Feb
1
flotsam & jetsam (2.1.10)
Posted by Jon Trainer at 12:49 pmFiled Under blogdom
New church website is up. There are changes and additions yet to be made, but the ComGroup has done a great job of getting this launched. The goal of this site is to communicate more to the “outside” audience than inside the New Hope community. There is an invisible, members-only side of the site we use for that. This entailed paring back a lot on the good, but info-heavy material on the previous iteration. We partnered with Elexio for this project; it has been a good experience. Hopefully, we’ll be able to tweak the blog a bit to achieve the same kind of look and feel. Your feedback is welcome and desired.
I preached yesterday on 1 Corinthians 3. The emphasis was on a man-centered ministry versus a God-centered ministry. As usual, the preacher is never quite satisfied with how the delivery matched the study and desired effects, but here are a couple of the main thoughts. First, Paul’s complete humiliation as a servant in God’s field/building. He would be distraught at the cult-like, personality-driven orientation of current evangelicalism. In even the most conservative ministry circles it is more about what so-and-so is doing, thinking, writing, than about the Lord of the church. Second, God-centered ministries are built on the foundation of the gospel and indwelt by the Spirit. This means we must take measurable steps to make gospel-centeredness a reality in our congregations, and we must be conscious of the Spirit’s presence…this entails a serious effort at wise master-building and a healthy sense of well-rounded fear in the process.
John Armstrong insists Your Church is Too Small…he is not talking about warm bodies in the pew, but instead about a connection to the larger Church. He recommends:
(1) Cultivating a commitment to restore the sacraments; (2) increasing our appetite to know more about the ancient church; (3) express love for the whole church and desire to see the church become one; (4) blend practices of worship, devotion, and prayer from all three streams of the Church (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant); (5) increase interest in integrating more liturgical depth and structure with spontaneity and freedom in the Holy Spirit; (6) provide greater involvement in signs and symbols of worship such as crosses, banners, and clerical vestments; and (7) continue a commitment to personal salvation, solid biblical teaching, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Okay, not everybody of going to be comfortable with everything on this list, but I am all for 1 (a more regular celebration of the table is one means for attaining the gospel-centeredness mentioned above), 2 (history is always a good thing), 3 (though not attainable in life under the sun, it is a desire and prayer of the Savior), 4 (some yes, some no), 5 (absolutely…every church has a liturgy, and as I tweeted last week, some are more meaningFUL and intionalFUL than others), 6 (yes…worship involves all of us, to include our senses…symbols convey meaning), and 7 (of course). HT: euangelizomai
On critisizing Islam, and a Pentagon that won’t.
Kudos to Jon T. and John Mc. for the church video! Nice work!
Jon, given your study of the passage (1 Cor. 3), what does Christ-centered “building” look like? How do we know when we’re not building on the foundation that’s already been laid?
Champ
Well, Champ, there are some mugs the camera loves, I am afraid mine is not one of them. The more pics and graphics John can include in those things from here forward, the better.
Let me take an initial stab at your query, then you can hit everything I miss. If we build upon the foundation that is Christ, it seems we must build on Christ as he is revealed to us–in word and work. Christ assures his followers the Spirit would help them remember these very things.
As one reads their letters, the NT authors are quite focused on what Jesus said and did, and on what God was doing through him–reconciling the world to himself. So we must ask ourselves, what are the themes highlighted in Jesus’ teaching and living, and how are we emphasizing his priorities in our life as a body?
One example…I was thinking that we could see this very emphasis in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. In chapter three he is contrasting man-centered ministry with God-centered ministry…a work that IS God’s field/building and that is indwelt by the Spirit versus a work built on man’s wisdom. The realization that the local embodiment of the larger Church is His, completely His, is liberating and sobering at once, and you hear it emphasized in Christ’s words, “I am come to do the will of my Father” (Paul hints at Jesus subordination at the end of ch 3). This is the very opposite sentiment of the Corinthians so bent on personality promotion, and alas, too much reflected in our own church culture.
So one answer among many would be that a Christ-centered church is not a personality centered church, but is instead focused on the character of God. The leadership should reflect the humble attitude of Paul…I am just a servant here–nothing, and the congregation would be focused on how each is doing their part in the building…not leaving the work to the leaders, but not laboring out of sync with the rest of the crew either.
I stop there for now. Perhaps others have thoughts.