Considering Ministry?

...examine your own heart, your motives, very carefully. Very few ministers serve large, thriving churches. If that is your vision of what is ahead discount it. God may open up such formidable doors of opportunity; but you cannot count on it, and it must form no part of your decision. The overwhelming majority of pastors serve relatively small and unprepossessing churches. Many of them are called on to do what no amount of money could ever reimburse them for - officiating at the funeral of the town drunk whose intoxicated live-in girlfriend shrieks and mutters throughout the sparesly attended funeral service; burying a child dead of cancer at the age of nine months; presiding over a church broken up by angry and powerful members who show nothing of forebearance or grace (or even good sense). Out of the heat of these and countless other impossibily difficult circumstances, a heart for ministry (in the old sense of that word) is confirmed.

Read through Paul's epistles rather rapidly in three or four sittings and observe that it was his relations with Christians that gave him the greatest pain. Should you end up in vocational ministry, your experience will not be any different. By all means, talk to the leaders of your church and work through the Biblical passages on elders, pastors and overseers; but above all seek the Lord's face in prayer. You need not demand a kind of Damacus-road experience - few enjoy so immediate an experience of call. But if you know nothing of Spirit-prompted compulsion and a servant heart that has, as far as you know, counted the cost, I beg of you to relinquish all aspirations to pastoral ministry.

DA Carson & John D Woodbridge
Letters Along the Way, (Crossway 1993), p136

Pollokshaws Demolition (20 July 08)

Bringing down strongholds..

Another great clip that I couldn't embed can be found: HERE

Examining the Emergent Church

A must-read this summer...

Why We're Not Emergent (by two guys who should be),
Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck (Moody Publishers, 2008)

You may not have heard much about the 'Emergent Church' - but you will increasingly hear its views coming through in conversations about what Christianity & Church should look like in the C21. So getting up to speed on the thinking behind the EC and its theology is increasingly important for thinking Christians and church leaders.

The book is written by two '20/30 somethings' who write alternate chapters. DeYoung is a pastor who theologically analyses the writings and beliefs of the EC 'movement' (or 'conversation' as EC's prefer to call it). These chapters give a good solidly biblical assessment of the EC.

Kluck writes from 'street level' reflecting on the EC as he encounters it as an ordinary church member (going to EC churches, conferences and reading its popular books). His chapters are refreshingly written (he is a sports journalist by profession), full of telling observations and laced with a dry wit.

The book is a much easier read than Don Carson's 'Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church' - so if you found that heavy weather don't be put off reading this. It was one of those books I found myself sneaking off to read - it was genuinely enjoyable.

The title obviously gives away where it’s going - but its strength is in its fairness. It's not a rant or a snide dig at the EC - it acknowledges its strengths and its challenges. It steers away from being partisan and tribal. So whatever your views on the EC (or even if you don't have any yet) - this is a subject you need to know about and this, to quote Mark Dever's review, is 'a book we've been waiting for'.

Full List of Posts: July 2008 - July 2009

The Blue Parakeet
Leadership - Corinthian or Christian?
Evangelicals & Secularists United!
In the beginning...
Hope for Ordinary Joes
A Hill Worth Fighting On?
Words Fail Me
for attaining wisdom...(5)
Wayne's World
Character
for attaining wisdom...(4)
Praise Gathering '09
Piper on Preaching
for attaining wisdom...(3)
for attaining wisdom...(2)
for attaining wisdom...(1)
Humble Arrogance
Godly Fear
Thought Life
Harvest Church Plant
Easter Sunday - The Emotions
Easter Sunday - The Time
Easter Sunday - The Stone
Stretching preaching
Keller debate with atheist Norman Bacrac
Contains strong gospel content
The 'Jesus Test'
Harvest Bible Church
Right Relationships
Blood, toil, tears and sweat
6 O'Clock Theology Shop
Commander-in- Chief
Oh how He loves us.
New Cornhill Evening Classes
A Word from Ezra & Nehemiah
Christmas Gift
Taking Liberties
The Shack - a review
Be Gentle
SNAG 2008/09 - Faith or Fantasy
Day 5: Parched - Overwhelmed - Misjudged?
Day 4: Parched - Overwhelmed - Misjudged?
Day 3: Parched - Overwhelmed - Misjudged?
Day 2: Parched - Overwhelmed - Misjudged?
Parched - Overwhelmed - Misjudged?
Having a Laugh..
Tim Keller at Google
Lakeland's Legacy
Mind Games
On 'Mars Hill' Edinburgh
Considering Ministry?
Pollokshaws Demolition (20 July 08)
Examining the Emergent Church
Relevant Church

Relevant Church

Church seeks to change historic beliefs in order to be more reflective of modern society....