Help your students break the ice and get to know each other better with this fun game of “Human Bingo.”
Some of the people students must find include:
You can edit/customize this Word document to fit your group’s needs.
Pornography raises many questions, but two of the most simple are also the most important.
Why fight temptations? And how?
So many resolutions to avoid porn fail with this first question. The how question is the easier one—we can quickly identify steps such as Internet filters or a friend willing to ask us tough questions. It’s the why where we get tripped up. We need biblically persuasive reasons to stand firm when the hard questions and justifications come.
And they will come:
The pursuit of porn has bad consequences. We need no special insight to see it erodes relationships and never satisfies. But bad consequences aren’t enough to stop us. We must be ready with persuasive reasons to put up a fight, and then assemble those reasons into a story that has some of the following elements.
Getting the Story Straight
Human beings, like all creation, are designed to live within boundaries. When creation exceeds its appointed boundaries—as in hurricanes, in which the seas encroach on dry ground—bad things happen. It’s the same with us. This is one of the points of the creation story, when Adam and Eve were told a certain tree was off-limits. Why was it off-limits? That isn’t the important question. What’s important is this: God’s royal children are tested. Will we be faithful to our Father when temptations arrive and faithfulness suddenly feels inconvenient?
When our temptations are especially strong, no rationale for those boundaries will be enough. For example, God has his reasons for limiting sexual expression to heterosexual covenant union, but those reasons won’t give us power to fight temptations. Power doesn’t come from mere knowledge; it comes as we grow in the knowledge of God and respond to him with obedient trust. It comes only as we discover that in God’s presence—not from what the world or fleshly pleasure can offer—do we find fullness of joy and pleasures that never lose their capacity to satisfy (Ps. 16:11).
As it turns out, the act of saying no to certain desires seems to be a distinguishing feature of human beings. Animals don’t say no, but we do. Consider the book of Proverbs. It’s all about wisdom, and wisdom means we’re living as God intended. Within the first nine chapters, which summarize the book’s main themes, the father-teacher is doing everything possible to portray the beauty of self-control and to dramatize the dangers of a life given over to one’s desires.
What is the real problem? We don’t cherish the fear of the Lord (Prov. 1:7). Since fear is about what controls us, wisdom begins when we’re controlled by the triune God rather than by the objects of our temptations. In other words, life outside God’s boundaries is evidence we must not know him very well. We must not know he’s good, and that everything he commands us to do is for our benefit. We must think he’s a mortal who doesn’t see what we’re doing. We must think the darkness can hide us from his presence. We are given the God of life, but we keep veering off into independence and misery. And in doing so, we fail to be truly human.
This is the story Jesus enters. Jesus was led into the desert to experience the extremes of physical and Satanic temptations (Matt. 4:1–11). Though his temptations weren’t sexual, they did involve intense physical desires that pleaded for satisfaction. Jesus entered into our struggle; he revealed the essence of true humanity in his stand against Satan; and he became the tested and perfect man who would be our representative before the Father. These were the credentials he brought to the cross.
The gospel is activated in our lives through faith, as we say to our King, “I’m with you. My own record is a mess; yours is perfect.” And in that response we get more grace than we expected. We’re joined with Jesus in his successes, and given his Spirit to empower us to follow him.
And then we’re led into temptations once again, which is how royal children are trained and matured. Although this time we’re better prepared.
Now, in dependence on Jesus, we engage our passions with resolve and aim for nothing short of slaying them (Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:5). The critical weapon we bring is our growing knowledge of God’s mercy and grace. This grace reminds us that we have forgiveness, so we can turn to him in our failures (2 Pet. 1:9).
We believe a lie if we think we are too far gone. Since grace has no limits, we start with a simple “help.” God delights in those who turn to him in desperation (Luke 15:6).
Once the story of grace is embedded in our hearts, practical applications flow.
1. Repeat the story.
The most obvious application is to repeat the story: in love, Christ came, forgave, rescued and empowers. Paul began each letter with how everything has changed because of Jesus.
You could follow Paul’s lead. Write out the gospel story, read it to a friend, ask others to give their telling, underline the many ways the New Testament expresses it and tailor it with your own particular struggle in mind. You are on the right path when the story sounds good and is about Jesus more than you.
2. Examine your ways.
Pay close attention to how you move toward porn. Think of your predicament as a kind of “voluntary slavery” in that you’re victimized by porn’s allure but intentional in its pursuit. Consider the details of the path you take (Prov. 7). What are the lies you believe that blind you? “God is not so good”? “Sin is not so dangerous”? Think about what else is happening. Are you angry? Indifferent? Stressed, feeling you deserve a break? What do you really want? When do you think you actually made the decision to pursue porn?
When we walk toward porn, we fail to consider our ways. When we run from it, and we know we’ve been forgiven, we should look back and consider carefully where the path got dangerous.
3. Go public.
This step is the hardest, or at least the most humbling. Pornographic desire thrives in darkness (Col. 1:13).
We confess to others for at least two reasons. First, we need help, and God has given us others to pray for and help us. Second, we want to get as far from the darkness, lies and justifications as possible, and transparency is a way to do that. We could easily argue our sin is private, it’s against God, and it should be handled privately. But if we easily confess to God yet refuse to confess to others, the authenticity of our confession is suspect. Openness is a way we can avoid being tricked by new justifications.
Within God’s boundaries is freedom and contentment; outside is slavery, misery and an insatiable desire for more (Eph. 4:19). It isn’t easy to stay within God’s appointed boundaries, but it’s certainly good.
No one ever regretted saying no to temptations. 
Editors’ note: This is an adapted excerpt from the ESV Men’s Devotional Bible (Crossway, 2015).
Last night, Spotlight took home the award for Best Picture at the Oscars. It was a surprise win, as many critics and commentators seemed sure that The Revenant was going to take home the prize.
If you haven’t seen it, Spotlight tackles the story of The Boston Globe team that brought the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church to light. The film is tough to watch, as it tackles what happened to several boys who served in the church and how the Archdiocese of Boston handled the abuse that happened over the course of several decades.
But that shouldn’t deter audiences, especially leaders in the church from seeing the movie. In fact, there are three things leaders can be aware of as they walk away from the film.
“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse them.” Mitchell Garabedian, Spotlight
What happens when those who are in authority take advantage of that authority? How are those who submit or are under that authority to respond when advantages are taken? While Scripture talks a lot about how people are to respond to authority, it’s not blanket approval to take advantage of those who serve with them.
Church leaders can guard against abuse of power by keeping themselves accountable. Not only within the church but with friends and spouses as well. Leaders need people who will speak truth into their lives. People who can ask tough questions and whom our church leaders will respond to in honesty. The church is a healthier, better place when accountability keeps power in its rightful place.
They say it’s just physical abuse but it’s more than that, this was spiritual abuse. You know why I went along with everything? Because priests, are supposed to be the good guys. Peter Canellos, Spotlight
In 1 Timothy 3, Paul lays out the qualifications for elders and deacons – but these qualifications can also apply to many leaders in the church. And he encourages those who seek to take on the office to serve in leadership as noble.
The opportunity to shepherd, tend, and raise up the flock of Jesus is a privilege. And it is one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Leaders are not special because they lead the body of Jesus. They are expected to model Jesus for the church, sacrificially leading and setting an example as Jesus did for us.
The mantle of leadership is one of humble honor and one of guarding the souls entrusted to them. When that privilege is taken advantage of, it breaks trust in the church. The moment leaders stop seeing the honor in the call from Jesus to feed His flock, pride can creep in and can blind leaders.
As we examine what it means to be servants of the Lord, we must keep in mind that it is grace and mercy to be called by Jesus into His church.
I was eleven. And I was preyed upon by father David Holly in Wester. And I don’t mean prayed for, I mean preyed upon. Phil Saviano, Spotlight
When Jesus commissioned Peter at the end of John 21, He tells Peter to feed His lambs. Lambs are the smallest and the weakest of the flock. They’re innocent, young, and often unable to fend for themselves.
Children and young believers in the church are the same way. They are learning what being a Christian is all about. They’re unsure of themselves, trying to figure out how to grow. It is the job of leaders to protect our young ones. The Word tells us that leaders watch for the souls in the church. Leaders must take care to not abuse the protection that they have been entrusted with.
Jesus set His apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teacher to train the body up for ministry. It is up to leaders in the church to not only protect the flock from the thieves and robbers from outside, but also from inside the church.
We must be aware of what abuse of power, privilege and protection looks like and unafraid to say something. Spotlight is a movie that reminds us of what happens in a community when authority takes liberties and abuses the power afforded it.
As the news fills with sad, tragic and painful stories of abuse from within the Catholic and Evangelical church, our church leaders and congregations must be even more aware regarding what happens in the church. And we must not be silent in the face of abuse. It is on all of us to be aware of sin and to not be afraid to confront it when it happens.
There is a lot of looking down on others in our culture. A few minutes on social media makes this very clear. Sadly, this is even true in our Christian subcultures. On one hand, the looking and talking down is rather surprising because as Christians we should not look down on others. We look to Him. And we stand right before God only by His righteousness, not by anything we have done. On the other hand, the looking and talking down is not surprising. The letters in the New Testament were written to real Christians in real cities, and their lack of unity was a fairly consistent problem that the apostles were addressing. In other words, the looking and talking down is not a new problem.
There is a parable Jesus told because religious leaders were looking down on others.
Ministry leaders who engage or even peruse social media are constantly invited to join arguments that are often built on the foundation of dismissing and reducing others. As ministry leaders who are constantly invited to look down on others, we should remember the parable Jesus told in response to the religious leaders who “looked down on everybody else.” The story Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the story where surprisingly the Pharisee is the villain and the tax collector is the example of humility, was told to people who “trusted themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everybody else” (Luke 18:9).
In the one sentence, we see both the fruit and the root of pride. The root of pride is our self-righteousness, “trusting ourselves” and our goodness. The fruit of our pride is “looking down on everybody else.” In one verse we see a connection between self-righteousness and looking down on others. When we stand in our self-righteousness, we inevitably look down on others. What we look down on in others reveals what we are trusting as the source of our right standing before God.
We should be very careful we are not like the Pharisee in Jesus’ story — the one who thanks God he is not like “those other people.” We should be very careful we are not talking and looking down on others because we are trusting ourselves.
Am I articulating that what we believe does not matter? Absolutely not. Am I suggesting we should not correct error? I am not. We must speak the truth in love. As we hold tightly to the Scripture, we are holding tightly to the Word of God that is “profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16).
What I am saying is that how we look at others and talk to others, and about others, matters. And that the “looking down” and “talking down” can reveal we are finding our worth, our identity, and our standing in things that are less than the righteousness of Christ.
This article originally appeared here.
If you grew up in a Christian home, you almost certainly sang a number of hymns as a child that have stuck with you (for good or ill) throughout your life. I distinctly remember singing the chorus to the hymn, “Count Your Blessings,” with my sister in the back of our parents’ car. The last two lines of the chorus seemed to play on repeat in my little mind: “Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your many blessings see what God has done.” There is a world of theological wisdom in that short stanza. Imagine how much fuller our Christian lives and service would be if we would simply count God’s many blessings—giving Him thanks for each of them. When we return true heartfelt thanksgiving to God for the blessings that He has bountifully given us, further benefits develop. Consider the following:
1. Greater Contentment in Christ.
Contentment is a rare commodity in this fallen world. It is not something to which we naturally gravitate. We sometimes foolishly allow ourselves to think that if we simply had a better job, more money, a bigger house, a more loving spouse, or even a better church, we would be content. However, our outward circumstances will never improve the inward condition of our hearts. The Apostle Paul explained the secret to contentment, when he wrote,
“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:11–13).
If the great Apostle Paul had to learn contentment in Christ, how much more do we! The first step toward learning contentment, is to learn to be thankful for who God is and what He has done for us. The Puritan, Jeremiah Burroughs, wrote, “God expects that every day you should spend some time in blessing His name for what mercy He has granted to you. There is not one of you in the lowest condition, but you have an abundance of mercies to bless God for.” God has provided for us, protected us, forgiven us, instructed us, disciplined us, been longsuffering toward us, and showered His kindness upon us in Christ. How can we not be thankful for all that we have received from His loving and merciful hand! Above all blessings He has showered on us, He has made us citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, heirs of eternal life, and His sons and daughters through the saving work of Jesus Christ.
2. Increased Victory over Sin.
When we are thankful for the many ways God has blessed us, we grow in our desire to overcome sin. The more we return thanksgiving to God for all of His blessings, the less we want to do what is displeasing to Him. Although this is only a part of our growth in grace, it is an indispensable part of it. Without it, we become much more susceptible to succumb to the evil desires of our sin nature. When we count our blessings, we start to see what is of supreme spiritual value. We begin to prioritize the Kingdom of God, and to value God Himself above all else. We start to treasure Christ above any circumstantial aspects of our lives. We find that we long to know Him more. As we grow in our gratitude to God, we grow in our desire to do what is pleasing before Him. We may falter, but—as we return to Him for pardon and power—we find that we gain increasing victory over sin as we live in a state of gratitude for His countless blessings.
3. Encouragement to Fellow Believers.
In some ways, the Christian life is better caught than taught. What a powerful example Joni Eareckson Tada has been to so many Christians throughout the world. I have never listened to her testimony without wanting to grow in gratitude to God. In the midst of her extreme suffering, she has—by God’s grace—exemplified exceeding great joy. In this way, she has become an overwhelming encouragement to the church universal. As we begin to count our blessings—especially in the midst of trying situations—we become examples of encouragement to other believers. This is not to say that we will never have burdened hearts, downcast spirits, or times of sorrow. The Psalms are full of expressions of these experiences in the life of believers. However, it is to highlight what the Apostle summarizes in 2 Corinthians 1, where he says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:3–4).
4. Witness to Unbelievers.
Sinclair Ferguson once speculated whether many artists and musicians live in a constant state of depression, at least in part, because they spend the better part of their time working with great beauty without knowing who to thank for it. If the unbelieving world witnesses Christians counting their blessings—rather than complaining about what they wish they had—it would serve as a powerful witness to the grace of God in Christ. When we offer true spiritual thanksgiving to the triune God—even in times of difficulty (as the Psalmist often did)—we reveal something about God’s saving and sustaining grace to those around us. After all, no one will be truly count their blessings unless they know the God of blessing “from whom every good and every perfect gift comes” (James 1:17).
While so much more could be said, it will suffice for us to take an inventory of the many ways that God has blessed us in Christ, and to return thanks to Him for them. We have much for which to be thankful, and a great God to whom we can direct our thanksgiving. As the Psalmist declared, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble… Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man” (Ps. 107: 1, :8, 15, 21, 31, 48). May our God grant us the grace name our blessings one by one.
*This post is an adaptation of a pastoral letter that was written for the members of Wayside PCA on Signal Mountain, TN.
This article originally appeared here.
We are looking for great deals to stretch our dollars a little further. This is nothing new for those of us in Children’s Ministry. It really doesn’t matter how big or small our churches are…Children’s Ministry leaders want to get the most bang for their children’s ministry budget.
Here are a few tips for stretching your ministry dollars in three of the biggest expense areas: curriculum, snacks, and crafts.
1. Order enough materials for children who attend 75% of the time, plus 2 or 3 more.
2. Better yet, consider switching over to digital curriculum. While you will spend time printing and purchasing paper, this will help reduce overall costs for take-home pages and in-class activity sheets.
3. Search for free lessons online. Check out Sermons4Kids to get started.
4. Invest in reproducible books.
5. Have your congregation or parents donate frequently used items, such as napkins/paper towels, cups, crackers, and O-shaped cereal.
6. Serve water instead of juice.
7. Buy in bulk from a membership warehouse.
8. Find people who love to bake and ask them to bake cupcakes, cookies, brownies, etc.
9. Purchase generic brand snacks.
10. Shop end-of-season and post-holiday sales for seasonal items.
11. Alert your church of needed items and allow them the privilege of donating.
12. Shop early enough to avoid rushed or overnight shipping costs.
13. Buy crayons, glue sticks, and scissors before the school year starts (when school supplies are dirt cheap.)
14. Again, reproducible craft books are a good investment. Here are free coloring pages, free puzzles and worksheets, and free group activities.
15. Use email, your website, and social media for publicity.
16. Swap items with another church. Join Facebook groups for children’s ministry swap & sell like VBS Swap & Sell.
17. Save money on DVD’s by borrowing them from your local library.
18. Ask professionals in your church to teach their specialty to your children, parents, and volunteers.
19. Maintain your resources. For example, keep caps on craft supplies and properly wrap food.
20. Print your own brochures, handbooks, business cards, flyers, etc. Look for templates on Canva.
21. Make black and white copies instead of color.
22. Use white paper instead of colored.
23. When photocopying, use both sides of the paper if you can.
24. Consider using 1/2 sheets of paper to get your message out. That way, you get 2-for-1 sheet of paper!
How do you stretch your children’s ministry budget? Share your ideas below!
The town of Batnaya, Iraq, has been home to Assyrian Christians for several centuries. However, in 2014 ISIS razed the town to the ground in its deranged mission to rid Iraq of Christians. While the town was once home to some 6,000 Chaldean Christians, only several hundred have been able to return at this point. A UK-based charity called Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is hoping to help more people return as they start a project to revive Batnaya.
The rebuilding efforts represent “a new and courageous step forward to secure the future of Batnaya,” ACN Middle East projects director Father Andrzej Halemba said.
ACN’s rebuilding efforts will focus on rebuilding churches so returned residents can have a place to worship. According to a press release on their website, ACN is planning to “restore the parish church of St Kyriakos as well as the nearby Chapel of the Immaculate Conception and rebuild the flattened St Oraha’s Dominican Convent and the kindergarten, which the Sisters will run, catering for 125 children.”
The devastation visited upon Batnaya was mind-numbing. The town was on the front line of fighting between ISIS and coalition forces trying to stop the spread of radical Islam. ISIS fighters demolished houses, churches, and public buildings. They decapitated statues and defaced churches with graffiti. The phrase, “Slaves of the Cross, we will kill you all. This is Islamic territory. You do not belong here,” was scrawled across one church’s walls, ACN reports. ISIS occupied the town for two years, causing the residents to flee to neighboring towns, only to constantly fear being overrun again.
The following video shows the damaged ISIS inflicted on Batnaya.
The town was isolated from the outside world for over four years. In October 2018, the re-opening of the town was celebrated by a peace walk led by church officials.
1/2 Greetings from the homeland where we are witnessing a truly historical day. #Batnaya – a town of 5,000 people prior to the Islamic State, was the last town still cut off from the world. After 4 years and 2 months, the road that leads to Batnaya has finally opened today… pic.twitter.com/vw9d7JuZ3m
— Shlama Foundation (@ShlamaF) October 23, 2018
Part of what makes the rebuilding of the town so tedious is the fact that during the siege and occupation by ISIS, residents burrowed tunnels underneath the buildings to escape violence. Additionally, ACN reports that “widespread booby-trapping has delayed work which could only begin after a huge de-ordnance programme had been completed.”
Hopefully with the rebuilding of houses of worship, more and more residents will return to this town on the Nineveh plain, where Christians have lived for centuries.
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has said a coronavirus vaccine could be up to 18 months away, researchers in Israel say they’re “a few weeks” from having a coronavirus vaccine ready for testing. Scientists at MIGAL, a research institute in Galilee, just happened to be using the coronavirus model to study another infectious disease.
For four years, a team has worked to formulate a vaccine for a bronchial disease that affects poultry. “Our basic concept was to develop the technology and not specifically a vaccine for this kind or that kind of virus,” says Dr. Chen Katz, the institute’s biotechnology group leader. “Let’s call it pure luck. We decided to choose coronavirus as a model for our system just as a proof of concept for our technology.”
After China released the full RNA sequence of the virus, the Israeli researchers discovered a strong genetic similarity between the poultry coronavirus they’d been studying and the new human virus. “All we need to do is adjust the system to the new sequence,” Katz tells the Jerusalem Post. “We are in the middle of this process, and hopefully in a few weeks we will have the vaccine in our hands…to prevent coronavirus.”
Once a coronavirus vaccine is developed, it still must be tested on animals and then humans, followed by large-scale production. Ofir Akunis, Israel’s Science and Technology Minister, says the approval processes will be fast-tracked. MIGAL CEO David Zigdon estimates needing 90 days to “achieve safety approval.” He says, “Given the urgent global need for a human coronavirus vaccine, we are doing everything we can to accelerate development” of the oral vaccine.
BATM, another Israeli company, has created a quick diagnostic kit that tests for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Production is underway on the kits, which BATM says meet the criteria of organizations such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As of February 28, more than 83,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported, affecting every continent except Antarctica. At least 2,800 people have died so far from the disease, which is impacting everything from financial markets to personal interactions. The stock market had its worst week since the economic collapse of 2008, and product shortages are predicted if the epidemic continues.
On Wednesday, President Trump placed Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the U.S. government’s response to the virus. The next day, Pence tweeted: “The risk of Coronavirus in the US remains low & it’s a direct result of the unprecedented action of President @realDonaldTrump. The American people can remain confident, that we will bring the full resources of the federal government to bear to protect the people of this Country.”
Critics say Pence isn’t qualified because of his various “anti-science” stances. For example, they point to his delay in authorizing a needle-exchange program to slow HIV rates while governor of Indiana.
Throughout the world, travel plans are being put on hold, visitors returning from certain areas are being quarantined, and masks are flying off of shelves. In Japan, all schools have been closed for one month, and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo could be in jeopardy.
In Saudi Arabia, officials have taken the rare step of stopping pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca. Though the main 10-day Hajj doesn’t begin until late July, millions of Muslims travel to the country’s holy sites throughout the year.
In Vatican City, speculation arose about the pope’s health after he cancelled some appearances due to illness (reportedly just a cold). During his Ash Wednesday service, a hoarse Pope Francis expressed support for people who have the virus, as well as for workers caring for them.
Here’s the first message in a seven-part series on The Lord’s Prayer. We’re using The Lord’s Prayer to form us spiritually during Lent this year. Join us in these days of preparation by praying The Lord’s Prayer each day.
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
We are quickly entering that season of the Christian Year called Lent, in which we prepare ourselves for the story of Christ’s death and resurrection. Although Lent doesn’t begin this year until Ash Wednesday on March 9, we’re going to start our preparation a little earlier. And this year we’re going to use The Lord’s Prayer as our guide for our own spiritual formation leading up to Easter.
As we gather for the next six Sundays, we will look at each key phrase in The Lord’s Prayer, and we’ll reflect on what that phrase meant for those who heard Jesus personally, and then on what it means for us 20 centuries later.
The Lord’s Prayer is unique in all the prayers of the Bible, and unique in all of the instructions of Jesus to his disciples. John Dominic Crossan, in his book The Greatest Prayer, describes The Lord’s Prayer this way:
“The Lord’s Prayer is Christianity’s greatest prayer. It is also Christianity’s strangest prayer. It is prayed by all Christians, but it never mentions Christ. It is prayed in all churches, but it never mentions church. It is prayed on all Sundays, but it never mentions Sunday. It is called the “Lord’s Prayer,” but it never mentions “Lord.”
“It is prayed by fundamentalist Christians, but it never mentions the inspired inerrancy of the Bible, the virgin birth, the miracles, the atoning death, or bodily resurrection of Christ. It is prayed by evangelical Christians, but it never mentions the evangelium, or gospel. It is prayed by Pentecostal Christians, but it never mentions ecstasy or the Holy Spirit.”
“It is prayed by Congregational, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Roman Catholic Christians, but it never mentions congregation, priest, bishop or pope. It is prayed by Christians who split from one another over this or that doctrine, but it never mentions a single one of those doctrines. It is prayed by Christians who focus on Christ’s substitutionary sacrificial atonement for human sin, but it never mentions Christ, substitution, sacrifice, atonement, or sin.”
“It is prayed by Christians who focus on the next life in heaven or in hell, but it never mentions the next life, heaven, or hell. It is prayed by Christians who emphasize what it never mentions and also by Christians who ignore what it does [mention].” – Prologue, page 1, The Greatest Prayer, John Dominic Crossan
Interestingly, there are very few books available about The Lord’s Prayer itself. While commentaries on Matthew and Luke deal with The Lord’s Prayer, very few books take the prayer Jesus taught his disciples for their entire subject matter.
How could a prayer that is the only prayer Jesus taught us, receive such little attention? That’s why for the next six weeks, we’re going to focus our attention on the greatest prayer in preparation for our celebration of the greatest Sunday, Easter.
Great stories! They can make or break a sermon. A sermon illustration is the neutral zone where the application of the text occurs. If you’re preaching about anger, you probably don’t want to use your head usher as an example, so you need a story everyone can relate to—one that won’t be needlessly offensive. Perhaps a story about your long-departed Uncle Freemont who threw a pot across the room and struck the dog, who turned and bit him.
I learned the value of great stories and illustrations while sitting under the ministry of Dr. H. Edwin Young, who was my pastor years ago in Columbia, South Carolina. His stories never got in the way of his message; they enhanced it. They helped me see how the biblical truth he expounded applied to me.
Good illustrations are always servants of the text. The truth of the biblical passage is the driving force of a sermon or Bible lesson. Illustrations are primarily application tools to show the practicality of the material for daily life. (As a bonus, good stories often wake up groggy listeners and keep children engaged in the message).
Where do we find the stories we need?
In the news sites and news searches, where an entire world of incidents are recorded and reported.
From our own lives and experiences (in moderation).
From conversations with others (with permission).
From biographies and autobiographies.
From analogies in nature or life.
But I want to recommend including occasional stories from history. Like all illustrations, these need to be practiced and well-told. Good speakers are good storytellers, and that takes forethought and practice. But consider this. Where else are your listeners going to learn about the 2000 years of heroes, history, and heritage that brought the Christian faith from apostolic times to the 21st century?
Most churches don’t have classes in church history or about the history of Christianity in America. Most church members aren’t going to read Philip Schaff’s eight-volume history of the Christian church, as good as it is. Telling an occasional story about Athanasius, Augustine, Tyndale, Luther, Whitefield, Brainerd, Wilberforce, Carey, Moody, or Graham is the only means by which most Christians will ever glimpse their heritage.
Who was Mary Magdalene, really? That Mary Magdalene was a prostitute is just one of the many depictions of her put forward over the centuries. She has also been made out to be the seductress of Jesus (for instance, the film The Last Temptation of Christ), Jesus’ wife (a myth debunked by Duke scholar Mark Goodacre—see note below), or a promiscuous woman. None of these claims are supported by the biblical texts.
The Catholic church formally rejected this characterization of Mary in 1969, but it continues to be perpetuated through Easter sermons, as well as books and films like Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Passion of the Christ (2004), The Da Vinci Code (2006) and most recently, Risen (2016), a Columbia Pictures film starring Joseph Fiennes. [2]
The most likely reason Mary is called “The Magdalene” is that she was from Magdala, a thriving fishing town on the coast of Galilee. While there were other towns with similar names, Magdala is within walking distance of Capernaum, where Jesus was based at the start of his ministry. Recent archaeological findings in the current day Israeli town of Migdal, including a first century-synagogue, support this explanation.
There are other theories about the title “Magdalene” (explained here). Whatever the origin, this “nickname” helps us distinguish her from the half-dozen Marys mentioned in the Bible. Of course, the most distinguishing characteristic about this Mary is that Jesus cast seven demons out of her (Luke 8:2-3).
The characterization of Mary Magdalene as an adulteress or prostitute shows up several hundred years after the time of Christ when her identity was merged with that of the sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet). This “composite Magdalene” was popularized in a sermon given by Pope Gregory I around 591 AD. Here is an excerpt:
She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? It is clear, brothers, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts… What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner.” — Pope Gregory the Great (homily XXXIII)
Conflating the stories of biblical characters was not uncommon in those days. But Mary Magdalene is named at least 12 times in the gospels, and not one of those references supports this interpretation. [3]
The most important thing to know about Mary is the depth of her devotion to Jesus. The gospel writers are specific in noting that Mary and a number of other women had followed Jesus from Galilee (Matthew 27:55). The first mention of her is in Luke 8:2-3, so we know that she was with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry. The last mention is in John 20, where we find Jesus appearing to her at the empty tomb.
Mary left home and all that she had to follow Jesus for most of his three year public ministry. The film Magdalena: Released From Shame imagines this experience for us from Mary’s perspective.
In Luke 8:1-3 we read that at the start of Jesus’ ministry:
The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.”
Most scholars agree that this was financial support rather than domestic support, although the women probably did that as well. Bauchman writes “throughout the New Testament and frequently outside the New Testament [the Greek phrase used here] refers to material possessions or economic means” (p. 113). For example, the same term is used in Matthew 19:21 when Jesus tells the rich young ruler to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor.
You may be called to ministry but not everything that comes from heaven has your name on it.
While all Christians are called to evangelize, give, serve, and pray (among other spiritual gifts), we are not all called to everything equally or gifted equally for them.
Not everything that comes from heaven has your name on it. But something does.
The question is: How can you discern your gifts so that you can then devote yourself to them?
Do you just read the list of spiritual gifts and wait until you feel a warm fuzzy feeling about one of them? Do you take one of those spiritual gifts tests, like a personality quiz but with Bible verses attached?
My friend Joby Martin told me that early in his ministry, he went into a charismatic church and was handed one of those quizzes. He didn’t even understand the questions. He remembers one of them being something like, “If your left foot was possessed by a demonic angel, would you cut it off or attempt to cast the demon out?”
Um … are these my only options?
When Pastor Joby got the results back, he was told he had the gift of martyrdom. Not the most encouraging result. What was he supposed to do with a gift that he could only use once?
There can be some value in spiritual gifts evaluations. But let me give you a tool I’ve found helpful that’s inspired by Jim Collins’ Good to Great. This Venn diagram shows how you can determine your giftings by finding where your ability, affinity, and affirmation meet:
1. Ability. What are you good at?
If you’re young, you may not be quite sure what this is yet. That’s fine. If that’s you, pour yourself into school, or work, or whatever training is in front of you. And read the cues of your circumstances to figure out how God has wired you to succeed. Some of us are good at public speaking. Others of us would choose the flu over any public speaking engagement. Some of us have sharp, organizational minds. Others of us panic at the sight of a spreadsheet.
That’s the first thing: Know what you’re good at, and be content knowing you won’t be good at everything.
2. Affinity. What you are passionate about?
What needs are you drawn to? What kind of ministry feels satisfying to you?
For many people, reflecting on their past experiences will be really helpful because God allowed you to go through some painful chapter or unique experience so you could minister to others. I know many who have walked through cancer, the death of a child, or mistakes from their past who are uniquely gifted to minister to others in the same situations. They speak the language of lament more fluently and can minister to others in situations of deep pain.
Or, maybe you’re just aware of certain needs that others don’t see. When you see something that is lacking, instead of just complaining about it, you see it as God’s invitation to do something about it.
3. Affirmation.
This is where people confirm God is using your strengths to impact their lives.
Where do people tell you God uses you? God gave his church to see what we can’t see—blind spots regarding strengths and gifts we may not know we have.
The church can also warn you when you’re not good at something you think you are. I’ve met church planters and pastors who are convinced they have the gift of preaching, but apparently, nobody has the gift of hearing them preach. Not many of us are good at self-assessment, which is why we need the church.
Sometimes that affirmation can occur supernaturally, too, through words of prophecy. The Apostle Paul, in his letters, refers to gifts that were put into people through the laying on of hands or called out in them when they didn’t know it.
I don’t see anything in Scripture indicating that this sort of prophecy has disappeared. Of course, you have to hold this in balance, because words of prophecy can be wrong. They aren’t as infallible as the Bible. But we shouldn’t be turned off of the miraculous gifts just because some practice it poorly. If we stayed away from spiritual gifts because they were misused, we wouldn’t practice any of them.
Take a look back at that Venn diagram again. The best way to determine your gifts is to look at the confluence of all three—ability, affinity, and affirmation.
If you really want to figure out those three things, then you just need to get busy serving.
The Summit’s college pastor, Wes Smith, regularly tells students, “Don’t focus on finding your gifts. It’s OK if you aren’t sure what they are yet. They develop and are revealed in the context of ministry. It’s more important right now to develop the pattern of service than it is to pinpoint the specific gift. Start being the body to one another, and the gifts will manifest.”
God steers moving ships! You have to start moving forward before you can direct the boat. The same thing is true with spiritual gifts: Get going forward in serving, and God will direct you.
This article originally appeared here.
A little poison goes a long way.
The leaders on your team may be gifted and high capacity people, but no amount of talent can prevent teamwork toxin from taking its toll.
I’ve been asked many times, “Would you really let someone go for a bad attitude?”
My response is always the same, “Would you really pay someone for a bad attitude?!”
I never delight in someone being released from a team, but yes, without a change, I would let them go. I’m not willing to pay anyone for a lousy attitude. That kind of attitude is available for free.
(This principle is not limited to paid staff.)
Here’s the thing. Attitude is a choice.
You can have an honest and kind conversation with someone that exposes their attitude. They can go home that night, think about it, pray, and get a good night’s sleep. Then they can literally decide to come back the next day with a good attitude.
It’s not easy, but it is that simple.
However, it’s never only the fault or responsibility of the team member. As team leaders we share responsibility as well.
Our main contribution is often allowing it to go too long without having the honest conversation. We always get what we allow.
And sometimes, hopefully not often, we are not leading in a way that brings out the best. It’s always good to look in the mirror first.
Assuming you are leading well, and that ultimately there is no excuse for a bad attitude, it’s just not something that is acceptable.
Don’t let the toxins ruin your team.
Don’t let these four teamwork toxins poison your team.
You have enough legit problems to solve. Invest your time-solving problems that help make progress and great teamwork.
Notice that all four are attitudes, not skills.
What are the values and practices of your culture? Make them known and live them out.
Always focus on what you are for and put most of your energy there.
Don’t assume that unique values within your culture are common knowledge, let alone accepted and practiced.
We are all human, and under pressure, we can quickly slide into an unhealthy attitude. Because of that reality there are times when you need to be clear about what doesn’t work in your culture.
The only way your team knows what is unacceptable is if you tell them and set a good example.
It’s always best to emphasize and focus on the positive traits of a team, but on occasion, it’s essential to communicate what is unacceptable.
Remember, it’s important that you never declare that something is unacceptable that you are not willing to take action upon. You need to back up what you say, or don’t say it.
It’s not necessary to be aggressive or mean, but clear and firm is needed.
There is no need for public confrontation unless it’s a flagrant and repeated demonstration of a bad attitude in group settings.
Normally, just take the person aside and engage them in a very clear and candid conversation. Let them know that a poor attitude will not be tolerated, and if it continues, they will lose their spot on the team.
Don’t lead with a threat. Affirm your belief in them as their best self. Ask questions to see if something is going on in their personal life that helps explain their attitude.
In short, give the benefit of the doubt. Talk about the obvious benefits of a great attitude and the downside of a poor attitude.
Make sure they see and agree with your perception of their attitude before taking any further steps. You can’t coach what they can’t see, understand or disagree with.
If the sour attitude persists, action must be taken.
Redemption should always be the first goal when confronting someone who is pouring poison into the culture. But unlike coaching someone to improve a skill, you don’t have much time when coaching an attitude.
As I mentioned attitude is a choice. They will either choose to make a change or not.
Nonetheless, coach for improvement first by encouraging them, letting them know you care, and you want them on the team.
If it is something of a personal nature that is underneath the sour disposition, listen at a heart level and show genuine empathy. Maybe they need counseling. Maybe a few days off to gather their composure. If this is the case, extend a little more grace and time for change.
Perhaps they have lost sight of the vision, or feel entitled to a promotion, or disagree with a decision that was made. Coach them to higher ground.
If the leader makes the attitude adjustment, great! Let them know they are doing great and press on!
If they don’t turn the corner quickly, have one more meeting. Ask if they understood the expectation and ramifications of no change.
Give grace with another short amount of time. If no change is made, they made their choice, and you must be prepared to make the tough call.
They will need to step off the team, but this should never be a surprise. There should be written notes, verbal understanding and confidence that everything possible was done to make it work.
Let’s be candid, it’s challenging enough to coach skills, develop leadership and achieve the desired goals with good attitudes. So don’t let poison ruin great teamwork and diminish your results. Set the bar high and enjoy both the relationships and the results!
This article originally appeared here.
A few years ago, my friend Gabe Lyons and Dave Kinnaman wrote unChristian, a sobering commentary on Christianity’s decline in the West due to departure from the biblical vision to engage a secular world with grace and love. Similarly, Philip Yancey once said in an interview,
When I ask people, “What is a Christian?” they don’t usually respond with words like love, compassion, grace; usually, they describe a person who’s anti-something. Jesus was not primarily known for what he was against. He was known for serving people who had needs, feeding people who were hungry, and giving water to the thirsty. If we [Christians] were known primarily for that, then we could cut through so many divisions… Christians often have a bad reputation. People think of Christians as uptight and judgmental. Odd, I thought, that [our version of Christianity] has come to convey the opposite of God’s intent, as it’s lived out through us.
Somehow, in a sincere effort to “speak the truth,” we can lose our way. How easy it is to forget that truth, in order to be true in the truest sense, must be spoken in love.
Jesus affirmed some and critiqued others. But what might surprise us is who Jesus affirmed and who He critiqued.
Consider Peter. Even though Peter was hot-headed, fell asleep when Jesus asked him to pray, and betrayed Jesus at His darkest hour, Jesus called Him “the Rock” because Peter’s confession of Jesus as Messiah was the rock on which He would build His church.
Jesus reached out the morally compromised Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). He invited a crook to be one of His disciples (Matthew 9). He praised the promiscuous woman who anointed him at Simon’s house with extravagant—and very unorthodox—expressions of love (Luke 7). He regularly ate with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors. He hung out with lepers and women and little children, all of whom were at the bottom of the social pecking order. Jesus, the author of all truth, beauty, and goodness, was quick to affirm, embrace, and keep company with the most unlikely people.
The only people Jesus seemed to chastise were dutiful religious people who, because of their dutifulness, were quite sure of themselves—priests, Levites, Bible scholars, as well as committed pray-ers, money givers, and churchgoers. Wherever there was self-congratulating and superiority, Jesus was unimpressed. He gave no applause to those known for bravado. He critiqued them sharply and often; told them they were not children of Abraham but children of the devil; called them blind guides who don’t practice what they preach, narcissists who honor themselves instead of God, hypocrites who neglect justice and mercy and shed innocent blood, and whose devotion was a self-indulgent show.
And yet, their self-praise reflected not only a prideful root but a needy one. Their posture of needing praise so deeply that they felt compelled to muster up praise for themselves wasn’t just off-putting and offensive. It was also very sad.
Comedian Tom Arnold once confessed in an interview about his book, How I Lost Five Pounds in Six Years, that most entertainers are in show business because they are broken people, looking for affirmation. “The reason I wrote this book,” Arnold said, “is because I wanted something out there so people would tell me they liked me. It’s the reason behind almost everything I do.”
Tom Arnold is not alone. He wanted to be liked. Who cannot identify with a craving for affirmation?
Some call this neediness. Others call it the image of a God whose nature invites not only people, but rocks and trees and skies and seas, to praise Him. The chief end of everyone and everything, we are told, is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We have been designed to be a reflection of Him. This means that receptivity to and desire for praise is deeply ingrained in us. In other words, it is natural.
Demanding recognition and praise is neither good nor healthy. Desiring it is both.
This is why the gospel, the truth that we have been given all the affirmation we will ever need in Christ, is such good news.
This longing for affirmation makes sense. Both existentially real and biblically true, it is the reason we Christians should be the most affirming people in the world. Rather than rushing to find fault, we should proactively seek opportunities to, as Tim Keller calls it, “catch others doing good” and to encourage (literally, put courage into) others.
Jesus certainly understood this, and so must we.
But What About Speaking the Truth?
“But,” a Christian may ask, “Doesn’t critique play some sort of role in the life of a believer?” Shouldn’t Christians speak truth and warn people about sin and judgment? Shouldn’t Christians shine as light in dark places, call people to repent and believe, and go into the world and teach people to obey everything that Jesus commanded?
Shouldn’t we expect that as we do these things there will be people who treat us like enemies and who say, like Gandhi once did, “I do not like your Christians?
Yes, in some instances we should. Even when done in love, speaking the truth, shining as light in darkness, and taking up a cross to follow Jesus will draw certain forms of opposition. But if people are going to oppose us, let’s at least make sure, as far as it depends on us, that they are the same kinds of people who opposed Jesus.
Smug religious people wanted to throw him off a cliff.
People with special needs, little children, women, as well as sexually damaged people, crooks, charlatans, prodigals and addicts couldn’t get enough of him.
I remember watching an interview with Mariah Carey, who at the time was in her late twenties and had accumulated more #1 hits than anyone in music except for Elvis Presley and the Beatles. The interviewer asked Carey if there was anything left for her to accomplish. She sat quietly for a moment, then replied, “Happiness.” The interviewer, thrown off by the answer, asked how this could be true. Carey didn’t even have to think about it. Right away she said she could hear a thousand praises and then just one criticism, and the one criticism would wreck her emotionally.
What does criticism accomplish? Really?
How many people do you know who started following Jesus because someone scolded them, disapproved of them because of their substandard ethics, or made it clear how appalling their “lifestyle” is? I have been a Christian for more than twenty-five years and a minister for seventeen. I have never met one.
So, does that mean we just “live and let live” when we see friends and family exhibiting destructive behaviors? Of course not. When a friend is caught in addiction or destructive behavior, the loving thing to do is to help them out of it through intervention.
But intervention is not criticism, it’s critique. Critique always comes from the motive of restoring and building up, unlike criticism, which aims to harm and shame. Critique, in the end, will leave a person feeling cared for and built up. Criticism will leave a person feeling belittled and beaten down. Paul says, “If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.”
Restore…in a spirit of gentleness.
Sometimes love calls us to be courageous because it takes courage to offer a redemptive critique. Similarly, it takes courage to receive critique, even when it is redemptive. Yet this is what we are called into – like iron sharpening iron, we can help one another grow into the likeness of Jesus. We speak the truth in love to another, to build up the body of Christ, but leave judging those outside the body to God (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).
If we want to really reflect Jesus to the world and also amongst ourselves, let’s not be known for what we’re against, but for loving as we have been loved.
Yes?
So, critique where you must. Affirm whenever and wherever you can.
This article originally appeared here.
Rioting erupted over India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Delhi earlier this week. While the riots have been occurring for months now, a particularly deadly riot coincided with U.S. President Trump’s visit to India this week. Although it wasn’t intentional, Trump’s visit has placed a spotlight on the growing violence religious minorities, including Indian Christians, experience.
In a speech Trump gave to Indian supporters, Trump lauded the country for its “unity;” he later commended Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for working toward religious liberty. “We discussed about Muslims and Christians and we talked about religious liberty. Prime Minister Modi told me that they are working very closely with the Muslim community,” Trump told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday, February 25th. The U.S. President also said “The Prime Minister was incredible about religious freedom. He wants people to have religious freedom and they are working very hard on it.”
Despite Trump’s diplomatic comments, though, the rise in religious persecution in India while Modi’s Hindu-majority political party has been in power presents a seemingly different case.
Modi belongs to the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which many political commentators argue is enabling a rise in violence against religious minorities in India. Christians and Muslims in particular are feeling the effects of the BJP being in power. In its 2020 World Watch List, Open Doors reported that 447 verified incidents of violence and hate crimes against Christians occurred in India over the last year.
A recent report from the Telegraph gives voice to Christians whose very livelihood is being threatened by fellow Indian citizens. Whether their businesses or crops are being targeted by vigilante attacks or they are being beaten or killed, Christians in India face persecution with little to no help from the police for protection. The Telegraph goes on to describe a lack of justice for those persecuted. Out of over 300 attacks that Indian Christians sustained in 2019, only 36 cases were filed by police, and none of those cases have been brought to prosecution. To make matters worse, it takes a very long time for cases involving Christians to make it into an Indian court–up to four years–during which time the victim is left open to further attack.
According to the Telegraph, the main perpetrator of the violence against Christians is an all-male paramilitary youth group with ties to the BJP. The group is called Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the members are known for attacking people with bamboo sticks bound in iron called lathi. The Alliance Defending Freedom reports a 220 percent increase in violent attacks on Christians since Modi’s 2014 rise to power.
Modi’s government has also adversely affected the work of Compassion International, causing that U.S.-based nonprofit to severely curtail its operations in India.
Muslims are also a religious minority in the predominately Hindu country and often face persecution and discrimination. The recent riots in Delhi concern discrimination against Muslims. The riots evolved from clashes between protestors for and against the controversial CAA which the Indian government passed in December. This act allows for the naturalization of non-Muslim people who have escaped religious persecution in surrounding countries. Critics of the CAA, including India’s Muslim population, claim the act deliberately ignores refugees from Myanmar (Rohingya Muslims) in particular and other Muslims attempting to escape dire situations. Nine people have died in the clashes and at least a hundred more people have sustained injuries.
Trump was in India Monday and Tuesday. The topic of religious liberty and the country’s lack thereof doesn’t appear to be one of the main points of discussion during the meetings with the two world leaders, although Trump indicated it did come up. Instead, discussion mainly involved the topics of defense, trade, developing India’s renewable energy, and quelling drug trafficking and terrorism. Trump even offered to help in negotiations between India and Pakistan because he has “a very good relationship with [Pakistan’s] Prime Minister Khan.”
This is Trump’s first visit to India since his inauguration in 2017. He struck a very diplomatic chord, one his critics are extremely upset over, considering the human rights violations to which Modi’s government appears to be turning a blind eye. In fact, Trump even dodged a question about the controversial CAA, calling it an internal affair. According to New India Express, Trump said “It is for India to do and hopefully they will do the right thing.”
In a speech, Trump emphasized the similarities in goals between the countries and indicated his desire for the U.S. and India to work together into the future:
In America and in India we know that we are all born for a higher purpose, to reach toward our fullest potential, to work toward excellence and perfection and to give all glory to God. Powered by this spirit, Indians and Americans are always striving to be greater, our people are always seeking to be better, and so our nations have become thriving centers of culture and commerce and civilization giving light and vitality to all of the world.
A new Barna study highlights the current attitudes Americans have toward attending church services. Notable trends found by Barna Group’s “State of the Church” project include that church hopping is increasing, church membership is declining among younger attendees, and people’s mixed perceptions of the church are calling its relevance into question. Among the study’s encouraging findings were that there are multiple spiritual benefits of church membership and that many churchgoers said they enjoyed attending church.
The Barna study is the “first of its kind” for the company and the “most comprehensive look” at the church that the organization has conducted in its 35-year history. The project divided American churchgoers into two categories, “practicing Christians” and “churched adults.” The first group of 63.5 million is comprised of people who are the most committed to their faith. As defined by Barna, practicing Christians attend church a minimum of once per month and say their faith is “very important” to them. This group is a subset of the broader category of churched adults, who number 124.4 million and have attended church at least once in the past six months.
The first trend Barna highlighted from its research is that church hopping is becoming more normal. Most churchgoers (63 percent of churched adults and 72 percent of practicing Christians) still attend one church. However, a “sizable minority” attends a different church “at least occasionally” (38 percent of churched adults and 27 percent of practicing Christians).
Something noteworthy about this trend is that even if people attend more than one church, this does not mean their average attendance is lower than it would have been otherwise. “In other words,” says Barna, “just because they select from a handful of different churches to attend doesn’t make them any less likely to actually attend church on any given weekend.”
Another trend Barna found was that it is becoming less common for younger people to be members of a church, even though church membership in general is “still a common practice.” Younger church attendees were much more likely to see church membership as irrelevant. However, Barna president David Kinnaman says that church membership is still “highly relevant” because of the positive outcomes researchers found associated with it. Being a member of a church correlated with it being more likely for attendees to feel they had connected with God at church services, as well as more likely that they would feel that worship services had challenged them to change something in their lives. Membership also made it more likely that people would attend church, feel encouraged by the service, and read their Bibles because they enjoyed doing so.
Another trend the Barna study highlighted pertained to how people perceive church. The company described its findings on this topic as “paradoxical.” While a majority of churchgoers said that enjoying church was a motivation for them to attend (65 percent of churched adults and 82 percent of practicing Christians), around half (57 percent of churched adults and 45 percent of practicing Christians) said people they know are tired of the typical church experience. Regarding dissatisfaction with church, Barna said, “While you might think that some groups of Christians are more likely than others to feel this way, data show no significant difference across denomination, generation or faith segment.”
A related trend arose from the emotions people expect to have after attending a church service. Says Kinnaman, “We must emphasize the reality that, week in and week out, today’s church leaders are tasked with meeting a diverse set of emotional expectations.” On the one hand, churched adults reported feeling a variety of positive emotions every time they leave a worship service. Thirty-seven percent said they feel encouraged, 33 percent said they feel like they have experienced God, and 29 percent said attending church was “the most important experience” of their week.
Yet at the same time, 40 percent of churched adults also said they leave church feeling guilty, and 32 percent reported being disappointed “at least half of the time.” This mix of expectations likely makes the task of pastors more difficult. Kinnaman also observes, “In survey research, people tend to under-report negative experiences. As researchers, we have to amplify the times when they have the courage to report these kinds of disappointing experiences, and acknowledge there may be other ways a worship community has let them down, beyond those listed here.”
The final trend the Barna study singled out was the different perceptions that American Christians and non-Christians, respectively, have of the church. Practicing Christians have a much more positive view of church than the general non-Christian population. Sixty-six percent of practicing Christians said the church has a “very positive” impact on their communities, but only 27 percent of non-Christians agreed. Non-Christians mostly perceive the church as either not having any impact or as having a harmful impact on their communities.
While Barna found that the majority of practicing Christians and non-Christians view the Christian faith in a positive light, 10 percent of all Americans, no matter their age, race or denomination, see the church as irrelevant. “Even some who are committed members of the Church feel it is falling out of style,” Barna reports. “The percentage of practicing Christian Millennials who agree the Church is irrelevant today is the same as non-Christians who hold this view (25 percent each definitely agree).”
Barna concludes,
While it’s true that many churchgoers enjoy gathering with others to worship and are even open to official congregational membership, the reputation of the Church (locally and universally) is in question. This fact is crystallizing as Barna listens to more people from the younger generation entering adulthood, perhaps most represented among those who are “tired” of church as they know it.
Barna will be releasing monthly findings throughout 2020 about the state of the church. Church leaders who wish to be updated as the project progresses can sign up for those reports here.
Dear Timothy,
You asked me in your last letter, “As you look back over 25 years of ministry, what was the most helpful, optional spiritual discipline that you maintained for your own spiritual life and for your preaching and pastoral ministry?” I answer without hesitation: Maintaining a steady diet of Puritan literature.
Reading Puritan literature has been a major boon for me spiritually for many years. When the Holy Spirit began to convict me of the seriousness of sin and the spirituality of the law at age fourteen, I searched the Scriptures and devoured Puritan literature from my father’s bookcase. My mother would call upstairs each evening at 11:00 p.m., “Lights out!” After my parents’ lights went out, I would turn mine back on and read until 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. I read all the Puritan titles published by Banner of Truth Trust with relish, started a church library, then founded a non-profit organization called Bible Truth Books and later, as a minister, Reformation Heritage Books. I have spent thousands of hours with Puritan writers in my life and sold tens of thousands of Puritan books over the spread of the last thirty-five years.
Why?
First, let me tell you briefly what I mean by “the Puritans,” then show you how reading the Puritans can be so profitable for you. Simply put, my use of the word Puritan includes not only those people who were ejected from the Church of England by the Act of Uniformity in 1662, but also those in Britain and North America who, for several generations after the Reformation, worked to reform and purify the church and to lead people toward biblical, godly living consistent with the Reformed doctrines of grace.[1]
Puritanism grew out of at least three needs: (1) the need for biblical preaching and the teaching of sound, Reformed doctrine; (2) the need for biblical, personal piety that stresses the work of the Holy Spirit in the faith and life of the believer; and (3) the need for a restoration of biblical simplicity in liturgy, vestments, and church government, so that a well-ordered church life would promote the worship of the triune God as prescribed in His Word.[2] Doctrinally, Puritanism was a kind of broad and vigorous Calvinism; experientially, it was a warm and contagious kind of Christianity; evangelistically, it was tender as well as aggressive.[3] J.I. Packer wrote, “Puritanism was, at its heart, a movement of spiritual revival.”[4]
With the Spirit’s blessing, here’s how the Puritans can profit you:[5]
More than any other group of writers in church history, the Puritans show us how to shape our entire lives and preaching by the Holy Scriptures.
The Puritans were people of the living Book. They loved, lived, and breathed Scripture, relishing the power of the Spirit that accompanied the Word.[6] They regarded the sixty-six books of Scripture as the library of the Holy Spirit that was graciously bequeathed to them. They viewed Scripture to be God speaking to them as a father speaks to his children. They saw the Word as truth they could trust in and rest upon for all eternity. They saw it as Spirit-empowered to renew their minds and transform their lives.
The Puritans searched, heard, and sang the Word with delight, and encouraged others to do the same. Puritan Richard Greenham suggested eight ways to read Scripture: with diligence, wisdom, preparation, meditation, conference, faith, practice, and prayer.[7] Thomas Watson provided numerous guidelines on how to listen to the Word. Come to the Word with a holy appetite and a teachable heart. Sit under the Word attentively, receive it with meekness, and mingle it with faith. Then retain the Word, pray over it, practice it, and speak to others about it.[8] “Dreadful is their case who go loaded with sermons to hell,” Watson warned. By contrast, those who respond to Scripture as a “love letter sent to you from God” will experience its warming, transforming power.[9]
“Feed upon the Word,” the Puritan preacher John Cotton exhorted his congregation.[10] The preface to the Geneva Bible contains similar advice, saying the Bible is “the light to our paths, the key of the kingdom of heaven, our comfort in affliction, our shield and sword against Satan, the school of all wisdom, the glass wherein we behold God’s face, the testimony of his favor, and the only food and nourishment of our souls.”[11]
The Puritans sounded a clarion call to become intensely Word-centered in faith and practice. Richard Baxter’s Christian Directory shows how the Puritans regarded the Bible as a trustworthy guide for all of life. Every case of conscience was subjected to Scripture’s directives. Henry Smith preached to his congregation, “We should set the Word of God alway before us like a rule, and believe nothing but that which it teacheth, love nothing but that which it prescribeth, hate nothing but that which it forbiddeth, do nothing but that which it commandeth.”[12] Perhaps John Flavel said it best, “The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying.”[13]
There are four areas of life that every man faces every day. And the way they are handled will bring either joy and success or pain and failure.
Any one of these areas can consume the majority of your time and attention. And to the degree that you have not learned to master them, you will inevitably experience a compounding effect of problems that create stress, chaos and unavoidable, hurtful consequences for you and those around you.
But learning to master these will give you freedom to live out your purpose and fulfill your role. Men are internally wired to be protectors, providers and leaders. But if these everyday areas of life are not under control, you cannot successfully live out your purpose and role in life.
Real men ask for help when they need it.
Most men don’t. We don’t like to be told how to do things. We like to figure things out on our own. We like our independence and have an image of ourselves as mavericks able to blaze our own trail. The only problem is that even if we know where we want to end up, we don’t always know how to get there. How many times while driving somewhere have you stubbornly refused directions because you thought you knew the way, but you ended up lost.
Without some basic instructions in these four key areas of life, you can easily get confused, off track, unproductive and ineffective. The decisions you make and the actions you take will cause outcomes that will either make or break you. Let’s face it, if we are willing to set our egos aside, show some transparent vulnerability and ask for help, we put ourselves in a position to learn, grow, succeed and lead.
A number of years ago, I finally came to the realization that I could use some help when it came to mastering things that I didn’t have expertise in. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to tackle these areas. It’s just that I didn’t have the experience to qualify me to know how to master these areas of life. But it’s not that complicated and doesn’t need to be intimidating.
To master is to learn the skills needed to become proficient in overcoming the fears and the challenges in these four key areas of life.
And what’s the point in mastering your faith, family, fitness and finances? Is it just for the sake of becoming a better you? Will it cause you to become even more self-absorbed, trying to reach the pinnacle of all you can be? Perhaps. But only if you are too short-sighted to see the bigger picture.
It’s not just about you, and you don’t want it that way anyhow. Nobody wants to be selfish and no one wants to be around someone who is. But if the outcome of mastering these areas can cause you to be better equipped to help others, then you can avoid self-centered motives.
So first things first. Do a quick evaluation of how things are going in each one of these areas.
For example, maybe you’re not really sure the whole faith thing is relevant. God is out there somewhere, and you’re slugging it out here on planet earth, so why think He would be involved in the details of your everyday life? Or you just don’t know enough about the whole subject and don’t want to take the time to learn.
Today is Ash Wednesday, which means that Christians all over the world are beginning the observance of Lent 2020, a 40-day season (not counting six feast days) of fasting that leads up to Easter. You might be totally unfamiliar with Lent—or even suspicious of it—but there are still excellent reasons to observe it…and plenty of creative ways to do so!
“I can say that my experience of intentionally walking through Lent has given me an annual spiritual check-up,” says Greg Goebel in his article, “What Is Lent and How Should I Observe It?” “It has given me a time when I have been able to ask God to show me my sins and flaws…And after about 10 years of Lent, I felt that I finally began to see how much God was showing me his total love and grace.”
Lent is a season in the Christian liturgical calendar that anticipates Jesus’ resurrection; it starts on Ash Wednesday and ends during Holy Week, the week that leads up to Easter Sunday. Other seasons in the Christian calendar include Advent, Easter, and Ordinary Time. The roots of Lent go back to the practices of Christian converts in the early church, who would fast in preparation for being baptized on Easter morning. Eventually, Lent became associated with Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness.
It is common for modern Christians to choose something to fast from during Lent, whether a type of food, a habit, or some other comfort. Participants can break their fast on Sundays, which are “feast days” that foreshadow Easter.
There are a number of reasons why Christians can be skeptical about the benefits of observing Lent. Some Protestants look down on Lent because they associate it with Catholicism. But Trevin Wax points out that it would be incorrect to assume that Lent does not have a rich history apart from the Catholic church. It would also be wrong to assume that every ritual the Reformers or other Protestants have thrown out was inherently problematic.
Another reason people don’t practice Lent is that the Bible does not prescribe it. A related concern is that following Lent could result in legalism or in following empty rituals. It is true that Lent is not in the Bible, and it would in fact be legalistic to make people feel as though they had to observe it in order to honor God. But as Pastor Glenn Packiam says, “Then again, you don’t need to have a date night with your wife; you don’t need to have family vacations. But rhythms and routines are ways of reinforcing a desire.”
Anything can become an empty ritual, notes Goebel, even practices that do not seem ritualistic. He writes, “I grew up in a very free flowing, non-denominational church. Yet there were certain praise songs, or local practices and emphasis that became very common and rote. Legalism and rote-ness are not inherently bound up in any tradition. They come from within our own hearts.”
Consider also the fact that even though the Bible does not command believers to follow Lent, it does assume the practice of fasting, which seems to be a lost discipline in the evangelical world. Done with the right attitude, fasting is a way for Christians to willingly deny themselves something good (whether food or otherwise) in order to seek and “feast” on God in a more focused way. And Lent in particular is an opportunity to join the global church in pursuing a deeper understanding of our relationship with Jesus.
Fasting often falls into different categories, observes Ben Sternke, and the Catholic and Anglican churches have each made specific suggestions to the members of their denominations. Pope Francis has recommended that for Lent 2020, people give up damaging words. He said, “We live in an atmosphere polluted by too much verbal violence, too many offensive and harmful words, which are amplified by the internet. Today, people insult each other as if they were saying ‘Good Day.’”
The Church of England has suggested that for Lent 2020, people focus on caring for God’s creation. To that end, the church has developed an app called #LiveLent. Those who sign up for it will receive a daily reflection, Scripture reading, and prayer, as well as a specific daily challenge pertaining to that goal.
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