The spiritual growth of children is an important matter. And whether we belong to a church that offers services of thanksgiving for children or one that baptizes infants, if we’ve made a promise to God to help a child get to know God better, it’s vital that we take that promise seriously.
But, if you’re anything like me, it can be hard to work out how to encourage a child that you don’t see every day, or even every month, to look to Jesus.
So here are our top tips to help us all fulfill our roles as sponsors or godparents:... continue reading
Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that soap operas like Eastenders tackle some gritty ethical issues. I'm in no position to speak authoritatively on The Young and the Restless, but in Britain the stuff of soaps touches on very real (if often overblown) issues in daily life. In Eastenders, assisted suicide, paedophilia and a gay muslim sham marriage have been some of the recent storylines. Some may dismiss it as tawdry, sensationalist or immoral, but the inspiration for the writers comes from somewhere very different, according to a former series producer and storyliner.
The Bible!... continue reading
Spotted this van on my way into work the other day. Another fine example of the British habit of naming local businesses with a memorable pun that would make a worthy headline in a tabloid newspaper. It's right up there with "Curl up and Dye" (a local hairdresser), the Cod Father (a favourite fish and chip shop) and the hard to beat Florist Gump - no need to tell you what they sell!
The intriguing thing about this play on John Newton's famous hymn is what it tells us about our culture. For a name like this to be effective, it needs to resonate with people. For them to see it, smile, get the reference and feel warm about the cheeky friendly chappies who will then come and replace your windows for you. And it's the recognition factor that makes this interesting.... continue reading
Who does the phrase “the splendour and glory of his majesty” make you think of? If you’re anything like me, and familiar with the Old Testament, you’ll think of the Lord God. So imagine my surprise the other morning when I read these words. They weren’t assigned to the King of Kings, but to King Xerxes of Persia. Inevitably, as I read through the rest of Esther chapter 1, I found myself comparing the two kings. Here are three contrasts I came up with – there may well be more:
1. True majesty
I listen to music through headphones while I work. I use it to block out the noise of the office so I can concentrate. Recently, after several years of hard service, my headphones conked out. I quickly rushed to replace them cheaply. As I cut open the impossible plastic packaging encasing my purchase, a small note fell out. This is what it said:
Some time ago, I had a dream in my sleep.
I dreamt that I was shipping millions of boxes around the world
(which is exactly what my company Sweex is doing).
And in spite of useful products in them,
I experienced an empty feeling in myself.
I sat with the dream for a while and pondered over it.
Then I realized — I needed to fill the boxes with my wish for you.... continue reading
Murmuring underneath everything we’ve seen so far is a fifth and final reason why our discipleship of others is failing so badly.
5. Our churches are ashamed of the gospel.
Not so long ago, I was invited to speak at a church just outside London. Numbers had been dropping, so the church was going to significant lengths to attract young people. They’d added another service at a more convenient time on a Saturday evening, they were getting in guest speakers from all over the country, they were spending money on marketing, and they had paid a worship band to come from 100 miles away.
I got chatting to a delightful congregation member about the reasons for their flagging, elderly attendance. “This may be a sensitive question,” I said, “but how’s the preaching of the gospel going?” His response came with a knowing and slightly embarrassed smile. “Well, we have to give people what they want.”... continue reading
Welcome to “Why We Don’t Disciple #4″. Or, as you may prefer to call it, “Biting The Hand That Feeds.”
4. Our churches are programme dependent.
Here’s a modern day parable for your delectation, told to me by a friend at seminary. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is (possibly) true.
A young man walked into a Christian bookstore in Chicago and asked where the bumper stickers were. The assistant said, what kind are you looking for?
The man said, I’d like to buy a fish sticker. The assistant said, Oh I’m afraid we’ve sold out of those. To which the man responded, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO EVANGELISE WITHOUT FISH STICKERS?... continue reading
Here’s a third reason our discipleship of others is so shallow, and may even be non-existent.
3. Our churches are less converted.
Our churches have fewer truly regenerate Christians in them, and so there are fewer people able to disciple each other.
No doubt the reasons for this are complex, but let me suggest two.
Firstly, it used to be the way that to be known as a member of the body of Christ, you had to be a Christian. That’s the assumption made by the New Testament.
But now, in many churches – even in some large, well-known evangelical churches – you can become a member of the church simply by ticking a box on a welcome card. It’s a voluntary practise. There is little or no attempt to examine the person spiritually to try and ascertain that they are truly followers of Christ.
How can we expect people who aren’t disciples themselves to be discipling others?... continue reading
Let me suggest another reason our discipleship of others is so shallow, and may even be non-existent.
2. Our churches are seeker-sensitive, but believer-insensitive.
No church has done more to research and develop “seeker-sensitive” services than Willow Creek in Chicago. They first started tailoring their church services toward “seekers” 30 years ago.But in 2008 they published the results of a four year survey on how effective they had been in fulfilling Jesus’ call to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). Their conclusion was that after three decades, they needed to shift from seeker-sensitive services, to services which focused on enabling believers to grow in their faith; from seeker-sensitive, to believer-sensitive.... continue reading
The growth of the evangelical church has been ocean-wide, but often puddle-deep. Why so shallow?
Over the next 3 days, I’m going to suggest five reasons why those of us in evangelical churches often do a poor job of discipling one another. (For the biblical reasons we should be discipling, here’s a post from earlier today).
Firstly, our churches very often teach “cheap” grace.
You’ll remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian. He defined cheap grace like this:... continue reading
