Loving The Method More Than The Message

I confess I’ve planned an entire lesson around a funny story I just had to tell even though I could barely find a Bible verse to go with it. I have been known to spend more time perfecting my PowerPoint presentation than meditating on the passage I was preparing to teach. I’ve slighted prayer in order to set up the projector. I’ve secretly wondered how I could be effective without a building, a budget, or a band. In fact, working in a larger church only lends itself to wanting a still bigger building, budget, and I still don’t have a band. All of these struggles are symptoms of a deeper problem in me. I’m more concerned about having the right storytelling tools, toys, and talent than I am about the Story I’m called to tell.

As youth workers, we must recapture the cross of the Story. Students need the power of the Gospel more than they need my flashy PowerPoint presentations. The method of story telling will have no power to transform the next generation unless they hear and believe the message of the Story in the stories we tell them (Galatians 3:1-5).

An excerpt from my article “Valuing Story Telling Over Telling The Story” in YouthWorker Journal (2004).

BreakPoint.org Has A New Look

Chuck Colson’s BreakPoint website (for which I am Associate Editor of the Worldview Church eReport) has a nice new look.

Be sure to visit BreakPoint.org today!

Discipleship Is BOTH Formational AND Missional

When I talk about cruciform discipleship (also here), the concepts in this article from Mark Roberts are part of what I’m talking about.  Here are a couple of excerpts, but be sure to click through to read the rest:

What is the substance of the disciple’s job description? It has three elements, according to Mark’s description:

1. Be with Jesus.
2. Proclaim the message (of the kingdom of God).
3. Have authority to cast out demons.

Two of these elements are missional: proclaiming and casting out demons. One is essentially relational and formational: being with Jesus.

Mark is spelling out here what would have been intuitive to Jews at the time of Jesus. Disciples were apprentices who learned in relationship with a master. There was no learning apart from relationship, no growth in mastery except as passed on personally from the master to the disciple. So it was for those who would follow Jesus. They would learn to participate in his mission as they were with him…

…A missional church isn’t just, or even mainly, a church that does outreach programs. Rather, it is a church that is bound together by the Spirit as a community of discipleship. Members are related first to God and then to each other in Christ. These relationships, when rightly understood, are not just for the benefit of those who enjoy them. They are also a primary platform for mission. Disciples in relationship with each other reach out to draw others into the community of disciples. That’s what Christian mission is all about.

Debate: Women As Deacons?

This debate recorded live at the PCA 2009 General Assembly between Ligon Duncan and Tim Keller is well worth listening to for two reasons:

1. It is a great overview of the biblical, historical, and contemporary issues regarding women and the ministry of deacons in the church.
2. It is an enjoyable example of how two brothers in Christ can turn a debate into a dialogue.

[HT:  Reformation 21]

Ligonier’s Top Commentaries On Every Book Of The Bible

Keith Mathison offers a list of his top 5 commentaries for each book of the Bible.