food4thought

I’ve een thinking about expanding our team of elders at CCB. As a result I’ve been dipping into various books on the subject. Obviously I spent some time looking at the biblical material from Titus and 1 Timothy. But I was also helped by one or two books on the subject. One of those is The Deliberate Church by Mark Dever & Paul Alexander. This was a list of questions I compiled from their discussion about the character required of those we seek to appoint as elders. Given that these characteristics are required of all Christians it’s worth directing them at ourselves.

• Does he have a good reputation with outsiders?
• Is he argumentative?
• Is he given to excess in any way?
• Is he hospitable with his home and with his financial resources?
• Is he gentle in speech and conduct?
• Does he love money by chasing after it, keeping exorbitant amounts to himself or by spending lavishly on himself?
• Is he self controlled?
• Is he kind to all?
• Is he patient when wronged? 
• Does the man evidence a love for God and for the church by faithfully attending church meetings as a committed member?
• Does he contribute to the corporate spiritual health of the church by the way he treats and speaks with others?
• Does he use his words to build up by pointing out evidences of God’s grace in others or to tear down by constant criticism?
• Is he meeting with younger or struggling Christians to do them good spiritually?
• Does he watch out for the spiritual lives of others?
• Does he pray for the church and its members regularly?
• Is he able to share the gospel clearly with unbelievers and does he do that regularly?
• Is he growing in his knowledge of God and fruitfulness in personal ministry in the church?
• Is he an influence for division or for unity?
• Does he exercise godly wisdom?
• Does the man show the wisdom of being easy to correct or is he obstinate and noncompliant in his own opinions?
• Does he set an example to the congregation in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity?

I don’t know what you think when you read through that list.

‘That’s not me’. In which case we’ll want to praise God for the gospel through which we’re forgiven for not being like this all of the time. 

‘I’d like some of that’. These are the characteristics and qualities that we should all aspire to. Those of us who are men need to remember that our women want to marry men like this. They don’t want to have to end up with a bloke who’s compromised and aimed at mediocrity. They want men of substance. And more than that, Christ died in order that we might become men like this.

‘I know a man like that’. In which case we’ve probably already approached him and asked him to join us in leading the congregation!

Why don’t we pray?

This is an article stimulated by and borrowing heavily from D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, ‘Excuses for Not Praying’, chapter 7, pp 111-122. It’s intended to expose our excuses for not praying. What follows are the six most common excuses Don Carson believes we give to justify our prayerlessness. In places there’s a bit of expansion from me!

1. I’m too busy to pray

London life is frenetic. Our lives are filled with activity. Some of that activity is unavoidable. But not all of it is, surely? In reflecting on the hectic nature of our lives Don Carson writes,

‘We are not living in a contemplative age. When we stop rushing and performing and doing, many of us park ourselves in front of a television, possibly a television attached to a video recorder, and simply absorb what is dished out. The result is that we seldom take time to think, to meditate, to wonder, to analyze; we seldom take time to pray’.

I wonder whether we’re already feeling the intense heat of the spotlight? God’s response to our busyness is found in the account of Jesus’ time with Martha and Mary. Martha chose activism over pietism. She ended up indignant that her kingdom activity wasn’t being noticed and supported by the king. Jesus told her in no uncertain terms that Mary’s decision to sit and learn at her Lord’s feet was the better choice. I’ve written on this elsewhere http://richardperkins.blogsome.com/2007/06/08/cultivating-our-relationship-with-christ/ and I’d encourage you to chase that up. Consequently Carson says what we might struggle to say to one another,

‘It matters little whether you are the mother of active children who drain away your energy, an important executive in a major multinational corporation, a graduate student cramming for impending comprehensives, a plumber working overtime to put your children through college, or a pastor of a large church putting in ninety hours a week: at the end of the day, if you are too busy to pray, you are too busy. Cut something out’.

Cut something out. There’s an idea! Why not write down what you think you could cut from your week to make time for prayer.

2. I feel too spiritually dry to pray

It’s hard to do things when we don’t feel like doing them. That could be a tax return, an essay or the washing up. If we don’t feel like doing it we lack the impetus to do it. And in all likelihood we won’t. We’ll put it off. Sometimes, it’s like that with prayer. Some of us may already have experienced those times when discouragement, unbelief, emptiness and dryness strangle our prayer to within an inch of their lives. What triggers these feelings may be any number of things. If we’re tired we tend to see the dark clouds and not the silver lining! If we’ve been on the receiving end of some critical flak then our spirits may be a little low. If we’re anxious and stressed that takes its emotional toll. But whatever the cause, the challenge to pray just seems like one mountain climb too many. Carson suggests that there could be one of two presuppositions that lurk behind the excuse of feeling too spiritually dry to pray. The first presupposition is that we feel we can pray only when we feel good. But when we remember that Christ’s death is the sole basis of our acceptance before God we’ll recognise that we’re not thinking straight. True, we may not feel like praying. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t. The second presupposition is that we feel we should pray only when we feel good. The obligation to pray is not diminished because we don’t feel like it. This is a profoundly self centred way of thinking. How I feel is not the determinant of what I ought to do.

3. I feel no need to pray

Few of us would ever be so blatant. If we were, others might see the arrogance of our logic. Because at its root the logic runs ‘I am too important to pray. I am too self confident to pray. I am too independent to pray’. But we’d never be so obvious would we? But, as Carson observes, what happens is this,

‘Although abstractly I may affirm the importance of prayer, in reality I may treat prayer as important only in the lives of other people, especially those whom I judge to be weaker in character, more needy, less competent, less productive. Thus, while affirming the importance of prayer, I may not feel deep need for prayer in my own life’.

When we have a high opinion of our own capabilities, prayer seems a little beneath us. It’s for emergencies and is a terrific contingency when all else fails but it’s not the first port of call. In response Carson writes,

‘If Christians who shelter beneath such self assurance do not learn better ways by listening to the scriptures, God may address them in the terrible language of tragedy. We serve a God who delights to disclose to disclose himself to the contrite, to the lowly of heart, to the meek. When God finds us so puffed up that we do not feel our need of him, it is an act of kindness on his part to take us down a peg or two; it would be an act of judgement to leave us in our vaulting self-esteem’.

It’s very easy for us to come to critical points in life, career and family and precisely because our judgement has led to success in the past we repeat the error and plough on without inquiring of the Lord. We love our independence and as a result we may repeatedly stumble and fall because we’ve exercised our intellectual ability but have not sought God’s opinion and his wisdom on the matter.

4. I’m too bitter to pray

Perhaps some of us feel that life has left us with the short stick. When we compare our existence with those around us the decisions that God has made can feel chronically unfair. We feel like the victims of injustice. We may respond with disappointment, bitterness and resentment. This is hardly conducive to a healthy prayer life, especially when we’re meant to be praying for others. Carson observes,

‘Life itself is consumed by the petty assessment of how well you are perceived by those around you. In the morass of self-pity and resentment, real prayer is squeezed out. In other words, many of us do not want to pray because we know that disciplined, biblical prayer would force us to eliminate sin that we rather cherish. It is very hard to pray with compassion and zeal for someone we much prefer to resent’.

On the other hand, Jesus taught that forgiveness ought to characterise our attitude to others. In both Matthew 6 and Mark 11 he explained that those who want to experience his Father’s forgiveness will be those who extend forgiveness to others. It’s this approach that reveals that our repentance is authentic.

5. I’m too ashamed to pray

We’ve all been there. Our sin shames us. We feel so guilty. And proximity to the Lord makes our failure feel so much more acute. Carson puts it this way,

‘shame encourages us to hide from the presence of God; shame squirrels behind a masking foliage of pleasantries while refusing to be honest; shame fosters flight and escapism; shame engenders prayerlessness’.

We’re fools to run from a God who is determined to seek us out and bring us home. The perverseness of our decision to run away and seek exile is the very thing that Christ died to prevent. The place of exile is the place of misery. The place of absolution, freedom, acceptance and forgiveness is to be found in his presence.

6. I’m content with mediocrity

Would anyone in our constituency ever be so bold as to state this publicly? I suspect not. But, this is what we settle for when we spurn the offer of fellowship with the Lord. We may want to own the name Christian but we’re not interested in the increasing spiritual maturity that ought to come with the territory.

Conclusion

No doubt there are other excuses that we could muster for not praying. But most of these nail me!

Prayer is speaking to God and asking Him for things. There are three main Greek words that are used and they all refer to the act of asking, requesting or seeking for something from God. In his 1662 book entitled simply, ‘Prayer’ John Bunyan, the author of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ defined prayer in the following way,

‘Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to His word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God’.

This is a definition taken from the chapter ‘What True Prayer Is’, Prayer, Banner of Truth Trust, pp 13-22. As definitions go, I think that’s a pretty good one. He identifies seven key components in his definition. Let’s look at those in turn.

1. Prayer is a sincere pouring out of the soul to God

Prayer that is sincere is honest and genuine. When we pray sincerely we simply open our heart to God and to talk with Him plainly about the issues at hand. And so we need to be warned that the Lord will not be taken in by pretence. He won’t listen to the prayers of hypocrites. So we need to beware of praying to be seen, to be admired and to be applauded by others. Bunyan writes, ‘Sincerity is the same in a corner alone, as it is before the face of all the world. It knows not how to wear two masks, one for appearance before men, and another for private use. It must have God, and be with Him in the duty of prayer. It is not lip labour that it regards, for sincerity, like God, looks at the heart, and that is where prayer comes from, if it be true prayer’. Sincerity matters in prayer because it’s what we really are and it’s not something that can be manufactured. It comes from the heart. Those of us who pray publicly need to be warned.

2. Prayer is a sensible pouring out of the soul to God

Authentic prayer Bunyan writes, ‘is not, as many take it to be, a few babbling, prating, complimentary expressions, but a sensible feeling in the heart’. His point is that prayer is a sane, level headed and rational response that comes from the heart. It’s caused by a deep conviction of sin. It’s caused by the wonderful experience of God’s mercy. And it’s caused by excitement at the anticipation of what God has promised for us in the future. We don’t need to worry about working ourselves into a frenzied and heightened emotional state. We just sensibly respond to what we’ve heard in God’s word, what He’s laid on our heart or what we’ve found ourselves pondering.

3. Prayer is an affectionate pouring out of the soul to God

But lest we think that the affections are to be emotionally disengaged Bunyan continues. He writes, ‘when the affections are indeed engaged in prayer, then the whole man is engaged, and that in such a way that the soul will spend itself, as it were, rather than go without that good desired, even [namely] communion and solace with Christ’. In other words, unless we’re emotionally involved in the activity of praying, we won’t pray. And so, in his view, ‘There is in prayer an unbosoming of a man’s self, an opening of the heart to God, an affectionate pouring out of the soul in requests, sighs, and groans’.

4. Prayer is through Christ in the strength and assistance of the Spirit

We can only pray to God through the cross work of Christ and the work of His Spirit in applying spiritual life to us. Bunyan writes, ‘Christ is the way through whom the soul has admittance to God, and without whom it is impossible that so much as one desire should come into the ears of the Lord of the Sabbath’. What a thought! Not a single word would come befiore God were it not for the work of Christ. What a privilege we’ve been given.

5. Prayer is for those things that God has promised

Bunyan is clear that when we pray, the content of our prayers is to be guided by our knowledge of the scriptures. He writes, ‘Prayer is only true when it is within the compass of God’s word; it is blasphemy, or at best, vain babbling, when the petition is unrelated to the book’. But before we panic we must be reassured that the category of things ‘unrelated to the book’ allows a bit of leeway in those things we pray for!

6. Prayer is for the good of the church

According to Bunyan we’re to pray for, ‘whatsoever tends to the honour of God, Christ’s advancement, or to His people’s benefit’. Therefore we ‘must pray for the abundance of grace for the church, for help against all its temptations; that God would let nothing be too hard for it; that all things might work together for its good; that God would keep His children blameless and harmless, the sons of God, to His glory, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation’. I wonder whether those sorts of things have occupied our prayers for those in our small groups and our leaders.

7. Prayer is in submission to the will of God

‘The people of the Lord in all humility are to lay themselves and their prayers, and all that they have, at the foot of the their God, to be disposed of by Him as He in His heavenly wisdom sees best. Yet not doubting but God will answer the desire of His people that way that shall be most for their advantage and His glory’.

Conclusion

This is a terrific definition. There’s much to be thought through. But lest we drown in detail let’s remember that prayer is in essence speaking to God and making requests of Him.

This was the 2005 version, a little less ‘angry’ than 2004! I’d obvisouly just had a great holiday!

Last month I had the privilege of talking to the Cornhill Training Course about the work of the Co-Mission Initiative and our own church planting in Balham. I hope it was fruitful, though I fear it wasn’t. It all seemed uncomfortably self-promotional and I went away completely dissatisfied with how the afternoon had gone. I’m therefore wary of making the same mistake as we reflect on the last year and consider our own church life. It would be very easy to be self-promotional about the work of the gospel in Balham because it seems to me that things have gone really well for us this year. That’s not to say that things have been easy. We’ve worked hard and some have had to do so as they’ve endured tough times. Nevertheless as we look back on the past year it’s hard not to feel anything but hugely encouraged by all that God has done for us, in us and through us. We established at the start of the year that our ongoing aim for congregational life at CCB would be to love God, love one another and love the lost. We can praise God for answering our prayers because…

1. God has increased our love for him

It’s hard to objectively measure our love for God though it ought to be evident in the obedience that it produces. But if we were to ask one another most of us would acknowledge that subjectively we feel that we know and love God better than we did a year ago. There’s no doubt that the Hebrews project has been instrumental in this. Setting our minds and hearts to learn from this magnificent book has been a demanding but rewarding venture for us all. However, God has richly rewarded us as our understanding of God’s work in Christ has been deepened. It’s also clear that studying Luke’s gospel in the morning congregation or in Knowing God has rekindled our love for Christ. As we’ve been confronted with Jesus’ activity during his incarnate existence we’ve been struck by the contemporary implications of his teaching and his gracious activity towards the undeserving.

2. God has increased our love for one another

If we were perhaps a little slow to get out of the blocks in our commitment to one another after the launch of CCB that’s no longer an accusation that could stick. God has answered our prayers about community life and it’s wonderful to see the ways in which small groups have come together, prayer triplets have formed and friendships have been established and strengthened. The ongoing personal care for those who’ve experienced testing times this year through things like serious illness, bereavement and childbirth are testimony to God’s work among us. In many small and unseen ways God has used us to care for and support one another. As CCB continues to grow and God brings new people to us we’ll need to keep asking him to help us open up our hearts, our diaries and our homes to these newcomers.

3. God has increased our love for the lost

As I reflected on the year I wondered whether in the busyness of an ever-expanding church programme we might have taken the foot off the evangelistic gas. Transfer growth of Christians from other congregations can deceive us that we’re growing the kingdom rather than just shifting Christians to a new venue! It’s certainly true that this year God has grown us as Christians have moved into the area and joined CCB from other churches. The truth is that we’re very grateful for the enthusiasm and encouragement that fellow workers often bring. But have we been guilty of freewheeling a little this year? Whilst individually we nearly always feel exposed and convicted by that question we can take great encouragement from our corporate evangelistic efforts. The Bedford Pub in Balham was played host to some of the most successful events that we’ve run in the last three years. Over 170 people heard a clear explanation of the gospel at the Carol Service. Inevitably the ‘Cracking the Code’ mission event that explored the claims of the Da Vinci Code was less well attended but nevertheless it was a great evening. And we’ve now held three quiz evenings at the Bedford that have sought to identify ‘The Brains of Balham’ and worked as social events at which gospel issues have been introduced. But perhaps the thrill of the year has been the launch of the new morning congregation. Our longing for this tiny little congregation is that God uses us to reach the lost families of the ‘Nappy Valley’ who materially have so much but spiritually are utterly impoverished. Despite being few in number this new gospel initiative appears to have a viable future. Though we feel vulnerable we’re confident in God’s goodness that he will prosper our efforts to teach our children, feed our adults and reach the community.

Therefore, I think it’s been a great year for us. Praise the Lord!

The other reports

http://richardperkins.blogsome.com/2007/07/05/2007-a-year-at-ccb/

The 2004 appraisal for the annual Church AGM

On holiday, whilst constructing the sandcastle to outdo all competitors, I became aware that our progress was not all that it should be. Whilst we were building up the ramparts to withstand the incoming Atlantic tide a small Dutch boy decided to dig away at the foundations with a small plastic spade. I’ll admit to being a little frustrated that what I thought was developing all the magnificent qualities required wasn’t taking shape as quickly as I would have liked. In fairness to the little boy I don’t think he realised what he was doing. I’m also not convinced that Rufus showed the appropriate level of enthusiasm required of a sandcastle builder, but that’s a whinge for another time!

I think this snapshot of the Perkins family holiday provides us with a good analogy of where we are as a church at the moment. When I look back over the year and try and assess what God has accomplished among us we have to recognise that it’s been hard work for many of us and none of us is labouring under the misapprehension that church planting is a walk in the park. Nevertheless there are undoubtedly many things that have taken us forward, helped us to build momentum and created genuine gospel growth. But there have also been things that have hampered progress and we ought to be honest about those. God has been wonderfully generous to us this year with one of the most valuable resources he could give us, people. It doesn’t take long to think of 10 people who’ve made CCB their home in the last year. That has been great thing that God has done for us for the following reasons.

1. People bring their God given gifts and abilities, which we can put to use in the service of others. God has brought to us many able people who have contributed to congregational life in a variety of ways.

2. People bring their God given network of friends, which bring new opportunities for the gospel. God has provided people to join our Down2Earth groups who are eager to think about the implications of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.

3. People bring their God given financial resources, which we’re happy to redirect into gospel ministry to others. God has increased our level of giving this year so that the notion of being self financing and indeed being generous in support of other gospel ventures is not as unlikely as it was.

All of these have combined to bring a sense of confidence in what we’re doing. People think that what we’re trying to do for the gospel is worth joining in and we should take great encouragement from that.

However, I suspect that there are a few ways in which we’ve been guilty of frustrating church growth. I’m not suggesting that any of us have deliberately sought to undermine the gospel. Our error is probably like that of our little Dutch excavator. I’m sure we’ve done so unwittingly. But it may be that we’ve not thought through the implications of our actions. These are two of the factors that have undermined our intention to grow a gospel church in Balham.

1. Consumerism

The ongoing influence of our sinful nature means that characteristically we are people who consume rather than contribute. Our decision making is shaped by this pervading influence. The area in which it became most obvious is in our attendance. Therefore our decision to turn up at church is often governed more by personal desire than by our obligation to serve others. I suspect many of us underestimate just how discouraging it is to others when we choose not to turn up at church. This is one area where we can each make a massive contribution to other people and the great thing about it is that it requires no great ability! Do not underestimate the significance of just being at church.

2. Conformity

We are under immense pressure to conform our decisions to the expectations of those who matter to us. When those that matter are not people whose thinking is shaped and nurtured by the Kingdom of God we’ll make worldly decisions. This is perhaps most prevalent in the decision making we make regarding career moves and in time the type of property that we’d like to live in. It has been absolutely thrilling to hear of people in our congregation who’ve made the decision to stay locally and help out with the work of the gospel at CCB. There are a number of people who’ve let the Kingdom of God shape their thinking and that is evidence of a great work of God among us.

In conclusion God is building his church through us and despite us. Let’s give him thanks for all that he’s accomplished. Let’s repent and ask forgiveness for standing in the way of progress. And let’s pray that next year we witness God doing even more wonderful things among his church in Balham.

The other reports

This was our first ever AGM report, in 2003, the grammar is awful and I’m not that I agree with everything I wrote back then. But hey, we learn. And who knows, there is also a slim possibility that I could also be wrong now!

Christ Church Balham (CCB) was officially launched in October 2003 under the leadership of Richard Perkins with a group of 25 committed individuals from Dundonald. We have been joined by a few who have relocated from The Bible Talks, Mayfair (TBT) and have been delighted to welcome them. Richard is employed by the Dundonald Churches Charitable Trust and therefore is accountable to the Senior Minister, Richard Coekin and the Dundonald Partnership. The priorities for this year have been attempting to maintain the high standard of Bible teaching that many had valued at Dundonald and TBT and to develop an evangelistic outlook. The intention has been to begin as we mean to go on and place these twin aims at the heart of congregational life.

As we look back over the last 9 months and reflect on what God has accomplished through us and what he has taught us I offer the following observations.

1. we’re beginning to form our own identity

Whilst we benefit enormously from being a ’networked congregation’ and the mutual resourcing that this arrangement makes possible, we have begun to attempt some things on our own. We have run two ‘Food for Thought’ courses [forerunner to Christianity Explored], we have a separate ‘Knowing God’ programme, we hold our own Prayer Meeting and we have had a couple of independent Men’s Breakfasts. Though the activities we run are smaller we have realised that we can be independent and we have begun to appreciate that we are church as the Bible describes it.

There are some areas where it will remain beneficial for us to work together with Dundonald. This is especially true in ministry training since it gives us access to a first rate trainer in Richard Coekin. For example, our apprentices have benefited enormously from his input in the Apprentice workshops on Wednesday mornings. In addition the Dundonald Apprenticeship Scheme has both financed Ben and Rat and provided them with practical experience and a broader variety of ministry opportunities than they would otherwise have had with an evening congregation. Richard has also run ‘Prepared to Serve’ where he has provided ministry training for some of our leaders.

God has richly rewarded us in our joint involvement with large-scale events such as Revive, the Dundonald Churches Bible Convention and ‘Cold Feet’, the mission events. The quality of such events is notably higher than anything we could contemplate at the moment and it has been a joy to labour in the gospel side by side with them. The challenge as we grow will be to find ways of encouraging those who have no previous contact with Dundonald to appreciate the spiritual benefits of our association with this mature and established congregation. Given their extraordinary generosity to us, both spiritually and financially, we have an obligation to them to encourage them and join together whenever that is possible.

2. we’re beginning to experience the cost of sacrifice

Initially we were fuelled by the thrill of starting a new venture and enjoying the challenge and excitement of anticipating what God might accomplish through our efforts. However, the realities of being few in number have begun to become more obvious in recent months. There are inevitably some things that are hard to do when we are small, the workload is shared between a committed but increasingly tired group and it can be discouraging to meet together when people are away. However, it is hard to think of God accomplishing anything of significance without the accompanying reality of sacrifice. In a triumphalistic age we perhaps do not think about this uncomfortable truth as often as would be helpful. The honeymoon, if there was one, is over and we are learning to trust God and depend upon him. This is no bad thing. It’s forcing us to express our dependency on our Father in prayer. There have been occasions where we have been very aware of our vulnerability as a congregation and it may have been tempting for many if us to look at other larger churches with envy. After all, the quality of almost everything that they do is greater whether it is their evangelistic events, their music or their active social scene. However, God has been very good to us and comforted us when we’ve needed it. There are clear benefits in being small. The quality of relationships continues to improve and our personal care for one another is a cause for rejoicing. We must remember that as we grow under God, the problems will not go away, they just may not be the same ones as we’re experiencing at the moment!

3. we’re beginning to see signs of growth

We have not experienced the wholesale relocation of young professionals who travel up to central London churches that some thought might occur. Growth has therefore had to come from personal invitations to friends to join us at guest events and ‘Food for Thought’. Evangelistic growth is often slower than transfer growth. However, it’s genuine growth because it’s not simply shifting Christian people around existing churches but through evangelism God adds people to his kingdom. This is after all one of the reasons we were planted in the first place! God has blessed us with good attendance at guest services, and a particular cause for thanks was the two Christmas Carol Events. We have had over a dozen people come for part of our ‘Food for Thought’ courses. There have also been large numbers of irregular visitors at our Sunday meetings.

One of the unexpected excitements this year has been identifying and training a new group of leaders for our various groups. It has been thrilling to see many of us grow in maturity, make significant leaps forward in our Christian lives and take on new responsibilities for Bible teaching, administrative duties and personal care. We ought to be aware that this may not have happened so quickly in a larger church. God really has equipped us for the tasks he has given to us.

I want to express my own personal joy at being able to lead this church and work side by side with fellow partners in the gospel. It has been a steep learning curve since leaving Oak Hill. No doubt I have made many mistakes. I thank you for your patience and your willingness to forgive my many errors.

Several people have been a great help this year but I feel it would be inappropriate not to single some out for special praise. Ruth has been a great help this year and as she rightly takes on the responsibilities of becoming Neil’s wife I want to thank for her immeasurable support in countless unseen administrative tasks. In addition I want to thank Ben and Rat for their tireless labour, their willing service and enthusiastic support. They have enjoyed the privileges of ministry and I suspect Corinne and Michelle have borne the costs so to them I ask your forgiveness and can promise that it may never change this side of glory! I look forward to the opportunity to celebrate, God willing, our first year together at our Church Dinner. It will be a delight to reflect on God’s goodness to us, his commitment to us and his guidance of us in our first faltering steps as a new young church. May God go on blessing us.

The other reports

http://richardperkins.blogsome.com/2007/07/05/2007-a-year-at-ccb/

People leave churches all the time. Not always for good reasons. Some of the hardest conversations are with people who’ve decided to move away.

At one level it’s understandable. Fuelled by our aspirations we want what’s best for ourselves and our families. And the truth is that we often can’t afford that in London. Moving away from Balham means we might access better state education, larger properties with more room and gardens and a safer neighbourhood with more PLUs [people like us]!

Increasingly I envisage having to have conversations with people in which I say, ‘here’s an idea, instead of going, why not stay?’. The line of argumentation might go along these lines. Of course every conversation would be carefully tailored to each individual situation, but you expected that didn’t you?!

1. You’re needed here

If you go, you take your gifts, your cash and your network of friends with you. We’ll survive without you. No one is indispensible. But you’re valuable. Not only because of what you contribute. But we mustn’t be naive and ignore that. Every person at church makes a contribution to church. When someone leaves they take that contribution with them. That contribution may not be immediately tangible. It’s not necessarily the case that those with teaching responsibilities in small groups, Sunday School or Women’s Bible Study make the biggest contribution. It’s obvious that people who run groups will be missed. But often that can be the catalyst for someone else ’stepping up to the plate’. Often it’s those who offer hospitality, support and encouragement who will be missed most. Within every church there’s a complex network of friendships and relationships. When people leave those are disrupted. People who remain get unsettled, they feel let down, they can feel abandoned and no one has the honesty to admit that those relationships are going to come to a meaningful end. We need to factor into our thinking the effect our departure will have on others.

2. You’re putting lifestyle before ministry

This is the danger that lurks behind our decision to leave. Often a decision to get out of London has more to do with lifestyle decisions than gospel concerns. That can often be hidden because we can end up in a leafy suburb or a delightful market town in the Home Counties and get involved in an established evangelical church. To the ‘untrained eye’ it can look like a decision to support a needy local church. But scratch under the surface and it’s motivated by comfort for this life. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who is well acquainted with this temptation! We can disguise our motives for leaving by pointing out how much we feel we could contribute. After all, we’ve probably received lots of training in our urban church that we can now put to good use. That could well be true. I know of lots of Pastors who are very grateful for the impetus and momentum provided by the ‘bright young things’ who leave the city for the country.

Not every decision to leave the urban setting is sinful. We can’t look upon the heart. It’s not really a right or wrong decision. It’s a matter of wisdom. In many situations it’ll be the wise thing to do. But my point is that it’s not always. We need to be honest about that.

3. This is a great place to be

You’re part of something exciting at CCB. Look at where God has brought us in the last few years. Who knows what we could accomplish under Him in the years to come. We’re making it up as we go along but at least we’re making it up. We’re expanding our gospel ministries all over the place. We’re initiating new ventures for the gospel. We need people to help start and run those ministries.

Two years ago I remember a senior Pastor standing up at a Christmas party for the elders, staff and apprentices and their wives and talking briefly about the past ten years. He recalled that ten years ago he’d had conversations with many of the elders and implored them to stay and resist the seemingly inevitable middle class drift out of London. To their eternal credit many of those men took the decision to keep their families in the same place and bear the cost. Ten years previously the church had a morning congregation of 50 adults. Ten years on ten churches had been planted and an apprenticeship scheme had been launched producing almost twenty candidates for further theological training. Not one of those elders had anticipated what under God they might have accomplished.

We have no idea what God has in store for us at CCB. There’s no guarantee that He will do the same for us. But He could. We have a chance to build something for the Kingdom at CCB. We need people who will stay long term and get involved in building it. If we go we’ll have fewer builders and it’ll take longer to build.

4. God is no man’s debtor

No one puts the concerns of the Kingdom first and ultimately isn’t the better off for it. We may not receive our reward in this life. In fact, our existence in this life may be characterised by cost, hardship and suffering. But we don’t just live for this life do we? In the next life there will not be a single moment we regret the decision to stay. God is no man’s debtor. We won’t be able to go up to him on the last day and accuse Him of short changing us.

Of course, for these words to have any sort of credibility it means that if church leaders move on they need to make sure it’s a move free from the stain of hypocrisy! I’ve often imagines what it would feel like to stand in front of the congregation and explain that I’m going to accept a job offer from elsewhere. It’s hard to see how I could do that without undermining much of what I’ve said above! These words could come back to bite me but I just hope that someone has the courage to challenge my decision making if it ever occurs.

‘The emergent church is part of the Emerging Church movement but does not embrace the dominant ideology of the movement. Rather, the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism. The only difference is that the old liberalism accommodated modernity and the new liberalism accommodates post modernity’.

Mark Driscoll wrote those words in ‘Confessions of a Reformission Rev’ published by Zondervan, 2006, p21. Driscoll is part of the Emerging Church movement in the States but now distances himself from what’s become known as the Emergent stream because of their liberal theological trajectory.

Don Carson has written a book on this subject entitled, ‘Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church’. Of this book David Jackman, the President of the Proclamation Trust, writing in Evangelicals Now says,

‘He has developed a penetrating biblical critique of this widely diversified development out of orthodox evangelicalism. But he does it with sensitivity, generosity, in an irenical spirit and with a genuine desire to understand the movement and its implications’ http://www.e-n.org.uk/3204-Becoming-conversant-with-the-emerging-church.htm.

A truncated summary of Carson’s arguments are available in an article here http://www.modernreformation.org/dac05emerging.htm.

• His book would be well worth pursuing for a thorough understanding of this phenomenon and is available here http://www.mannachristiancentre.com/product/6710.htm.
• Here is a terrific interview in which he makes his salient points in dialogue form http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week845/interview2.html.

My intention in this short article is much more modest. At the end we may not be conversant with the Emerging Church but we may at least be able to recognise it in the crowd. The links provided throughout the piece and those included at the end should be followed up if you’d like something more than a vague recognition of the Emerging Church!

1. What is the Emerging Church?

When one of the leading writers in the movement, Spencer Burke, runs an Emerging Church web site called theooze.com you know that defining the movement is going to be like pinning jelly to the wall! Burke actually writes,

‘the various parts of the community are like mercury. Try to touch the liquid or constrain it, and the substance will resist. Rather than force people to fall into line, an oozy community tolerates differences and treats people who hold opposing views with great dignity. To me, that’s the essence of the emerging church’. Quoted in Carson’s article http://www.modernreformation.org/dac05emerging.htm.

This therefore means that any general review of the Emerging rationale and enterprise will be just that, general. Since the movement is extraordinarily diverse it’s not possible to lump everyone in together. Nevertheless it is possible to identify a number of distinguishing features about this movement.

a. It’s an attempt to reach a post modern generation

Right at the heart of the emerging church movement is a desire to reach out to the so called ‘Y Generation’. This group of people have imbibed post modernism and are alienated from the Bible and from church. David Jackman defines the emerging church as follows,

‘The emerging church thesis is that the radical changes from the modern to the post modern, in Western culture, signal that a new church needs to emerge and is indeed emerging. Its values and methodologies need to be embraced and followed if the current evangelical church is not to become washed up on the beach of irrelevance, like a fossilised relic’. http://www.e-n.org.uk/3204-Becoming-conversant-with-the-emerging-church.htm

b. It’s a protest against evangelicalism, modernism and mega churches

Carson makes the point that many of the emerging church leaders have emerged out of traditional evangelicalism into the emerging church. Their reasons for doing so are usually increased disenchantment with corrupting authority structures, cultural disengagement and obsession with congregational size.

c. It’s a conversation with many dialogue partners

The movement prides itself on being a conversation because this panders to the post modern conviction that there is no absolute truth claim and so every voice is a legitimate contribution. Mark Driscoll writing in the Criswell Theological Review, quotes Ed Stetzer, a missiologist with the Southern Baptist Convention http://criswell.files.wordpress.com/2006/03/3,2%20APastoralPerspectiveontheEmergentChurch%5BDriscoll%5D.PDF. Stetzer argues that the emerging church includes three distinct types of Christians namely ‘Relevants’, ‘Reconstructionists’ and ‘Revisionists’.

The Relevants

The Relevants seek to be more relevant for the post modern generation. In general they do so maintaining their reformed theological framework but through modifying the styles and structures of church life. Driscoll argues that within this group there are a significant number of Reformed Relevants who look to men like John Piper, Tim Keller and Don Carson for theological direction. The critique levelled against this group is that they’re doing little more than conducting cool church for the younger generation.

The Reconstructionists

The Reconstructionists seek to reconstruct the way in which Church is organised and functions. They are generally evangelical but dissatisfied with the lack of authenticity amongst contemporary evangelical churches. The critique levelled against this group is that they recruit from amongst disaffected Christians coming out of the seeker sensitive mega churches of North America.

The Revisionists

The Revisionists seek to revise not only church practice but also the Christian faith. The critique levelled against this group is best expressed by Mark Driscoll. He says they are, ‘theologically liberal and question key evangelical doctrines, critiquing their appropriateness for the emerging post modern world’.

2. Where are we likely to come across the Emerging Church?

In the UK the leading proponent of emergent ideas is Steve Chalke, the founder of the Oasis Trust and Faithworks and the Pastor of Church.co.uk based in Waterloo. Brian McClaren, who Carson regards as the most articulate speaker of the Emerging Church in the US, is quoted as saying that Chalke’s book ‘could help save Jesus from Christianity’. I have reviewed Chalke’s book here http://richardperkins.blogsome.com/2006/10/19/steve-chalkes-the-lost-message/. With the ever increasing usage of pod casting and vod casting we’re likely to see the best and the worst of the Emerging Church influencing Generation Y in the UK.

3. What’s positive about the Emerging Church?

Amidst the justified critique of this movement we mustn’t lose sight of their concern to reach a post Christian world. Since many of the leading proponents grew up in a theologically reformed and culturally conservative milieu that became increasingly isolated from main stream culture there is an admirable desire to engage with the secular culture. Carson writes,

‘The staying component in what they’re doing is the missional concern to reach a new generation of biblically illiterate people who don’t know any of the theological jargon, don’t know that the Bible has two testaments, don’t know how it’s put together. The emphasis on understanding the culture, reaching out to people - all of those things are hugely important. They have a staying power. They’re part of Christian confessionalism, Christian mission, in every generation’. [PBS Interview]

4. What’s worrying about the Emerging Church?

Carson cites five areas of failure reflected in representative emergent thinking

1. They fail to appreciate the significance of non-omniscient truth claims.

These are essential to the Christian faith because that’s what doctrine is. Post modernism denies this epistemological claim to know the truth. But they fail to distinguish incomplete knowledge from insufficient knowledge. In other words although we cannot express truth exhaustively [because we’re not omniscient] we can express it adequately [because the omniscient God has spoken]. Carson puts it this way,

‘It is important to say that we can never have the knowledge of God, what might be called an omniscient access to truth - that is the access to truth only a mind that knows everything can actually have. Post modern sensibilities have, in fact, helped to remind us that we can only know things as finite human beings can know things. But if you set the bar for the possibility of talking about knowledge at the level of omniscience, of actually being able to know something perfectly and absolutely, the bar is just set too high - it’s unrealistic. I’d want to say that human beings can know things not with the certainty that belongs only to God, but with all kinds of degrees of certainty on which you base your life - the kinds of knowledge that are appropriate to human beings’. [PBS Interview]

2. They fail to face and answer tough questions.

Post modernism does not welcome dogmatic answers. So it shouldn’t surprise us that the elading figures of the Emerging Church are elusive masters of the non-answer. Listen to Carson again,

‘It’s not because he doesn’t want to give any answer at all, it’s because he wants to give answers that are fuzzy. That is his intent. It’s not because he is a clever diplomat who is trying to avoid the toughest questions by using ambiguous answers of a diplomatic cast, but everybody who understands the language knows what he really means. He really does want all of these edges taken away. He wants to avoid what he perceives to be the angularity of confessional truth. And he’s very good at dancing around. He’s very good at it. At the end of the day, it seems to me that it avoids some of the angularities of the Bible itself’. [PBS Interview]

3. They fail to submit to scripture in every area of doctrine.

Carson states,

‘Many in the movement use scripture in one fashion or another. But I have yet to see any serious work from this camp, studying scripture closely, thinking of scripture carefully. It tends to be a kind of proof-texting, pick-a-text-to-prove-a-point sort of approach rather than really getting inside a biblical book or a chunk of scripture and thinking it out and bowing before it. In other words, scripture really must have a reforming power in our lives. It’s got to say where we’re wrong as well as encourage us where we’re wounded and forgive us where we are repentant sinners, and so forth. The scripture has a lot of different effects. But one of the effects it must have is to correct us. What I do not hear from this camp is the kind of serious wrestling with scripture that will enable scripture to contradict not only modernism but [also] postmodernism’. [PBS Interview]

4. They fail to demarcate between believers and unbelievers.

The reason for this is that once the post modern assertion that confessionalism is bad is uncritically accepted there are then no boundaries to acceptable and unacceptable belief. Christianity then ceases to be belief in confessional truths. Nothing is wrong and everything can be embraced. Of course, there needs to be a place where people can ask questions and voice their scepticism. But people are in danger of joining a movement without coming to faith in the Jesus of the Gospel. The blurred distinction between becoming and belonging obscures the necessity of responding to Christ in repentance and faith.

5. They fail to handle exegetical and historical facts in a responsible way.

Carson’s comment on McLaren’s book, ’A Generous Orthodoxy’ is withering,

‘Every chapter has some useful insights and every chapter overstates arguments, distorts history, attaches excessively negative terms to all the things with which McLaren disagrees …. And almost never engages the Scriptures except occasionally in proof-texting ways’. [Modern Reformation]

5. Where can I read more about the emerging church?

For a reformed critique on the emerging church the following are resources that I’ve found helpful.

• What’s Emerging in the Church, Jeffery Jue, http://www.reformation21.org/Past_Issues/2006_Issues_1_16_/2006_Issues_1_16_Articles/What_s_Emerging_in_the_Church/82/
• ‘A Generous Orthodoxy’ by Al Mohler, is a book review of Brian McLarens’s book in which Mohler argues that there’s very little orthodoxy to be found in it. Find it here http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-06-20.
• Al Mohler’s ‘What should we think of the Emerging Church?’ comes in two parts with part 1 here http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-06-29 and part 2 here http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-06-30
• Don Carson’s article from Modern Reformation includes more of a critique of post modernism http://www.modernreformation.org/dac05emerging.htm.
• A Pastors’ and Theologians’ Forum on the Emerging Church is found here http://sites.silaspartners.com/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID314526%7CCHID598014%7CCIID2249672,00.html
• Mike McKinley has written a book review on Mark Driscoll’s books ‘The Radical Reformission’ and ‘Confessions of a Reformission Rev’ here http://sites.silaspartners.com/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID314526%7CCHID598014%7CCIID2249682,00.html
• Shane Rogerson sizes up Mark Driscoll in ‘Reaching out without selling out’, The Briefing, Issue 342, March 2007.
• Phil Colgan takes a look at Nooma DVDs in ‘The Nooma Revolution’ in the Briefing, Issue 342, March 2007.

I received an interesting response from a handful of people at a recent evening meeting when, as an aside, I said the following, ‘you could always come to church, it doesn’t have to be ours, but make sure it’s a good one’.

There were some for whom it was a revelation that there were bad churches. The idea that some churches don’t do what they’re supposed to do was clearly a new idea.

But it dawned on me how essential it is to point this out. The theological breadth within our own denomination is so vast that it must be utterly bewildering to the casual observer. Presumably it completely escapes them what churches at different ends of the theological spectrum have in common. The truth is, very little. But in using the term Anglican [and allowing others who’ve departed from its theological foundations to use it] we allow people to think that we’re all the same. We’re not. People need to know that there are very serious doctrinal differences between a liberal catholic church and an evangelical church. Visitors don’t need to know what all those differences are immediately. But they need to know that what you’re offered in each will be very different. The politicians among the denomination may try and paper over the cracks. But we’re not politicians, we’re pastors and either side of those deep fissures are life giving truth and poisonous false teaching. We wouldn’t let a parent inadvertently give a child poison to drink when they thought it was milk. Why do we think it’s unwise or unwelcome to do the same with doctrine? No one likes drawing attention to division, any more than we enjoy the fact of division. But in light of the fact that those church leaders guilty of reinventing the faith seem unwilling to repent and teach the Bible we have to warn those who are yet to describe themselves as followers of Jesus Christ.

But what surprised me most was that there were some who were delighted to hear a church leader describe churches as bad. Their experience of church had been awful. But they assumed that this was normal and that Christians hadn’t noticed just how bad it was! Perhaps they’d thought that when we become Christians our powers of differentiation are removed along with our brains! They assumed that we could no longer tell the difference between a good church and a bad church. They hadn’t figured out what the differences were but they knew they were there alright. So, for the sake of the confused visitor I’ve resolved to keep on using that phrase for a while.

It begs the question, ‘what is a good church?’ Here’s what I suggest.

1. Find a church that’ll teach you the Bible

The first priority in choosing a church is to find one that will help you mature in the Christian faith. God matures disciples of Jesus Christ by teaching them from His word. And so we’re looking for a church not only that models Bible teaching from the pulpit but a church that handles the Bible well in small groups and equips its members to read and study the Bible for themselves.

If a church doesn’t teach the Bible we’ll remain undernourished and stunted in our growth. The church has far too many spiritual pygmies and we don’t need any more. So do the kingdom a favour and find somewhere that’ll equip you to live faithfully for Christ.

2. Find a church that’ll encourage you to use your gifts

Secondly, find a church that will help identify the gifts that God has given you and nurture them in serving others. God equips us differently so that in combination with the other members of his body we can get to work and build the church. So we’re looking for a church that won’t allow you to pew sit for too long. Even those churches with a training remit ought not to just fill you with knowledge but encourage you to do some actual ministry.

If a church doesn’t encourage you to use your gifts you’ll become spiritually obese! We need to exercise and participate in church life. Every church has jobs that need doing. Find out what they are and volunteer!

3. Find a church that’ll help your evangelism

Thirdly, find a church that will help you reach your friends, family and colleagues with the gospel. You need to find a church that talks about evangelism and one that does evangelism. Take a look at the term card and preaching programme. Find out what events the church provides to help you in reaching others. So we’re looking for a church that won’t let you off the hook and encourage our evangelistic complacency.

If a church doesn’t encourage you to engage in evangelism our concern for the lost won’t mirror that of Jesus Christ. The world is full of people who’ve never heard the gospel expressed in language that they can understand. Jesus never neglected them, neither should we.

Conclusion

So this is what I advise people who are ‘church shopping’. It may well be the case that you have to compromise on one of those things. But i’m not convinced that in London we have to. It ought to be obvious that Christ Church Balham [www.christchurchbalham.org.uk] matches up fairly well under all the categories. But you’d have to pay us a visit to see whether that’s true or not!