen Z how they can use their finances to help spread the Gospel throughout the world.

One thing that has set back Gen Z (and all of us) is Covid-19. Half of the oldest part of Gen Z have reported that they or someone in their household has lost a job or taken a pay cut. They are looking to the future, but at this time that future is uncertain.

Teach and show them what it means to trust God in times of uncertainty and move forward with Him.

Gen Z is more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation. One-in-four Gen Zers are Hispanic, 14% are black, 6% are Asian and 5% are some other race or two or more races. Gen Z is more likely to be the children of immigrants. 22% have at least one immigrant parent. By 2026, Gen Z will become majority non-white. Does your church reflect the diversity of Gen Z? If you want your ministry to look like heaven, then reflect it by embracing and encouraging diversity in your ministry.

They are the most well-educated generation yet. They are less likely to quit high school and are more likely to be enrolled in college. Among college age Gen Zers, 57% are enrolled in a two-year or four-year college. This compares with 52% among Millennials and 43% among Gen X. While at the same time many of them are illiterate when it comes to God’s Word. We must have strategic methods to teach kids the Bible and get the truth lodged in their long-term memory.

They are digital natives. They have little or no memory of a world without smartphones. Need technology help? Need someone to help you with computer needs, graphic design, presentation slides or programming? Gen Z is who to talk with.

Let’s look at Gen Z’s home life.

29% live in a household with an unmarried parent.

66% live with two married parents.

Among kids who live with 2 married parents, 64% of both parents work jobs.

Gen Z is more open to transgender and general-neutral tenancies than previous generations. 35% say they know someone who is transgender or general neutral. The majority of Gen Z says they feel comfortable using gender-neutral pronouns. We must help Gen Z understand God’s plan for our identities and family life.

Technology and Gen Z.

95% have access to a smartphone.

97% have access to at least one of the 7 major online platforms.

85% use YouTube

72% use Instagram

69% use Snapchat

51% use Facebook

45% of Gen Zer’s say they are online constantly and 44% say several times a day.

40% of Gen Zer’s say social media has a positive effect on them. But others say it leads to bullying and rumor spreading.

If you want to connect with and influence Gen Z, then you must engage them with technology in a variety of ways.

As children’s ministry leaders, reaching Gen Z should be our top priority. As we equip them and teach them how they can truly make a big impact with God, they can change their generation and who knows…maybe the entire world.

This article originally appeared here.

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Dreaming about the future of your church and ministry? Wondering what God might do through you and your congregation or team?

1. It’s bigger than you think.

2. It’s harder than you can do.

3. It’s better than they can imagine.

4. It’s more restrictive than you might like.

5. It’s impossible without faith.

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6 important factors to open your church well:

1) Expect more change and surprises than you anticipate.

2) Recalibrate what it means to build or grow a church.

3) Hospitality has a new face and feel.

4) The reason people come to your church may have changed.

5) How and what you measure may need to change.

6) Nothing is more important than the life and message of Jesus.

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