Category Archives: On Church

i love my church

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I love my church.

I love that Jesus is glorified at my church.

I love that the Bible is taught at my church.

I love that people are hungry to know more of God at my church.

I love that people are willing to learn the Bible at my church.

I love that there is a growing community of young people at my church.

I love that visitors feel welcome enough to come out to snac at my church.

I love that during the week there are different people from my church meeting together for funsies.

I love that those who come are willing to serve at my church.

I love that there is a sense of the Spirit and of community at my church.

I love that young adults are willing to invest in young people at my church.

I love that there are a number of ‘older folk’ who support the evening congregation at my church.

I love that encouragement can be gleaned from just being with people and hearing their stories at my church.

I love that i have the opportunity to lead people at my church.

I love my church.

I love that it’s God’s church.

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A House United by Frank Frangipane

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Frank Frangipane, House United: How Christ-Centered Unity Can End Church Division (Grand Rapids, USA: Chosen Books), 2006.

I was given this book by a long-time serving member of my church. It was given to me on the back of a pastor leaving and also their interest in my article in the Baptist Witness. I was greatly encouraged to receive this and have spent a few weeks reading through it.

The central premise of Frangipane’s book is much like his title. He is encouraging believers the world over to quit being so divisive and start taking heed to the Bible’s commands for unity.

The book is in five parts and he comes out strong by talking about the sin of division straight up. I seemed to plough through the beginning of the book and it wasn’t until the last few sections where he captivated me a bit more. I don’t think he was particularly wrong in the beginning of his book but it just took a while to get into. He touches on important topics throughout and uses the Bible correctly in making his points – although he does tend to work interesting angles into his OT exegesis. I wasn’t convinced too much with his chapters on Lucifer and demons but he does hit many nails right on their heads in other parts.

As the book flows he works from stating the sinful nature of church splits and division to looking at areas where division usually starts. The third part that he touches upon is the way in which healing can come about after certain sins and divisions within a church and then encourages all believers to become more Christlike in their hearts.

I think that it is a great book and was quite thought-provoking. He is solidly evangelical and Biblically based and it is hard to argue against what he says. I would recommend this book to anyone who has gone through a church split or division, has felt hurt by the church or who wonders why the church isn’t united and how to bring healing to at least a little part of it.

4/5.

Book Review: What is a Healthy Church?

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healthy-church-214x300Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (126 pages, Wheaton, USA: Crossway), 2007.

Mark Dever is a big proponent for the local church. Previously he has written a number of books about the local church and what is important about it. This one is no different and is essentially a more concise version of one of his previous books, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church.

While only a short volume Dever packs a number of important topics within. In part 1 he details what a healthy church is, then goes on to talk of the three essential marks of a healthy church (expository preaching, Biblical theology and a Biblical understanding of the Gospel) in part 2. Part 3 is made up of six important marks of a healthy church, that being a Biblical understanding of conversion, evangelism and membership while also talking about church discipline, discipleship and leadership.

It is a very good book and one that certainly gets you thinking about a theology of the local church. I particularly like the way in which he has thought through the different and more important elements of the local church. What else is good is that he doesn’t give a model of ministry or different ideas of how church should be run but rather is giving large Biblical concepts as an over-arching guide to ones ministry philosophy. While he does talk about eldership, he doesn’t go into how one should order a service, what kind of music, how to make the place acceptable to ‘outsiders’ or visitors. What he does do is push for a church that is Biblically-centred, that is in the world but not of the world. 8/10.

Unity

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The following post is something i am thinking about sending into The Witness, the monthly Victorian Baptist magazine. I’m not sure if it’ll make the cut but thought it would be good to post here anyway.

Unity seems to be something which is hard to find in the church today. Well, maybe it’s always been hard to find, church history seems to suggest so too. It’s surprising isn’t it; one would think that the church would be the one place that is united.

If we look outside the church there are plenty of things that unite people. Football unites supporters like nothing else here in Melbourne, but sport in general does that in almost every nation (let’s not mention the Ashes). Community events show a united people, look no further than Black Saturday and the out-pouring of unity that has come from that. But we could also think of book clubs, favourite cafes, the RSL, the local lawn bowls club and the like. Being part of a community, being part of a family brings unity and commonality.

In recent months I have been pondering unity within the church. It’s been hard to nail and hard to find. If we are honest with ourselves we must recognise that there is a wealth of disagreement that occurs within the church. These may be things such as where the pulpit should be placed when one is preaching to the ways in which we reach our community with the Gospel to the various theological positions our members have. Differences occur, they are bound to, but quite often they cause disunity rather than mutual encouragement and respect.

While on holiday a couple of months ago I read volume one of Arnold Dallimore’s biography of George Whitefield. Whitefield was a preacher who spread the Gospel throughout the UK and America in the 18th century. He was one of the first to preach outdoors, outside the church building, and for his day this was radical. Instead of avoiding such “corner preaching” like the plague, which we tend to do, Whitefield was able to preach to tens of thousands at a time. What impressed me most about his character was the way in which he tried to be unified with other believers. Wherever he went he would first stop by the local church or parish and in his theological disputes with John Wesley he continued to pray and hold him up as a brother in Christ. Whitefield modelled what I believe many in the church today miss, unity.

Paul speaks no better about unity than in 1 Corinthians 12 & 13. Beginning with the illustration of the church being one body with many parts he moves on to the most crucial point regarding unity, love. While one may be particularly enamoured by the passage regarding love in 1 Cor 13 it actually stems out of Paul’s thinking regarding unity and the body of Christ. It is love which is most central to unity, it is love which is most central to Paul and it is love which is most central to our faith. It is the “more excellent way” (4:31). Christians are to be marked by love and to be unified by love.

That love is best expressed when we head to the cross. That sacrificial, God-exalting, sinner-redeeming love is most clearly seen through Jesus’ death and unifies all believers to love others rather than themselves.

Why is it that churches split, that conflict occurs, that disunity abounds? It is because there is no Christ-like love. Why does a supporter of a footy team actively go to all the matches and buy the team scarf? Why does a community rally in the face of adversity? Why does unity occur? It is because there is love.

“Unity through diversity” seems to be the catch-cry at the moment but perhaps unity through love might be a better way to put it. Through the cross of Christ and the love of Christ unity is at its peak.

"Big Events" (IV)

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It’s hit and miss as to how many people turn up.

It is expected that people will show up to these “Big Events” for that’s why you do them. The purpose is to get as many people as possible to come and check it out. However, unlike other things with the “Big Event” the matter of how many people turn up is out of the hands of those organising it. No one can control how many come.

It is quite normal that as many publicity mail-outs, emails, sms’s, Facebook groups, posters, video’s etc are sent to as many people and networks the church knows. A massive amount of time and dollars are spent in having the latest, snazziest and crisp publicity available. But, with all these resources used the amount of people who will respond is still out of ones hands.

Now, i’m not really a numbers person, i don’t care if 5 people turn up or 50, the important thing is that you are being faithful in the ministry – preaching the Word and promoting the Gospel in the best ways possible. But, i would have thought that it was a lot more sensible to actually go outside the building that you are located in and go to places where there are people. Rather than trying to bring as many people in as possible for one night, wouldn’t it be better to go out consistently to a certain place and promote the Gospel there?

No matter how much effort or how snazzy the publication and advertising is there is no guarantee that people will come.