Redeemer Lubbock

This article is inspired by the varied responses to my sermon last week. I knew coming in that it had the potential to revolutionize dozens of people’s perspective on church life for the better. I also knew that it would hit close to home for many others, seeming to invalidate their experience of living the Christian life basically alone, with few (if any) accountable relationships. Factor in that I am a sinner with an admittedly pointed preaching style, and you might expect a broad range of responses. I’ve heard everything from “This changes everything,” to “I felt like you were describing parts of my attitude the whole sermon,” to “Thanks for speaking directly about Bell and McLaren,” to “Why did you bring up Bell?” to “I think I disagree with you,” to “You are a jerk and I can’t believe anyone goes to your church!” Actually, the vast majority of the comments I have heard personally or second-hand have been very positive.

As a pastor, the varied comments (even though they were expected) do make you think a lot. The only question that matters is if I am representing God’s plan for a) growth for Christians and b) kingdom growth as communicated in the Bible. It was sent to the replay booth, and, upon further review, my execution of this (and any) sermon was not perfect, but the ideas presented in it stand. God’s plan for the growth of Christians and the kingdom is in the context of “committed love” of the church. Someone may disagree with my taxonomy of programmatic, organic, emergent, internet, family, and rotating churches, but can you really argue with Hebrews 10? And it’s not like that is the only proof text for this idea. Every New Testament letter was written to Christians that were covenantally bound to each other in local churches. Let’s transition this discussion to a book review.

The term “committed love” was stolen from Mark Dever, who was recommended to me years ago by a friend, Michael Hardy. Dever is the Senior Pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, and I had never heard of him (then again, I am notoriously out of the loop). I expected little out of the book (titled Nine Marks of a Healthy Church) and read it as a favor to my friend. I was expecting the “nine marks” to be something like:

1. Clean restrooms

2. Ample seating space

3. Ample parking space

4. Quality music

5. Savvy marketing

6. A preacher who is not too horrible

7. Clean and well organized children’s area

8. Exciting programs to interest the community

9. Lots of options for people of every age

You get the point. And there is something to be said for doing those things well, but almost every one of those issues is a cultural issue in modern day America. They may need to be straight before people will be involved, but these are not necessarily Biblical concerns for what the church does. In other words, most books written about the church deal with culture bound issues like the nine I listed. In a straightforward way, Dever explains the Bible’s plan for healthy church life. I’d recommend this book for anyone and everyone who is trying to understand what the church should be. Contrast my mock list with Dever’s:

1. Expositional Preaching (Let the point of a Biblical text be the main point of a sermon, and tend towards preaching through entire books of the Bible in context)

2. Biblical Theology (Develop comprehensive theologies among believers)

3. The Gospel (Must be spoken all of the time through preaching, small groups, and in individual relationships)

4. A Biblical Understanding of Conversion (It is important to understand the roles of God and man in salvation)

5. A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism (The church is a missional entity with a responsibility, corporately and individually, to speak the gospel and include outsiders in our church family)

6. A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership (“Committed love”)

7. Biblical Church Discipline (Members must discipline and care for one another to promote growth and maintain our witness in our city or region)

8. A Concern for Discipleship and Growth (A commitment to help each other grow)

9. Biblical Church Leadership (Qualified elders and deacons lead the church)

This list isn’t earth shattering. But has this been your view of church life?  The most common “organic” expressions of church life tend to ignore serious development of at least three of these if they are serious about the Bible and theological development, and, if they are not, they ignore maybe all but one or two. Read Dever’s book and let it encourage you and correct you—it has done so for me. Even better, read the Bible and see God’s plan for the church. Thanks for all of the feedback (positive, negative, and mixed). Let’s keep talking this out…together.