There is something fundamental about fellowship
So, I seem to be on a “unity” kick lately, huh? I’m probably thinking more about unity because I’ve been reading John H. Armstrong’s book Your Church is Too Small. But, actually, I’ve been thinking about and writing about unity for quite some time.
Three years ago, I wrote a post called “There is something fundamental about fellowship.” This post casts our unity with one another in the language of fellowship. Our fellowship with one another (or lack of fellowship) is a demonstration of our fellowship with God (or lack of fellowship).
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There is something fundamental about fellowship
Fellowship… There is something about fellowship that makes it fundamental to the church. When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, he answered:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
There are at least two amazing things about this passage. First, Jesus did not stop with the commandment to “Love the Lord your God”. It would seem that commandment would be enough. Instead, he said there is a second command that is like it. Similarly, Jesus said that the Law and the Prophets depend on both of these commandments. Again, the Law and Prophets do not just depend on “Love the Lord your God”. The Law and the Prophets also depend on the commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
There seems to be a fundamental connection between our relationship with God and our relationship with other people. John said something similar in his first letter:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8 ESV)
This seems very simple. If we love God, we will love others. If we do not love others, that demonstrates that we do not love God. The two are fundamentally connected.
In the prologue to his first letter, John also discussed our relationship with God in terms of our relationship with one another:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us – that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship (κοινωνία) with us; and indeed our fellowship (κοινωνία) is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1-3 ESV)
When we have fellowship (κοινωνία – koinonia) with one another, we are demonstrating our fellowship with God. Verse 3 could even be translated as follows: “… that you too may have fellowship with us, and that fellowship of ours is truly with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ.”
We cannot separate our love for God from our love for other people. We cannot separate our fellowship with God from our fellowship with other believers. Fellowship is fundamental in the life of a believer and in the inter-connected lives of a group of believers.
But, just as we cannot create love for God and others, we cannot create fellowship either. Instead, the Spirit creates a bond between His adopted children that humans cannot create on their own. The fellowship (“sharing”) that we have in common is the presence of the Holy Spirit. And, this fellowship exists between all believers. Certainly relationships can be deep or shallow, intimate or surface-level, but fellowship between believers is created by the Spirit, not by our interaction with one another. Relationships that are based on this Spirit-created fellowship should be nurtured, strengthened, encouraged, and sought through continued interaction. But, those relationships must be built fundamentally on Spirit-created fellowship.
What does it mean for fellowship to be fundamental to believers and the church? Here are two examples:
Discipleship depends on fellowship…
When we recognize that discipleship is more than simply teaching facts to someone, then the fundamental role of fellowship becomes clear. Discipleship requires sharing life together. Without fellowship, discipleship is reduced to the transfer of information, which is not true discipleship at all.
Discipline depends on fellowship…
When a brother or sister is living in unrepentant sin, we are taught to disassociate with that brother or sister. In modern times this has been reduced to preventing attendance at certain activities. However, if there is true fellowship involved, then discipline requires the rupture of vibrant relationships: like divorce in a family, back when divorce was not an accepted option.
Fellowship… There is something about fellowship that makes it fundamental to the church. I want to learn more about fellowship. Perhaps others could share what they’ve learned about Spirit-enabled, Spirit-created, Spirit-driven fellowship…
From independence to interdependence
Spiritual formation is concerned with facilitating spiritual change in people. People change most readily when they are in environments that foster change as they learn to live out their unique communal calling. Such environments supply both support and challenge, and participants accept community responsibility as a way of life. We think of being responsible for others and allowing others to care for us. There is a shift from independence to healthy interdependence. (James C. Wilhoit, Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered: Growing in Christ through Community (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 184.)
Discipleship is dynamic
Today, I had lunch with a good friend. We were talking about discipleship (in the midst of discipling one another).
Since discipleship is always between people, it is necessarily relational. Since people and relationships change, discipleship necessarily changes as well. Thus, discipleship is dynamic. As the people grow, discipleship changes. As life situations change, discipleship changes. As people enter/leave the relationship, discipleship changes.
But, if discipleship is dynamic, we can see how difficult it would be to program discipleship. The best way to teach discipleship, then, is not by teaching a program, but by modeling discipleship by example.
Releasing the equippers
I loved the question that Jack (from “Flight Level Musings“) asked: “Where are the Equippers?” He gives a couple of good examples about what he means:
So, what is the best way to equip someone? An example would be my grandfather. He was a farmer. His father was a farmer. My great-grandfather equipped my grandfather to be a farmer. How did he do that? It happened as they went about their daily lives of planting crops, putting meat in the smokehouse, and vegetables in the cellar. My grandfather did not sit in the living room of his farm house and listen to three-point lectures on raising cotton, castrating calves, and smoking bacon. His father equipped him to be a farmer by providing him the practical skills and knowledge to be a farmer. It was one on one mentoring. I believe that was Jesus’ technique with his disciples.
Another example is when I was flight instructing. When I took on a new student I would spend hours with them. This included discussions or “ground” school on techniques, regulations, and navigation. This was followed by a flight lesson and then a debriefing of the flight. What’s amazing; is that on each flight, I actually let the student fly the airplane. Now you may say, “Of course, how would you learn to fly an airplane unless you were allowed to touch the controls?” Sure, that is self-evident, but apply that to your typical church life and the typical layperson sitting in a pew listening to a sermon every Sunday morning. Ask yourself, “When does he or she get to touch the controls?”
I think the equippers are there… part of the church… probably sitting in pews. Some of them are probably frustrated and don’t understand their role in the body. They can’t preach sermons and they can’t lead “worship”. So, what are they supposed to do? Aren’t those things most important?
What would happen if we told people that the most important thing for the church to do is to make disciples? What would happen if we admitted that preaching sermons and leading “worship” does very little to make disciples? What if we told them that they were responsible for helping one another and others live lives in a way that demonstrates their trust in God? What if we started equipping by example instead of by sermon only? Then, what would happen if we did allow other equippers to take part in the church gathering?
How do you find the time?
I was recently reminded of a couple of posts that I wrote called “How do you find the time?” and “How do you find the time to pastor?” I thought I wrote these last year, but apparently it’s been two years since I wrote them! So, I thought I would republish the posts together.
It looks like a few things have changed in those the past two years. I’m not teaching adjunctively for Southeastern College at Wake Forest (now the College at Wake Forest). I am not working with FullThrottle Development and teaching Latin for high school level homeschoolers. Finally, I’m not longer taking seminars in the PhD program at Southeastern Seminary. Now I’m working on my dissertation.
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I’m often asked how I find the time to do the things that I do. For example, a couple of days ago, Bert asked the following in a comment:
How do you find time to pastor, work full time, work on your PhD, and blog meaningful posts regularly? I have often said that there is no such thing as a part-time pastor so where did you find the extra hours in the day?
In this blog post, I’m going to discuss everything except pastoring. I’ll discuss pastoring in another post later.
To start with, like everyone else, I am only given 24 hours each day. And, while I try to be a good steward of my time, I will admit that I often waste time doing unproductive things. Also, you should know that I read and write quickly. I am not trying to brag, its just a fact of life. My wife would be the first to tell you. I also try to plan ahead, especially for school work. If I know that I have a paper due, I start it very early to give myself plenty of time to do the research and to write the paper.
First, I work full time as a web developer for the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’ve been working in this capacity for just over 5 years, and I love it! Not only do I get to work with awesome people, they are also very flexible with my work hours which allows me to take classes. One thing that helps with my time management on the job is that I take a very short lunch break. I almost always bring my lunch from home, and I have found that it does not take me an hour to eat my lunch. So, that saves me alot of time each week.
Second, I teach adjunctively for Southeastern College at Wake Forest, which is associated with the seminary. In fact, my class is located about 100 yards from my office – very convenient. I only teach one class – New Testament Greek – for 3 hours per week. I have also set aside one day per week when I meet with students for a coffee break for about 30 minutes. Besides this time, my students know that I’m always available outside of class, and I have even given them my home and cell phone numbers.
Third, I am a Ph.D. student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’m currently taking two seminars – one in the Gospel of John and the other in Old Testament Theology. These seminars meet for a total of 5 hours each week. We also have a heavy reading and writing load to go along with these seminars. This semester, my writing load is shifted to the second half of the semester, so I have not started writing yet. Most of my reading will be finished by the time I start writing. Like I said, I read and write fast. This takes me less time that most people think, but it still takes alot of time.
Fourth, I am a husband and a father. I probably should have put this first – it would have been more spiritual. I always try to set aside time for my family, and Margaret, my wife, helps me with this. We usually eat dinner together at night, and occasionally, Margaret and I will have lunch together during the day. I try to do very little school work on the weekends in order to set that time aside for family. (Although, sometimes I have to read and write at night.) Also, I choose to read and write at home instead of at the library. I realize that there are probably more distractions at home, but those distractions are my life. The distractions are more important than my studies. I can fail at school and remain obedient to God, but I cannot fail in my marriage and as a father and remain obedient to God.
Finally, I blog. I have been blogging here at The Assembling of the Church for almost two years. I’ve talked to several people in person about the way that I blog, and it seems to be unique. I rarely, if ever, write a blog post in one sitting. I always keep a long list of “draft” blogs that I’m working on. (Currently, I have 15 blog posts in “draft” mode that are in various stages of completion.) I work on these “draft” posts 10 or 15 minutes at a time whenever I have time. For example, I will often work on blog posts when I’m taking a break from reading or writing. When I publish a blog post, I probably started writing it several days – sometimes several months – before I finally publish it. Sometimes, as with this post, I write on specific posts in order to finish them, but usually I don’t care when I finish a post. (Even this post, which I wanted to finish quickly, took me several days of writing in small increments of time.) The exception would be when I’m writing a series. I’m usually 75-100% finished writing a series before I publish the first post. So, blogging takes a very small amount of time for me.
There are several aspects of my life that allow me to do the things that I do, the most important being the grace of God. The graciousness and concern of my family also plays a huge role in allowing me to work, go to school, and publish this blog (which I consider to be part of my studies and discipleship). Also, the fact that I work, teach, and attend classes on the same campus saves me alot of commuting time. Finally, my ability to read and write fast makes it look as if I spend much more time reading and blogging than most people realize. This routine works for me and my family for now. Things may change, and if they do, I can promise you that my family will not be left out of my schedule.
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How do you find the time to pastor?
A few days ago, Bert asked a question that I’m often asked:
How do you find time to pastor, work full time, work on your PhD, and blog meaningful posts regularly? I have often said that there is no such thing as a part-time pastor so where did you find the extra hours in the day?
I answered most of his question in a blog post called “How do you find the time?” (above) But, in this post, I hope to answer his question about pastoring. How do I find the time to pastor while working a full time job, working on my Ph.D., being a husband and father, and maintaining a blog?
One of the reasons that I wanted to answer the question about pastoring separately is that my understanding of what it means to be a pastor is not the traditional understanding. So, I want to take the time to explain what I think it means to be a pastor. A few years ago I was asked to be an elder/pastor for Messiah Baptist Church. I would be one of four pastors. This was a very serious decision for me, so I spent a long time reading Scripture and books about what it means to be a pastor.
At first, I did not want to accept the responsibilities and duties that come along with being a pastor. I did not think that I would have the time to pastor as well as be a husband and father, a full time employee, and a student. As I studied what it means to be a pastor and as I considered this decision, I noticed something: the scriptural description of an elder/pastor is not what we usually mean when we call someone “pastor” or “elder”.
Elders/pastors spend much of their time with administrative duties: maintaining buildings, planning, organizing, recruiting, and financing. These types of activities are not the scriptural responsibilities of pastors. It is not wrong for elders/pastors to do these things, but the activities should not be seen as “pastoring”. Also, elders/pastors are often considered to be the only or primary teachers, preachers, visitors, counselors, ministers, and leaders. While Scripture certainly indicates that pastors/elders should do these things, these are also the responsibilities of all believers.
While pastors/elders are very busy people, many times the “busyness” is related more the expectations of other people instead of the responsibilities that God gives to elders through Scripture. In fact, a few years ago, a good friend of mine who is a pastor at a mega-church told me that he has to schedule one hour a week to spend with a discipleship group, otherwise he would have not time to actually disciple people. Why? Because his time was spent doing other things – things that were required of him by his job description, the people on his staff, and the people in the church, but things that were not required by Scripture.
So, how do I find time to pastor? I find time to pastor by recognizing that discipleship is my primary responsibility as a pastor, just as discipleship is every believer’s primary responsibility. I spend time with people, caring for people, listening to people, teaching people – sometimes one on one, sometimes in small groups, sometimes in large groups – through email, instant messaging, phone, and face-to-face meetings. I do not set office hours, but instead I spend as much time as possible with people.
However, I recognize that I am not the extent of the discipling that goes on around me. Therefore, I encourage others to spend time with people, and I encourage people to seek help through already existing relationships. If someone has a problem, they can call me or another pastor, but they do not have to call a pastor. Instead, they can call a friend or a neighbor. Many times when people are helped, I know nothing about it until later. Praise God! I do not have to have my hand in everything. God is perfectly capable of taking care of his children without me.
What about organizing, planning, recruiting, etc.? Again, God is perfectly capable of taking care of these things through his people – not just through the pastors/elders. I do not spend time thinking up programs, planning how to carry them out, asking people to take part, and making sure the programs run well. Instead, I encourage people to serve as God gifts them and as he gives them a passion for that service. Then, I – along with the church – help them in whatever ways they need help. We do not have set programs as a church, but it is amazing the amount of ministry that is going on through the members of the church, because they have been freed to serve as God has gifted them.
What about teaching and preaching? In this case, the pastors do take on more of a responsibility. While I would love for people to show up at a church meeting having prepared a teaching, our church is not ready for this yet. (THIS HAS CHANGED IN TWO YEARS!!!) Therefore, the pastors have taken on the responsibility of providing someone to teach each Sunday. That does not mean that we teach every Sunday, but we teach more often. We also ask other people to teach, and we help them as they study Scripture and prepare to teach. I’ve also decided to study along with whoever is teaching that week. So, even though I am not teaching next Sunday, I am continuing to study as if I were going to teach next Sunday. It may be that God wants me to say something, even though I am not scheduled to preach.
By the way, except for helping to make the preaching schedule, there is very little that I do now that I would stop doing if I were no longer an elder/pastor. Why? Because I do not serve because of an office or position. I serve because God has gifted me and provided me opportunities to serve. I was doing all of these things before I was a pastor, and I will continue doing them if at some point I am no longer recognized as a pastor.
It takes much less time to focus on people than to focus on the organization. God’s heart is with people, and that’s where my heart should be as well. When I find myself started to yield to the expectations that other people or that the system places on me, then I may no longer be doing the things that God wants me to do. That’s when I must check my focus, and return to loving and caring and teaching and leading people, which I think is the responsibility of the pastor as well as all followers of Jesus Christ. (See my series on elders that starts with “Elders (Part 1) – Introduction“.)
So, how do I find the time to pastor? Because I am a pastor, but not that kind of pastor.
F.F. Bruce on 1 Thessalonians 5:11-14
I came across an interesting quote concerning the following passage in 1 Thessalonians:
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (1 Thessalonians 5:11-14 ESV)
F.F. Bruce wrote the following concerning 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (the instructions for “brothers and sisters” to “admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, etc.”):
The various forms of service enjoined in the words that follow [in 1 Thess 5:14] are certainly a special responsibility of leaders, but not their exclusive responsibility: they are ways in which all the members of the community can fulfill the direction of v 11 to encourage and strengthen one another. (F. F. Bruce, 1&2 Thessalonians (WBC 45; Waco: Word Books, 1982),122)
I think the church would be stronger and healthier if all believers would understand and function in this manner. Yes, leaders are to teach, shepherd, admonish, etc. It is their special responsibility, but not their exclusive responsibility. In fact, leaders alone cannot do what is necessary for the maturity of the church. (Ephesians 4:16)
Contentment, impatience, and complacency
This morning, I met together with a group of guys to talk about life and Scripture and God and stuff. We didn’t have an agenda or plan, other than wanting to spend time encouraging one another in our walk with with Lord.
At one point, a brother read from Psalm 27, and we talked with “waiting for the Lord.” This led to a discussion about contentment and Hebrews 13:5-6 and the issue of contentment.
As I was thinking about contentment and waiting for the Lord, I realized that sometimes I get impatient and move before he tells me to. At other times, I get complacent and don’t move when he tells me to. I’d never thought about the connection between contentment, impatience, and complacency before.
What do you think?
Theological Sources: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience, And?
Two years ago, I wrote a series called “Theological Sources” (Introduction, Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience, Conclusion). I enjoyed thinking through these issues and putting this series together. I’ve included the introduction to the series below, as well as links to the other articles. I’d love to continue discussing these issues. If you’d like to reply, please reply to this post so that we can keep the discussion in one place.
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Theological Sources (Introduction)
In this series, I want to discuss the various sources that inform our theology – that is, our understanding of God. For an outline, I will use John Wesley’s Quadrilateral: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. I realize that this is not new information for many of my readers. However, perhaps we can all help ourselves think about this important topic.
Everyone thinks theologically. Whether a person believes in one god, multiple gods, or no gods, they think theologically. This series of posts is intended to help all of us think theologically. Specifically, I hope we are able to think about the sources of our understanding of God.
Wesley (and others) suggested that people generally develop their understanding of God through four sources: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. According to Wesley, Scripture must be our primary source. In fact, he said that Scripture is our only true source, while Tradition, Reason, and Experience work to help us understand Scripture.
In this series, I’ll comment briefly about how each “source” is related to theology in general, I will primarily focus on Christian theology. Of course, focussing on sources for Christian theology does not mean that this will be a simple task. Unfortunately, there is no single understanding among Christian concerning how to develop a theology. Different followers of Jesus – different “Orthodox” followers of Jesus – think differently about God.
While it would be simple and perhaps expedient to suggest that my way of thinking about God is right, and all other ways are wrong, it would also be prideful and arrogant, and it would say more about ourselves than about God himself. Therefore, I think it would be beneficial for all of us to think seriously about our understanding of God, and specifically why we understand God the way that we do.
By the way, these theological sources affect more than our theology proper – that is, our thinking about God. These sources affect our thinking about salvation, mankind, sin, even the church. In fact, it is common for Christians to use the sources in different ways and in different proportions for different aspects of their theology. Perhaps we will be able to discuss some of these differences as well.
I hope that more people than myself are interested in this topic. I’m hoping for a great discussion in the comment concerning each theological “source”. This is one area in particular where I think we can learn from one another.
Here are a few questions to help all of us think about these various theological sources and to kick-off our discussion:
1) Do you think that Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience inform our theology? Are there other theological sources besides these four?
2) Do you think theological sources work independently of one another, or do you think there is interaction between the different sources?
3) What happens when different people place different emphases on different theological sources?
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Theological Sources Series:
1. Introduction
2. Scripture
3. Tradition
4. Reason
5. Experience
6. Conclusion
A thought about discipleship
Discipleship (i.e., the Great Commission) cannot be legislated; it must be modeled. If you want to see more disciple-making, then start making disciples that make disciples. Don’t tell people to make disciples; make disciples yourself.
Forgoing good things for better things
I was greatly encouraged by a post written by Jason as “Spend and Be Spent.” The post is called “Maybe we should…” Here is the main point of his post:
And that’s when I said it…”maybe we could cancel Sunday night services, and encourage our people to be ‘with’ non-believers at this time intentionally.” And of course, the idea is not to dedicate more time to a one-night a week program, but to engender a lifestyle that loves non-believers enough to build relationships with them and take down barriers for them and be able to share a gospel witness…all the time.
In response, I commented:
Several years ago, I realized that I had filled my time doing good things to such an extent that I never had time for the opportunities that God placed before me (the better things, if you will). I was working full time and attending various church activities almost every night of the week. So, when was I able to spend time with my neighbors? When was I able to serve needy people in my community? When was I able to practice hospitality by inviting people into my home? The answer? I didn’t have the time because my time was filled with good church activities.
Sometimes, it is better to forgo “good things” in order to have time to do the better things.
Don’t fill your life with good activities to such an extent that you don’t have room for the better opportunities that God brings your way.