pursuing faithfulness to the Word of God and fullness of the Spirit of God
Archive for August, 2009
Together at Accelerate 09
Aug 31st
I got back today from the Newfrontiers “Together at Accelerate” conference, which is a mini-Bible week running over the bank holiday weekend for the churches in the “Wessex” region. Here’s a few miscellaneous thoughts about what was a great holiday for our family.
First the bad. The less said about the football tournament the better. We crashed out in the first round, and I drew the short straw to play in goal so didn’t even get a proper game.
There was a better layout to the site this year, with tents surrounding the big top rather than all at one end, which made us a lot closer to the action than last year. And like last year, it was a very well run event – a superb effort from the organizational team.
Evan Rogers led worship for the opening meetings which those who have heard him before will know means lots of silly dancing. While his style not to everyone’s taste, you had to be impressed at the way he managed to get everyone joining in, and it gave a good kick-start to the weekend.
John Groves preached on the first night, and the remainder of the talks were shared between Guy Miller and a visiting Indian speaker Vinu Paul. I only heard one of Vinu’s talks, in which he gave a very Pentecostal style reminder of the vital need of the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives.
He warned us against low-risk Christianity which revolves around cake and coffee. I thought Guy Miller’s messages were well targeted and challenging. At the Brighton leaders conference, many of the talks revolve around how to be an inspiring visionary leader, but Guy made it very applicable to the whole church by tackling issues such as the importance of family, of sexual purity, submission to authority, and of how we behave in the workplace. If we are to be a ‘kingdom’ people, we need this kind of practical teaching on what it means to live under the rule of King Jesus.
One slightly interesting thing about this weekend is that it featured churches in the “apostolic sphere” of Guy Miller and his apostolic team. This was why we had the visiting speaker from India, and also why there were a good number from a church plant in Portugal. But the fact remained that for the British churches, we were simply carved up by region.
I still think newfrontiers need to wrestle with how they deal with the inevitable tendency for apostolic movements to tend towards a structure with regional apostles over time. If we say that “apostolic spheres” are built on relationship (particularly through an apostle being involved in the planting of the churches in his ‘sphere’), rather than on geography, do we not set ourselves up for tension in the future where churches are in the region of an apostolic leader but do not particularly consider themselves have a close relationship with him? I guess I am saying that the mechanics of a future for newfrontiers of “interconnected apostolic spheres” is a little unclear to me. This is a particular problem for established churches who may not really consider themselves to be in anyone’s “apostolic sphere”.
Although these smaller and shorter gatherings don’t quite reach the same heights that the old Stoneleigh Bible weeks did, I am glad to see they are becoming a regular fixture in the church calendar. Whilst the Brighton Leaders Conference and Mobilise serve as something of a replacement for envisioning church leaders and students, I always felt that the ‘ordinary’ church members were missing out, so it was great so see many families and grandparents on site – people who would never make it to the Brighton conference. It was also good to see many people still very new and immature in their faith, or not even Christians come along. Smoking, swearing and heated family arguments may not be the ‘nice Christian behaviour’ we try to encourage, but it does at least show that some our churches really are beginning to reach the “unchurched” and “urban poor” of their communities and experiencing the ‘messiness’ that brings with it.
Which brings me on to the subject of church planting. If in newfrontiers we are serious about spreading the gospel through church planting then we need everyone to catch the vision, from the youngest to the oldest. So I was very pleased to see that church planting was very much on the agenda, with a well attended seminar outlining some of the opportunities and practicalities of church planting, and a call to commit to church planting on the final night which many responded to.
Book Review – The Unquenchable Flame (Mike Reeves)
Aug 23rd
Anyone who has heard Mike Reeves speak will know that he is a superb teacher of theology and church history, and has a knack for presenting it in a highly entertaining and humorous way. To sample his teaching, check out the historical theology section at The Theology Network website. So I was delighted to get hold of a copy of his new book on the Reformation.
Despite the fact that he could undoubtedly write a much larger volume, he has opted to keep it accessible and cover the whole reformation period in six chapters: 1 – The Background to the Reformation; 2 – Martin Luther; 3 – Ulrich Zwingli and the Radical Reformers; 4 – John Calvin; 5 – The Reformation in Britain; 6 – The Puritans.
I was pleased to discover that he is just as good a writer as he is a speaker, and there are plenty of laugh out loud moments as he highlights some of the eccentricities and curiosities of the times.
Reeves makes no secret of the fact that he views the Reformation as a work of God, but does not gloss over the faults and failings of the reformers. He is keen to explain clearly what the main theological points of contention were, and why they mattered so much. He clearly highlights the ways in which various reformers and supporters of the reformation differed from one another.
I certainly learned a lot from it, especially in the British history chapter, which I am particularly hazy on. Reeves shows how the Reformation hinged on Luther’s understanding of the doctrine of justification. If Luther was right, everything must change.
Which brings me to the seventh chapter of the book. Reeves concludes by asking whether the reformation is over? The Puritans, who were the main driving force for continual reformation, died out after being denied access to education. With many modern Catholics describing themselves as evangelical, and many Protestant denominations glad to agree to an ecumenical statement on justification, has the need for reformation gone away?
Reeves argues not. He shows that the fundamental difference between Luther’s justification and the Roman Catholic position has not gone away. The sticking point is the word alone in the phrase “Justified by faith alone”. Moreover, modern attempts to say that Luther’s solution was to a uniquely 16th century problem do not convince Reeves. Though we may have denied human “guilt” our desire for acceptance is just as strong as ever. And it is to this point that the gospel speaks most directly. With eternal matters hanging in the balance, justification can never be viewed as a peripheral issue.
So if you’re looking for an accessible, engaging, entertaining and theologically stimulating introduction to the Reformation, this is the book to get. Here’s hoping that he’ll do a follow-up on the early church fathers soon.
Book Review – Holy Spirit Power (Charles Spurgeon)
Aug 16th
This short book contains six Spurgeon sermons on the Holy Spirit. As usual his sermons are deeply devotional and full of insight. Nevertheless, (dare I say it), I wouldn’t rank these as the best of his that I have read. There are plenty of good collections of his sermons available on Amazon, or simply visit the Spurgeon Archive.
For those wondering whether he will be a charismatic or a cessationist, well he says a few things that will please each side, and a few things that will concern each side. One advantage dead preachers have is that they can be enjoyed by a wide spectrum of people, as they do not nail their colours to the mast on current hot potato issues. The cessationists probably have the better claim to him though:
I have heard many fanatical people say that the Holy Spirit has revealed this and that idea to them. This is revealed nonsense. The Holy Spirit does not reveal anything fresh now. He brings old things to our remembrance.
Rather than reviewing the sermons, I will make three brief observations about Spurgeon’s preaching.
First, he digs deep. Most of the sermons deal with a single verse or phrase. Rather than expositing a whole chapter, he likes to meditate on a small portion of Scripture. As he does this, he brings in to play his thorough working knowledge of the whole of the Bible, which allows him to bring in supporting texts and prevents him from taking things out of context or contradicting other Scriptures.
Second, he is Christ centred. Again and again he gets us back to looking at Christ, and the gospel. You will not find lengthy anecdotes, illustrations or even very large amounts of practical “application”. What you will find is lots about the gospel, lots about how wonderful Jesus is, and what he has done for us. It does not matter that the main “subject” of these sermons is the Holy Spirit. They are also full of Christ. I recently came across a delightful quote of his on the importance of Christ-filled sermons:
A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.
Third, he is evangelistic. He does not make the assumption that all his hearers (even professing Christians) are truly saved. Again and again, he differentiates between the person who has truly been born again and who hasn’t. He calls us to examine ourselves. Clearly, he does not want anyone to have false assurance. This seems to be the opposite approach to that taken by many modern preachers. Clearly he believed, like Tim Keller, that there are “two ways to be lost”, and one of them is a very respectable religious way.
Book Review – Glorious Freedom (Richard Sibbes)
Aug 15th
This is an exposition of 2 Cor 3:17-18 by the Puritan Richard Sibbes. Unlike some others in the Puritan Paperbacks series, this one has not been abridged, and has only had minimal editing. His method is to explain the meaning of a few words, and follow it up with some application (which he calls “uses”). Like all the Puritans, he is very thorough, seeking to mine the Scriptures for all the riches he can find. It does require a bit more focus than reading a modern book due to the sometimes dated use of language, but it is well worth persevering. Here’s my brief summary of the contents of his exposition.
Sibbes starts off contrasting the law and the gospel. The law cannot change our hearts, nor can it remove our blindness to the gospel. The ceremonial law aimed at Christ, and the moral law is meant to drive us to Christ. Interestingly, he sees Psalm 119 as referring not to the law on its own, but to the law plus the Spirit.
He argues that it is Christ, not the Holy Spirit that the phrase “the Spirit of Lord” refers to. Jesus is given this name because as a man he was filled with the Spirit without measure. To have more of the Spirit, we must go to Christ. More Spirit means more Christ and vice versa.
There is then a substantial section on liberty. Gospel freedom is freedom from sin and its consequences, it is freedom to do good. He criticises the idea that the Spirit works by simply persuading us. Rather, he works internally, changing us from the inside. The Word of God is the charter of our liberty and without the Spirit, we have no liberty. If we have the Spirit, we can enjoy freedom from the dominion of any particular sin.
A man till he is in Christ is a slave, not of one man or one lord over him, but he has as many lords as he has lusts.
More than victory over sin, Christian liberty gives us freedom to “fulfil all our duties with a full heart”, courage to overcome opposition, and boldness to approach God. It also frees us from the fear of man.
The next major section is on “our communion and fellowship with God in Christ”. He explores the meaning of glory, and highlights various aspects of the glory of the gospel, the glory of God, and the glory of Christ. God is especially glorified in displaying his mercy.
When Satan tempts us to run from God and discourages us, as he will do at such times, then keep this in mind: God has set himself to be glorious in mercy above all other attributes. … Though sins after conversion stain our profession more than sins before conversion, go still to the glorious mercy of God. … Let us never be discouraged from going to Christ.
The gospel, or Christ, is the “glass” referred to in the verse (KJV). We could not look directly at God, for without Christ, God is a terrifying sight. And the best way to see Christ, is to look at the Word.
The final, and largest section of the book, deals with our conformity to the image of Christ. He emphasises the vital importance of being made completely new. You cannot accept the gospel in the first place if you do not desire to be completely changed.
We must have new judgments and new desires, new esteem, new affections, new joys and delights, new company.
There is also a double change – “real” and gradual. The first refers to the new birth, while the second refers to the inevitable growth in holiness that must take place in the life of a believer. He says that we cannot come to Christ just wanting pardon for sin, but not change of lifestyle:
Some weak notions would place all the change in justification. They separate Christ’s offices, as if he were all priest but not a governing king; or as if he were righteousness but not sanctification; or as if he had merit to die for us and to give us his righteousness, but no efficacy to change our natures; or as if in the covenant of grace God only forgave our sins but did not write his law in our hearts. But in the covenant of grace he does both.
He also rejects the idea that God doesn’t interfere with our will. No, “grace works on the will most of all. … If the will is not inclined and bent to go the best way, there is no work of grace at all”.
What we are being changed into is the image of Christ. Christ is God’s masterpiece, the prototype. Previously we bore the image of Satan, and the image of Adam, and have a natural tendency to let ourselves be transformed into the image of the world.
God has ordained that we should be like [Christ] in a threefold degree: in suffering, in grace, and in glory.
Sibbes reflects on many aspects of the life of Christ that we should meditate on, and emulate. His resolution to do the Father’s will. His zeal and goodness. The things he loved and enjoyed. His wonderful love and wonderful hatred of sin displayed at the cross. But we do not work up the power to be like him in ourselves. “Nothing can change us but the gospel.”
He warns that if you are not changing then you have not had the new birth, but does acknowledge that sometimes growth is slow, or imperceptible. He even sees occasional fallings into sin as a sovereign way that God humbles us and causes us to grow further.
wherever the knowledge of God in Christ is real, there is a change and conversion of the whole person. There is a new judgment and new affections. The bent and bias is another way than they were before.
He looks at how being transformed into the image of Christ makes us more and more glorious. A person who is like Jesus shines. The key to this transformation is the work of the Spirit. All change comes from the Spirit. Even Jesus himself did everything by the power of the Spirit.
All his grace as a man was from the Holy Ghost. He was conceived, anointed, sealed and led by the Holy Ghost into the wilderness; he offered himself by the Spirit, he was raised by the Spirit; he was full of the Spirit.
Therefore, we need to test ourselves to see whether we have the Spirit (i.e. are we changing?). And we need to “beg” God to grant us more of the Spirit, as we recognise our complete need of him.
Book Review – Breakout (Mark Stibbe & Andrew Williams)
Aug 14th
This book tells the story of how St Andrews Church in Chorleywood transitioned from meeting weekly as a whole church in their building, to becoming a collection of “mid-sized communities” (MSCs, later rebranded “mission-shaped communities”), meeting at various locations in the community, and only gathering as a whole church once a month.
The reason that they got started on this venture was that their church building was due to be refurbished, so they would need to move out for a period of time. What started as an idea for the interim, became so successful that they continued the model once back in the church.
The authors take it in turns to write a chapter, and the story itself is a very interesting one, particularly due to their reliance on prophetic words as they decided what to do. Their vision could be described as changing the church from being a cruise ship into a fleet of lifeboats. The church needed to change from an attractional (come to us) model to a missional one (“go to them”).
Their church websites describes the MSCs in the following way:
Each MSC has a name, a clear mission purpose and is no larger than fifty adult members. Led by teams from the church family, MSCs are bringing the Father’s love to the lost and the poor in diverse and creative ways. We have MSCs that are serving neighbourhoods, children, the elderly, the deaf community, prisoners, young people, adults with special learning needs and the homeless.
MSCs meet out in the community in a variety of venues across an increasing geographical area. Most meet on Sundays but others meet during the week. Everyone gathers at St Andrew’s on the fourth Sunday of the month for a celebration service.
Whilst the story is interesting enough in its own right, I imagine that many readers of this book are asking two questions – “how exactly do these MSCs work?” and “could this be implemented in my local context?”.
In answer to the first question, the book was good at giving examples of the sorts of things that these MSCs got up to. Some met in coffee shops, some worked with the homeless, while others formed out of pre-existing groups within the church such as those working with mothers and toddlers. They also explained that the groups needed to be vision-led by lay-leaders. These small gatherings allowed a much greater variety of people to exercise preaching and worship-leading ministry, and develop their giftings. When the church gathered as a whole once a month, they watched short video clips of what was happening in the MSCs.
One question that I felt went unanswered was how, if at all, this related to cell / home groups. Many churches already have these small communities in place, and they were not mentioned, so I am assuming that MSCs served as a replacement for cell groups. In many ways it makes sense. I am not sure there would be the time and energy available for churches to simply add MSCs on top of existing small groups. It also takes the pressure off finding quite so many people willing to lead, as the group sizes are three-four times larger. Interestingly they do seem to have drawn inspiration from St Thomas’ Crookes in Sheffield, who do make use of three levels – cells, clusters (MSCs) and celebrations. I expect Mike Breen’s new book “Clusters” will shed further light on this.
As for the question, “could this work in my context?”, that also is unclear in my mind. For one thing, the simple fact that their church building was unavailable was probably an important factor in helping people to be willing to give it a try. Also, Mark Stibbe is an outstanding Bible teacher. It is clear that he produced copious amounts of training material for MSC leaders as well as provided outlines for the preachers in the MSCs on Sundays. I don’t imagine every church will be quite so well positioned to resource their small group leaders.
Overall, I would say that this book is a fascinating read for anyone who is looking for some fresh ideas for how they can reinvigorate small groups and create a better missional presence in the local community. It doesn’t provide a blueprint, but it does provide some inspiring examples and some honesty about mistakes that were made along the way. It also continually emphasises the need to be led by the Spirit, rather than to look for the next “technique” that will usher in a new phase of church growth.
Spotify Albums of the Month – July 2009
Aug 8th
Last month was a little disappointing in terms of new Christian music on Spotify, but here’s the best of what I’ve been listening to recently:
Some New Albums
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David Ostby – Because of You Polished production of worship songs from a Norwegian worship leader. Whilst I doubt any of the songs will become mainstream in the UK, the standard of song-writing is high, and Ostby is probably one to watch for the future. The title track, “All because of you” is the strongest.
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Brandon Bee – This is the Revolution This is an album from a producer turned solo artist. The sound is somewhat similar to Phil Wickham, but featuring heavier guitar work. “Your holiness” is my favourite track.
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Michael Bahn – Pure Another worship-leader album, featuring the same sound as, well, all the other worship leader albums I have been listening to recently. Again, the song-writing is of a consistent quality. “You are in control” and “I believe” are my favourites. A solid, if unspectacular album.
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Nick Battle – King of My Heart I’m not sure this one deserved its 10/10 rating from Cross Rhythms, but it is an interesting collection from this producer/songwriter with the help of several guest vocalists/collaborators. The styles are varied, and not all were exactly to my taste. The folksy “All the Kings Horses” is probably pick of the bunch for me.
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Some Singles
Here are a few recently released singles from some excellent artists which I am hoping will be followed up with the availability of the full albums soon…
New Wine 2009
Aug 6th
Last week I attended the first week of the New Wine summer conference. This is run by a Network of evangelical charismatic churches, mostly Anglican and Vineyard. With four children all in different age-groups, and some heavy rain during the week, I didn’t get to as many meetings as I would have done in previous years, but still there was plenty to enjoy.
One of the highlights was the morning Bible teaching from Kenny Borthwick. His teaching on worship, holiness, Spirit baptism and revival stirred us to seek more of God’s presence. I also attended two seminars from John Lennox, speaking on a Christian response to the new atheism, which was interesting as I had already heard his debate with Dawkins.
Most of our evenings were spent in Venue 1, a huge tent seating around 5000, where we enjoyed the worship led by Kathryn Scott and Eoghan Heaslip. There was also a smaller tent, called Venue 2 which we visited one evening. The worship was a bit louder and edgier and we appreciated hearing Matt Redman lead with some of the songs from his new album.
Another interesting feature of Venue 2 was the resident “theologian poet”, who got up and performed a mini theological treatise in the form of a poem for which he earned a standing ovation. I thought it was a superb and creative idea, although it gave me food for thought as his topic was a forceful defence of a fully egalitarian position with regards to women in church leadership. I thought a few of his points were a little weak, but to his credit, he didn’t dodge any of the “difficult” verses, and made his case well given his limited time.
Another boost to his argument was that probably the best Bible teacher I heard during the week was Amy Orr-Ewing. Whilst that alone would not be sufficient reason to overthrow my belief that the Bible teaches a complementarian position, it does raise some important questions for those of us who hold this view. First, how would we make use a woman with such an outstanding teaching gifting in our own churches? And second, would it even be possible for that gift to develop in the first place, let alone flourish? As an evangelical, I do place primary importance on obeying the Scriptures, but as a charismatic, I consider it vitally important that the grace gifts the Spirit bestows on the church are developed and used for the edification of the body.
