Monday, October 12, 2009
CS Lewis on Christianity
I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not only that I see it, but by it I see everything else.
Philip Jakob Spener on Pietism
As a response to the dry orthodoxy of 17th Century Lutheranism, Spener penned these six points:
1. The Word of God must be more widely stuidied by the people. To this end he proposed discussions under the pastor's guidance.
2. The universal priesthood of all believers needs new emphasis. All Christians should exercise this privilege by testifying, instructing and exhorting each other.
3. Mere head knowledge is not Christianity, but such knowledge must be translated into action.
4. More love and gentleness between the Christain denominations is needed in polemics.
5. The schooling of the clergy must include training for personal piety as well as intellectual knowledge.
6. Sermons should be preparaed with less emphasis on rhetorical art and more on the edification of the hearers.
1. The Word of God must be more widely stuidied by the people. To this end he proposed discussions under the pastor's guidance.
2. The universal priesthood of all believers needs new emphasis. All Christians should exercise this privilege by testifying, instructing and exhorting each other.
3. Mere head knowledge is not Christianity, but such knowledge must be translated into action.
4. More love and gentleness between the Christain denominations is needed in polemics.
5. The schooling of the clergy must include training for personal piety as well as intellectual knowledge.
6. Sermons should be preparaed with less emphasis on rhetorical art and more on the edification of the hearers.
Wendland on Orthodoxism
By this we mean the fact that many pastors and parishioners often mistook a mere intellectual knowledge of carefully systematized doctrine for faith. A personal conviction of sin was lacking, as also a faith which rested on the assurance of a forgiveness and had as a natural result a consecrated life of sanctification. A religious intellectualism began to control many Lutheran classrooms and pulpits, which consumed practically all of its energy... 'The humbler duties of preaching the Gospel and ministering to the spiritual needs of the people were often shunned in favor of the more glamorous field of theological debate.... the people had grown weary of the endless and useless theological disputes in which their pastors and prfoessors engaged.... leaders of Lutehranism found time, opportunity and funds for extensive theological debate and publication, but none for missions.
Wendland on Movements
Any movement, whether religious or polictical, with an 'ism' appended to its name, is usually the result of a reaction over against a state of affairs which has become intolerable, and therefore its inception is understandable. Because it is a reactionary moevement, however, it almost inevitably goes to extremes. Thus no matter how justified its causes may be, or how sincere the zeal of its proponents, we have come to regard any 'ism' with great suspicion.
Timothy George Quotes
?No creed but the Bible? is a pretext for ?neither creed, nor the Bible.?
God give us creeds, but deliver us from creedalism!
Dependence upon God is where the faith becomes my faith.
As long as the faith remains detached, a mere system of doctrine kept at arm?s length, we are like Nicodemus, who discovers he must be born again.
The faith without my faith leads to arid scholasticism, joyless, dead orthodoxy. My faith without the faith ends up in sloppy sentimentalism.
Some people who hear about a Baptist Catechism think you might as well be talking about a pregnant Pope or a married bachelor.
Ecclesiology is the new frontier of evangelical theology in the 21st century.
God give us creeds, but deliver us from creedalism!
Dependence upon God is where the faith becomes my faith.
As long as the faith remains detached, a mere system of doctrine kept at arm?s length, we are like Nicodemus, who discovers he must be born again.
The faith without my faith leads to arid scholasticism, joyless, dead orthodoxy. My faith without the faith ends up in sloppy sentimentalism.
Some people who hear about a Baptist Catechism think you might as well be talking about a pregnant Pope or a married bachelor.
Ecclesiology is the new frontier of evangelical theology in the 21st century.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Neil Bennetts on Worship
Great post! Great reminder....
The primary purpose of the church is to worship God. Not to make disciples. Not to run community projects. Not to run Alpha courses. Not to serve the poor. Not to heal the sick. Not to run conferences. Not to create leadership networks. Not to establish small groups. Not to engage with world mission. Not to evangelise the nations. It?s primary purpose is to worship.
Writing those words makes me feel uncomfortable.
You may even more so feel uncomfortable reading them.
But I recon they are true.
I feel uncomfortable with such words because they may make me look as though I am not missional, not servant hearted, not compassionate. And of course I want to be all those things. And, truth be known, I possibly even want to be recognised for being all those things. But I have to face up to it. My primary purpose as a follower of the King is to worship the King. Sing to Him. Adore Him. Lift my hands to Him.
You see, it is so easy to move very quickly on from saying
?our primary purpose is to worship God?
to
?and this also means serving the poor, healing the sick, evangelising the nations??.
In fact it almost needs to happen in the same sentence to avert accusations of poor theology. In fact almost all standard worship teaching will do that. Otherwise it wouldn?t be sound would it?
But maybe we should all pause a little longer in that place ? that place of adoration of God without any expressed intention to move on and out. That place where we stand before God and sing, and have no other purpose in that moment other than blessing His heart with the sound of our songs. Maybe we need to pause in that uncomfortable place, leaving ourselves open to accusations of extravagance, lavishness, inactivity, just a little bit longer than we are doing at the moment.
Because if the church looses sight of it?s primary function ? to worship God ? then it will start to die from the inside out. The disciples will start to disperse. The community projects will start to wind down. The Alpha course will close. The poor will increase. The sick will perish. The conference will fall into financial ruin. The leadership network will implode. The small group will cease to meet. And world mission will stop dead in it?s tracks.
Now that would be uncomfortable.
The primary purpose of the church is to worship God. Not to make disciples. Not to run community projects. Not to run Alpha courses. Not to serve the poor. Not to heal the sick. Not to run conferences. Not to create leadership networks. Not to establish small groups. Not to engage with world mission. Not to evangelise the nations. It?s primary purpose is to worship.
Writing those words makes me feel uncomfortable.
You may even more so feel uncomfortable reading them.
But I recon they are true.
I feel uncomfortable with such words because they may make me look as though I am not missional, not servant hearted, not compassionate. And of course I want to be all those things. And, truth be known, I possibly even want to be recognised for being all those things. But I have to face up to it. My primary purpose as a follower of the King is to worship the King. Sing to Him. Adore Him. Lift my hands to Him.
You see, it is so easy to move very quickly on from saying
?our primary purpose is to worship God?
to
?and this also means serving the poor, healing the sick, evangelising the nations??.
In fact it almost needs to happen in the same sentence to avert accusations of poor theology. In fact almost all standard worship teaching will do that. Otherwise it wouldn?t be sound would it?
But maybe we should all pause a little longer in that place ? that place of adoration of God without any expressed intention to move on and out. That place where we stand before God and sing, and have no other purpose in that moment other than blessing His heart with the sound of our songs. Maybe we need to pause in that uncomfortable place, leaving ourselves open to accusations of extravagance, lavishness, inactivity, just a little bit longer than we are doing at the moment.
Because if the church looses sight of it?s primary function ? to worship God ? then it will start to die from the inside out. The disciples will start to disperse. The community projects will start to wind down. The Alpha course will close. The poor will increase. The sick will perish. The conference will fall into financial ruin. The leadership network will implode. The small group will cease to meet. And world mission will stop dead in it?s tracks.
Now that would be uncomfortable.
James Valentine on Jesus All About Life
When did branding become the universal panacea to any problem? From the NRL to vanilla Coke, it's not that there's a problem with the thing itself, there's a problem with the branding.
In the past few weeks no less than Australia and Christianity has announced that they need to look at their branding. I'm not sure what to make of a faith that has branding issues. Of a Creator who's putting pressure on the marketing department. You want to bring the waverers in? I don't know ? lightning bolt? Big voice from the sky? Some water into wine? I'd say branding issues dealt with.
But instead of upwardly referring the problem, this coalition of 20 Christian churches found through their market research that almost everything about themselves was on the nose; God, church, religion, holy, faith ? all of them with less brand loyalty than Hyundai. The only one who was maintaining a strong market share was Jesus ? up there with iphone, apparently.
So the churches have responded with a series of billboards. The billboards show a picture of a child at the seaside. Slogan, Thank You For the Beaches, Jesus. As powerful as a puppy with a roll of toilet paper.
If only they'd come to me. You want an impactful billboard? There's only one model. Get big red and yellow signs up along major roads, reading DO YOU WANT A LONGER AFTER LIFE? In three months replace it with PRAY LONGER. AND HARDER.
With a bit of luck you'd get plenty of attendant controversy, lots of mileage in the news columns, plenty of outraged letters and before you know it, you're getting more coverage than a condom on the Pope.
And you haven't even offered to deliver Holy Water via a nasal spray.
Branding's a cult and a religion in itself. It's an article of faith now that if there's a problem then you have to fix the brand. As irresistible as it is to mix religion and branding ? that crucifix was pretty effective logo for a millennia or so wasn't it? Only surpassed today apparently by the Golden Arches ? it's ludicrous isn't it?
James Valentine is an ABC radio broadcaster, writer, and a former member of the 1980s rock band, The Models.
In the past few weeks no less than Australia and Christianity has announced that they need to look at their branding. I'm not sure what to make of a faith that has branding issues. Of a Creator who's putting pressure on the marketing department. You want to bring the waverers in? I don't know ? lightning bolt? Big voice from the sky? Some water into wine? I'd say branding issues dealt with.
But instead of upwardly referring the problem, this coalition of 20 Christian churches found through their market research that almost everything about themselves was on the nose; God, church, religion, holy, faith ? all of them with less brand loyalty than Hyundai. The only one who was maintaining a strong market share was Jesus ? up there with iphone, apparently.
So the churches have responded with a series of billboards. The billboards show a picture of a child at the seaside. Slogan, Thank You For the Beaches, Jesus. As powerful as a puppy with a roll of toilet paper.
If only they'd come to me. You want an impactful billboard? There's only one model. Get big red and yellow signs up along major roads, reading DO YOU WANT A LONGER AFTER LIFE? In three months replace it with PRAY LONGER. AND HARDER.
With a bit of luck you'd get plenty of attendant controversy, lots of mileage in the news columns, plenty of outraged letters and before you know it, you're getting more coverage than a condom on the Pope.
And you haven't even offered to deliver Holy Water via a nasal spray.
Branding's a cult and a religion in itself. It's an article of faith now that if there's a problem then you have to fix the brand. As irresistible as it is to mix religion and branding ? that crucifix was pretty effective logo for a millennia or so wasn't it? Only surpassed today apparently by the Golden Arches ? it's ludicrous isn't it?
James Valentine is an ABC radio broadcaster, writer, and a former member of the 1980s rock band, The Models.
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