Family Worship
Andy Beard
Luke 5:1-11 Family Worship Ideas

Vision 2020, Bible Study 4, Public Worship

 (4) The Question of Worship

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.

                       (Ps.29:2)

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

(Ps.100:1-3)

Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

(Rev.15:4)

We thought briefly in a previous study about the distinctions between worship and evangelism.  In one sense those aren't hard and fast distinctions – worship is intrinsically missional, and evangelism is a form of worship.  But in terms of centre of gravity, it has some traction.  Once evangelism becomes something that we do intentionally and deliberately elsewhere in the life of the Church, we liberate our Services of Divine Worship to be what they are supposed to be. 

Someone once said: there are no right answers to the wrong question.  ‘How do we make our services accessible to people who aren’t Christians?’ is the wrong question.  It can’t be done and shouldn’t be tried, and if you succeeded, it would no longer be Christian worship.  We might feel I Cor.14:24-25 challenges this.  But this passage says precisely nothing about the ‘accessibility’ or otherwise of the service to the unbeliever.  It speaks of the presence of God at work in the context of worship to convict an ‘unbeliever’ or ‘enquirer’ of their sin - perhaps the least culturally relevant thing we could ask for.

We’re not advocating, of course, deliberate irrelevance, or even cultivated non-relevance, as if idiosyncrasy is a virtue we should pursue.  Neither is it a mandate for traditionalism.  But it is to suggest that while a service of Divine Worship should be genuinely incarnational and therefore culturally authentic, its purpose, expression and (most importantly) content is not primarily shaped by that culture.  We don’t come to worship with a blank sheet of paper, free to design something that ‘fits’ us.  Worship should redeem and shape our culture, not be captivated and shaped by it.   There is ancient wisdom in thousands of years of Christian worship (seen in the Scriptures and since) that it is utter folly to disregard, and even more so in the name of anything as superficial, transitory and unstable as accessibility to our contemporary (unbelieving) culture.

Here is a series of propositions that seem radical to the point of incredulity; but which for centuries were the working assumption of every Church in the world.

  • The LORD’s day should be set aside (as far as possible given that many Christians over the generations have been slaves) for worship, prayer, fellowship, teaching and study of Scriptures and Christian service.  If there was no other time when the saints could gather, they would do so before sunrise and the beginning of the working day.  This gathering was preceded by prayer, teaching and worship on the Saturday evening (even today in the Russian Orthodox Church, if you do not attend Vespers on Saturday evening, you will not be given Communion on Sunday).

  • Liturgy is a powerful restorative and formational tool in our worship, not an inevitable mark of inauthenticity.  It can draw us into a deeper experience of worship than we would fashion left to our own devices. It’s worth bearing in mind that every revival in the history of the British Church took place in the context of liturgical worship - many in fact in Churches who knew only the BCP!!

  • God has revealed what is acceptable worship, and we aren’t free to re-design a worship service according to personal preference.  There are non-negotiable components, and worship is less authentically Christian if they are absent. 

  • The integrity of a worship service isn’t primarily dependent on my ‘really meaning it’, or giving voice to what is in ‘my’ heart (!).  Worship isn’t about me and my story, it is about God and His story.

  • The purpose of a service is not limited to my declaring the glory of God.  It also includes – amongst other dynamics - the Spirit’s work of breaking the power of sin and re-forming me; the renewal of covenant; my hearing and responding to God in word and sacrament; envisioning, training and investing me with the spiritual resources for life and mission as a disciple of Jesus; public confession; establishing Godly ritual as a foundation for personal holiness and devotion…

That all this and more is at stake should make us very careful about disregarding the wisdom of our spiritual forbears, still less, the Scriptures themselves.

Questions:

What would be the impact on the ministry and mission of MIE if we re-captured the Sabbath nature of the LORD’s Day?  Do you think the main act of a Church’s worship can be moved from Sunday?  Why / why not?

What makes an act of worship authentically ‘Christian’? 

What sort of things might mean that a worship service actually does more harm than good (the phrase is taken from I Cor.11:17, but can other things make a worship service damaging apart from what Paul is specifically addressing at Corinth)?  Do you think worship services at MIE do more harm or more good?  Why?

Read Heb.12:18-29

Do you think we should be more or less awe-struck in coming to Mount Zion rather than Mount Sinai?  How would that affect us as we come to an act of corporate worship?  How can we cultivate that?  What difference does it make that we join with the Church triumphant in worship (v.23)?

What does it mean to ‘refuse Him who speaks’ (v.25)?  What does this teach us about God?  What did it look like at Sinai?  What might it look like in our own experience?  Why is it such a serious danger?

What is the shaking spoken of in vv.26-27?  What is the connection between this, and God’s speaking? …and our worship?

What does it mean to ‘worship God acceptably with reverence and awe’ (v.28)?  How could we cultivate these characteristics in our own approach to worship?  What would it mean if they were absent from a service?  How could we tell?

How does the way God is described in this passage shape how we approach Him in worship (the Living God, Judge of all, Him who speaks, a consuming fire)?  Why is the role of Jesus as Mediator so important (v.24)?

Memory Passage:

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”  Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

John 4:23-26

For further reflection:

In our cultural context we tend to privatise and individualise the very concept of worship.  We think that the important part of our spiritual life is our ‘personal’ relationship with Jesus. We then struggle at times to know where the corporate worship of the Church fits in, if it does at all.  And even when we are at Church we can easily think of the fact that others are there as simply an accident of geography.  We don’t think of what God is doing in ‘us’; but still in terms of what God is doing in ‘me’ in this room in which there happens to be other people. 

It’s hard to convey how out of step this is with historic Christian thinking, which saw the public and corporate worship of the Church as the fountain head out of which all personal devotion and discipleship flows.  Perhaps the tension can be best exposed by considering a sermon preached by Rev. David Clarkson, a minister in London in 1680s.  One week he took as his text Ps. 87:2, The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob – and he entitled the sermon: ‘Public worship to be preferred before private’.

He argued that public worship is more central to the heart of God – and to our own  spirituality - than private, personal devotions.  It sounds strange, perhaps even incomprehensible to us.  But Clarkson develops 12 arguments from the Scriptures why he thinks this is the case,  including the idea that the LORD is more glorified in public worship than private; that there is more spiritual advantage in the use of public worship; that the Lord works his greatest works in public worship; that public worship is nearest resemblance to the worship of heaven…  After all, you don’t read of people in heaven heading off for their personal devotions! 

some wisdom on Mentoring from Melissa Kruger who has literally written a book on it!

here’s a post from the Gospel Coalition website by Melissa Kruger sharing some wisdom on Mentoring that she accrued through years of experience, and then reflecting on that while writing a book on the subject. I’ve copied and pasted the blog in its entirety…

3 Reasons You Can Say ‘Yes’ to Mentoring

“Will you be my mentor?”

You may hear that question from a younger woman and quickly glance around the room to see who she’s asking. You think to yourself: Surely, she’s not asking me! What exactly does she want me to do? I don’t know enough, and I’m afraid I’ll disappoint her.

Most of us still feel like we need mentoring ourselves, so it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking we have nothing to offer. In theory, we want to invest in the church and in a new generation of Christian women. We want to see our sisters in Christ equipped for service in his kingdom. But we can get cold feet when it comes to seeing ourselves as mentors.

I felt my own inadequacies rising to the surface earlier this spring when a friend from Bible study asked if I’d be willing to mentor her. Even though I’d spent the past two years writing a book about mentoring, my first thought was: She’s already mature in her faith; I don’t have anything to offer her. Why does she want me to be her mentor? 

In addition to our feelings of inadequacy, we may be unsure about what to do in a mentoring relationship. Many women have never been mentored, so it’s difficult to have a clear vision for what the time together should look like. While every mentoring relationship is different and there are many beneficial ways to invest in others, here are a few nuggets of wisdom I’ve gleaned from older women who have faithfully mentored me.

1. Mentoring involves you, but it’s not up to you.

As a little girl, I remember an afternoon I spent playing in the front yard while my dad was busy picking up sticks and weeding. At one point, he stopped his usual work and went into the garage. He came back with some tools and began doing something I’d never seen him do before. There was a young thin tree that was bent over, suffering from the damaging effects of a storm that had recently blown through. 

My father took a rope and tethered the young tree to a much older tree—one that was sturdy and strong, standing straight. When I asked why he was tying the two trees together, he explained that the older tree could offer support and strength to prevent the younger one from growing askew. The older tree had withstood years of winds and storms. Just by standing beside the younger tree, it offered stability.

This image comes to mind whenever I think about discipleship. Essentially, a spiritual mentoring relationship is one where a younger believer is tethered to a more mature believer for a season so that he or she might grow stronger in faith and be equipped for ministry. This image calms my fears about my own inadequacies and reminds me to trust God.

A spiritual mentoring relationship is one where a younger believer is tethered to a more mature believer for a season so that he or she might grow stronger in faith and be equipped for ministry.

Just as the older tree doesn’t make the younger tree grow (the water and the sun do that), a mentor isn’t responsible for the spiritual growth of the person she’s mentoring (God does that). She’s simply standing beside the younger woman, offering the strength she’s gained as God has grown her through the years. 

It’s a reminder we all need: You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to say all the right things. Mentoring involves you, but it doesn’t depend on you. God is the one providing the spiritual growth. 

2. Setting clear expectations helps you both.

Communication is important in any relationship, especially in a mentoring relationship. After months of meeting with one younger woman, I realized we had completely different expectations of what mentoring should look like. In her mind, I wasn’t living up to what she had hoped for in a mentor. In my mind, she wasn’t putting the time and effort into our meetings. She was hoping to spend time together and hang out as friends; I was asking her to work through a Bible study curriculum and was frustrated that she never completed the homework. We didn’t have a regularly scheduled meeting time, and eventually our relationship fizzled into an awkward, “Hey, we should catch up sometime!”

I learned a lot from that relationship. Since then, I’ve changed the way I mentor in a few important ways. The first is to clarify from the beginning what we’re both hoping to accomplish. The goal of a mentoring relationship is to spend the time together purposefully pursuing spiritual growth. This can be accomplished through reading the Bible together, praying together, or working through a book together. (If you’re looking for a mentoring curriculum, that’s the content of my new book, Growing Together). Whatever you decide to do, it’s important to discuss the focus of your time together before you begin meeting.

Mentoring involves you, but it doesn’t depend on you. God is the one providing the spiritual growth.

Another important detail is to set an expected frequency and duration for time together. Set a specific date, time, and location. Will you meet once a month, twice a month, or once a week? Perhaps you’ll meet the first Tuesday of every month for breakfast or every other Thursday evening at the park. Figure out what day and time works best for you both—and commit to that time together. 

It’s also helpful to set a specific duration for how long you’ll plan to meet before reevaluating. It may be six months, a year, or until you finish a study, but it’s good to have a set time so that you’ll both look at your schedules and consider if you have time to keep meeting. Communicating clearly from the beginning helps foster healthy expectations for your time together. 

3. There’s never a better time to mentor.

You may not feel like you have the time to mentor—life feels too busy. But there’s never a perfectly convenient time. Each season has its own busyness. Instead, it’s helpful to consider natural ways to invite others into your life.

The goal of a mentoring relationship is to spend the time together purposefully pursuing spiritual growth.

Look around and think about your daily routine. Who’s a younger woman you enjoy being around? Perhaps you could invite her for dinner every Sunday evening or go for a walk together on Saturday mornings. Maybe you could serve together in the church nursery. What are you already doing on a regular basis that you could do together? 

As you invite her into your life, she will learn. She’ll grow in hospitality as she experiences hospitality from you. She’ll grow in affection for God as she hears of your love for him. She’ll grow in understanding as she learns how to apply the Word in her own life. She’ll learn to pray as she prays with you. 

You may not feel equipped, but if you’re walking with the Lord, you can share what you’ve learned with others. The wisdom you have is wisdom she needs. Pray with her. Memorize or read Scripture with her. Be a listening ear. Faithfully point her to Jesus. The effort is worth it, and the blessings will extend to you both—you’ll grow together as you learn together. 

Editors’ note: 

Melissa Kruger’s new book, Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests, is now available from TGC/Crossway.

Vision 2020 Bible Study 3, Discipeship

The Question of Discipleship

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity ...  And God permitting, we will do so.

                       (Heb.6:1-2)

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

(Col.1:28)

One of the most sobering fields of study in the history of the Church is the demise of Christianity in North Africa in the 6th and 7th centuries.  What had been a thriving and virulent Church for centuries, giving rise to immense theologians whose writings continue to shape the Church even today (Tertullian, Cyprian, Athanasius, Augustine etc.), was in the end incapable of withstanding the corruption from within and the Caliphate from without.  The period stands as a warning against complacency and the presumption that the grace of God in Christ precludes His removing a Church’s ‘candlestick’ (Rev.2:5). 

Interestingly, one of the contributing factors was the gradual disappearance of the Catechumenate.  Church leaders were exhausted from generations of contending for the faith against Donatism (the debate about whether Christians - and especially Church leaders - could be re-admitted to Church life if they denied Christ in times of persecution) and Arianism (Arius taught that Jesus wasn’t ‘true Godf rom true God’, but was part of creation), and their ranks depleted by years of persecution and more recently invasion.   Feeling besieged, they lost their fiercely intentional programme of evangelism, initiation and discipleship that had been crafted over the centuries previous.  As the Catechumenate fell into disuse, the Church was weakened and expectations of discipleship were eroded.  People began to feel that it was OK to simply join Church, often without going through what had become known as ‘the awe-inspiring rites of initiation’.  As the foundations of discipleship were stripped away, the edifice of the Church slowly lost stability, and was unable to stand in the face of corrosive and unbiblical theology on the one hand, and in midst of a collapsing culture and the rise of Islam on the other.

Of course, it wasn’t just the initial process that had been lost.  It was the whole experience of being grafted meaningfully into the life and mission of the Church, it was the foundations of an informed faith, it was training in Christian living, the expectation and vision of growth.  It was the network of relationships and fellowship that was cultivated in those early years, and the scaffolding that would support and shape a lifetime of spiritual maturing that we can barely imagine at the moment.

Some of you know I spent a few days in North Africa a few summers ago.  I spent two of those days in the company of two Church leaders.  The conversations and time spent in prayer with them inspired and challenged me in equal measure.  This is where I first encountered the idea of such a rigorous start to Christian discipleship.  Intriguingly they had re-established a three year ‘induction programme’, and were breath-takingly realistic about its importance: ‘if you don’t complete that programme, we’ll lose you’.

One effect of such an enthusiastic start to the Christian life is that it creates a spirituality of expectation.  A trajectory is set which will continue to guide aspiration and hunger throughout our earthly race.  We end up with a clear vision for growth and the tools to pursue our heart’s desire for Christlikeness.  Discipleship becomes a life-long passion.  We don’t grind to a halt after a three-year induction…  that induction becomes a Launchpad into the rest of our Christian life.  Obviously, the Catechumenate can’t provide a context for that. 

The danger we must avoid is trying to force everything into our gathering on the Lord’s Day… unless we are willing to set aside the whole day!  But the agenda for the Service of Divine Worship is structured around preaching and sacrament.   Unfortunately, for over half of those involved in the life of MIE, Sunday is their only point of contact with the worshipping life of the Church.  And the stats suggest they don’t make that contact every Sunday.  This is the path to spiritual atrophy.  We can’t possibly learn everything we need to know, cultivate the fellowship, or receive the support and encouragement, example and incentive to live faithfully as a disciple of Christ simply by turning up to a service on Sunday.  We can’t expect a sermon to deliver everything we need.  It is the start of a conversation that must run beyond the Service.   Sunday is a great first step…  indeed a normally necessary one.  But the idea that this would be the extent of our involvement in the life of our church, and that we would have any real expectation of making spiritual progress is ludicrous, and has gone unchallenged for far too long in the British Church.

Questions:

What do you not understand about Church? Are things said/done in services, or elsewhere in our life together, and you’re not sure why, or what they mean? What are they?

What is there about being a Christian that you struggle to put into practice?  What help have you sought to address those places where you struggle?

If you had to explain to someone how living their life would have to change if they became a Christian, what would you say? 

Read Heb.10:19-39

What is the ‘hope we profess’ (v.23)?  What might distract us from it, or cause us it to slip from our grasp?

Can you share your experience of ‘spurring one another on towards love and good deeds’ (v.24)?  Where has this been welcomed / rejected?  Is this part of you experience of Fellowship Group?  How could it be more so?

Why is the ‘habit of meeting together’ (v.25) so difficult to sustain? 

How can we have any spiritual confidence after reading vv.26-31?  How would you counsel someone at MIE who was afraid they had sinned deliberately? 

What does it means to ‘trample the Son of God underfoot’ or to ‘treat as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant’ (v.29)?  …and that ‘the Lord will judge His people (v.30)?  Does it change how you think about being a Christian?

Would you be willing to have your home confiscated because of your identification with and involvement with the Church (v.32-34)?  If you knew this was a possibility, how would it change your relationship with others at MIE?

What would it look like to ‘shrink back’ (vv.38-39)?  Does this passage leave you feeling unsure about whether you are a Christian?  Do you think that this the purpose of the passage?

Memory Passage:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Heb.5:11-14

For further reflection:

So where does such long-term disciple-making take place, if not (exclusively) in the Sunday service?  It occurs within a matrix of relationships that is focussed on our Fellowship Groups.  We must resist the temptation to marginalise Fellowship Groups, or to see them as optional extras.  Part of that temptation is rooted in our feeling that if people are only coming on a Sunday, we have to cram everything into Sunday – but as we’ve seen, this is dangerous reasoning.  We also need to stop trying to fit our discipleship in around the rest of our life.  Our tendency to see ‘Church’ as something that must be contained and limited so that ‘we don’t spend too much time on Church things’ is equally dangerous.

To be fair, we tend to think of Church in terms of meetings.  But what if ‘Church’ was actually about people and relationships, a means of grace through which we grew, and were instrumental in helping others grow?  What if our fellowship groups were actually that: groups in which we experienced the outworking of the fellowship of the Church?  Fellowship isn’t just about being with people we like.  It is about relationships that are focussed on Jesus, and that are used by the Holy Spirit to draw us into our relationship with Him.  So yes, prayer and Bible Study will feature large in the life of a Fellowship Group, but the agenda will spill out into the love and support that we so desperately need if we are going to confront the Hydra that is our sin; if we are to be faithful to Christ in the often challenging and painful circumstances of life; if we are to actually change and grow.  That requires involvement in each other’s lives.  Fellowship Groups are never less than Prayer and Bible Study, but they have to be more.

ouch!

Not directly related to our series, but I stumbled across this - a direct quote - in a blog (the link is to an article in the Guardian), and it gave me pause for thought!

In Mexico, worship mattered to large enough groups of people that clandestine lockdown services were organised, their times and locations passed on by word of mouth like illegal raves. But in Britain, faith is not considered worth the risk of illness — even by the church itself.

pause for thought.jpg

A totally Anglican thing...

Back in 2010, the Anglican Church in North America set up the snappily named ‘Catechesis Task Force’ to advise the House of Bishops of the ACNA on the ‘training and instruction of the faithful and, most especially, the making of disciples of Jesus Christ … The Task Force understands the critical role of catechesis in the ministry of the Church and aims to strengthen ACNA’s commitment to calling, forming, equipping and sending followers of Jesus.’

The Task Force was charged with (among other things) developing ‘a comprehensive catechumenal vision and framework…’. Why did the ACNA set up this Task Force? In it’s own words, ‘the contemporary Church has failed to train up her children in the admonition of the Lord … Moreover the Church as done a very poor job of teaching, training and forming disciples of adult converts. Many people live for years without noticeable growth in their doctrinal understanding, and the implications of that doctrine lived out - and so with little victory over the sin and brokenness of their lives. A consistent and focussed path has not been provided for them to learn, grow and mature as Christians, so that the contemporary Church is often filled with believers more formed by the culture of the world than by the Church and the Holy Scriptures she treasures and teaches. This is a fundamental lack of the Gospel transformation everyone needs’ (Vision doc, pp.2-3)

‘The ancient Church had a model for raising up believers and helping them to mature in their faith. Though actual practice may have varied through the centuries, catechesis always included training in the three areas of believing, praying and living (or to put it another way: Doctrine, Worship and holy living).’ (p.3).

The Vision Paper finishes with the rather remarkable claim: ‘The Church of God will never be preserved without Catechesis’.

Whether that is the case or not, I though you might appreciate knowing that as we pursue this agenda, we are in fact in step with the wider Anglican Church - or at least aspects of it.

the full documents (including a PDF of the Approved Anglican Catechism) can be found at https://anglicanchurch.net/catechism/

Vision 2020, Bible Study 2, Will new Christians grow at MIE?

Evangelism & Catechumenate

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

                       (II Tim.3:16-17)

Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that … I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

(I Cor.9:24-27)

We have grown strangely fatalistic over the implosion of Christianity in the UK.  We’re no longer alarmed by Churches closing their doors or being re-invented as coffee shops, night clubs, restaurants, houses and so on.  We are resigned to surveys charting the exodus of young people from the faith; the aging of congregations; the shortage of Church leaders; diminishing congregations; Bible poverty and a collapse of personal devotional practices.  There are of course exceptions, and there are optimists, and others with vested interests, who try and spin it positively, but it sounds disingenuous to the point of dishonesty.  Many of the Churches that are growing are benefiting from largely ‘transfer’ growth.  Most Christians have never been instrumental in bringing someone else to faith, and indeed are insecure and fearful of being involved in evangelism at all.   Where there is genuine evangelistic effectiveness it seems unclear that this is directly related to questions about style of service.

When historians look back at the collapse of Christianity in Britain in the late 20th / early 21st Century, they will – with the benefit of hindsight - identify a number of critical mistakes.  I wonder if one of them will be the way in which we re-invented ‘Services of Divine Worship’ (as they used to be called) as ‘culturally-relevant, seeker-sensitive and accessible to unbelievers’.   Whether the motives for such a breath-taking revision were always quite as missional and altruistic as professed is a moot point.  We’ll re-visit the question of worship in a later study.  Our purpose here is to reflect on the impact this has had on our (non-)evangelism, and to ask if there isn’t a better way of welcoming those who are becoming Christians.

It is a well-worn coin of wisdom that Jesus said: Go! while we say: Come!  Rather than each of us taking responsibility for evangelism in the midst of our own family and networks of friends, colleagues and contacts, we have come to expect ‘the Church’ to do it for us.  It’s right to have a corporate dimension to our evangelism, but generally, wrong that we think this should be the emphasis of a ‘Sunday Service’.  We increasingly see ourselves absolved of the responsibility of actually talking to people about Jesus, and instead – if we feel any responsibility at all – invite people to ‘Church’ where we expect they will feel ‘comfortable’, and find a service geared toward and relevant for them.  There are occasions where arguably this should be the case (e.g. a Carol service).  But for this to become our default is devastating for both worship and evangelism.  Many Churches spend years making their services ‘relevant’ and ‘accessible’, and still see no-one becoming Christians.  Many Christians rarely – if ever – actually bring a non-Christian to Church.  Better to let the service of worship be a service of worship and do our evangelism elsewhere in arenas specifically designed for it (e.g Alpha). 

We aren’t naïve about how strange a Service of Divine Worship – indeed the whole life and belief structure of a Christian – can be to those who do not share our faith.  There are many things done in a service that people obviously will have little experience in.  We ought to expect this.  When someone steps into a previously unknown reality, it would be insane for us to expect them to understand, appreciate, or be able to make sense of what is a wholly different way of being human!!  We should expect a kind of culture shock, and that much of what they experience will be unfamiliar, and difficult.  Rather than reducing Christian worship to a perpetual Christian nursery, why don’t we work with folk who are becoming Christians to acclimatise them to a new spiritual atmosphere.  We don’t throw out generations of Biblical wisdom and accumulated spiritual insight because people in 21st Century UK don’t understand it.  We teach, train and enculturate them.  Historically this has been taken much more seriously than we take it today.  It was known as a Catechumenate (see below), and it has trained Christians in not only worship, but discipleship.  It bred and equipped generations of Christians not just to live costly and sacrificial lives, but to die rejoicing for the Name of Christ.  The contrast with the Church in our place and time could hardly be more stark.  The unprecedented experiment in evangelism and worship has been an unmitigated disaster.  Let’s return to the ancient paths.  

Questions

Why not take some time to share the story of how you became a Christian…? 

If you are using this study personally, rather than in a Fellowship Group, why not create the opportunity to share your story with someone over the next couple of days?

Looking back to when you first became a Christian, what do you wish you had been taught?

Read Heb.6:4-12

Do you think this passage envisages people who are Christians losing their salvation?  Why / why not?   If not, how do you make sense of vv.4-7?  What would this passage look like in our own experience of Church life?

Does the passage scare you?  Do you think it should scare you?  How can we speak of spiritual assurance when there are passages like this in the Bible?  Where can we find confidence in our relationship with God?

Why does the passage talk about ‘crucifying the Son of God all over again’ (v.6)?  What does it mean to do this?  What would it look like for someone to do this today?  Why would someone choose to do this?

What are the ‘better things … that have to do with salvation’ that are expected in v.9? 

What does spiritual ‘laziness’ look like (v.12)?  How would you recognise it in yourself (or in others)?  What would you do about it? 

By contrast, what does ‘spiritual diligence’ look like (v.11)?   How could you cultivate this? 

Who do you imitate when it comes to living as a Christian (v.12)?  Why did you choose them as role models?  How do you benefit from their wisdom?

Memory Passage:

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labour and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe.

I Tim.4:7-10 

For further reflection:

The ancient process of initiation known as the Catechumenate was a kind of bridge into the life and worship of the Church.  Typically lasting 3 years, it saw people coming to Christ as a first step on a much longer journey into the faith once for all delivered to the saints.  New believers were mentored through the process by the person who was instrumental in bringing them to Christ, who shared life with them, and brought them with them in ministry and service.  They were initiated into core beliefs through the Creed; taught how to pray through the Lord’s Prayer (which wasn’t taught to anyone until after they were baptised); taught how to worship by being instructed in the liturgy.  There was a much stronger sense of a Christian life to be lived and of support as people stepped increasingly into it.  Much time was spent learning how to put the 10 Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount into practise!  Time was spent too in exploring sacraments and spiritual disciplines, and giving people an overview of the Bible and its teaching, and application into specific arenas of life – family (where appropriate), work, friendship, being part of the Church, how to relate to money, and the environment and so forth.  They were trained in the art of fellowship and service of their brothers and sisters in Christ.  It was seen as an apprenticeship in Christian life and worship. 

What might it look like to re-imagine something like this as part of the life at MIE?  It would begin by our recognising that the Christian life is often far more than we have experienced it to be.  It recognises that we don’t just become men and women of God…  that we don’t automatically do what God wants us to do – even when we’ve become Christians.  We have to be trained and equipped, mentored and tutored in our faith and life.  But more on that next week.

Heb.13:17-18

Here is a link to a couple of sermons I preached recently on Heb.13. Whilst it doesn’t specifically focus on the question of Church leadership, I do engage with it at the relevant points in the passages concerned (Heb.13:7 & 13:17-18), and it might help us think through some of the wider issues around the dynamics of authority in the life of a Church…

https://www.mie.org.uk/hebrews-11-to-13

preach-the-word.jpg

A Minister's job description (BCP)

So, what does the Church of England expect from those who pastor local Churches? In the Book of Common Prayer’s service of ordination, the Bishop is first called upon to preach a ‘sermon … declaring the duty and office of such as are come to be admitted Priests; how necessary that order is in the Church of Christ, and how people ought to esteem them in their office’. Later in the service, the Bishop gives them this charge:

YOU have heard, brethren, as well in your private examination, as in the exhortation which was now made to you, and in the holy Lessons taken out of the Gospel and the writings of the Apostles, of what dignity and of how great importance this office is, whereunto ye are called. And now again we exhort you, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you have in remembrance, into how high a dignity, and to how weighty an office and charge ye are called: that is to say, to be messengers, watchmen, and stewards of the Lord; to teach and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord's family; to seek for Christ's sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his children who are in the midst of this naughty world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever.


Have always therefore printed in your remembrance, how great a treasure is committed to your charge. For they are the sheep of Christ, which he bought with his death, and for whom he shed his blood. The Church and Congregation whom you must serve, is his spouse and his body. And if it shall happen the same Church, or any member thereof, to take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence, ye know the greatness of the fault, and also the horrible punishment that will ensue. Wherefore consider with yourselves the end of your ministry towards the children of God, towards the spouse and body of Christ; and see that you never cease your labour, your care and diligence, until you have done all that lieth in you, according to your bounden duty, to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your charge, unto that agreement in the faith and knowledge of God, and to that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ, that there be no place left among you, either for error in religion, or for viciousness in life.


Forasmuch then as your office is both of so great excellency and of so great difficulty, ye see with how great care and study ye ought to apply yourselves, as well that ye may shew yourselves dutiful and thankful unto that Lord, who hath placed you in so high a dignity; as also to beware that neither you yourselves offend, nor be occasion that others offend. Howbeit, ye cannot have a mind and will thereto of yourselves; for that will and ability is given of God alone. Therefore ye ought, and have need, to pray earnestly for his Holy Spirit. And seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a work, pertaining to the salvation of man, but with doctrine and exhortation taken out of the holy Scriptures, and with a life agreeable to the same; consider how studious ye ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures, and in framing the manners both of yourselves, and of them that specially pertain unto you, according to the rule of the same Scriptures: and for this self-same cause, how ye ought to forsake and set aside (as much as you may) all worldly cares and studies.

We have good hope that you have well weighed and pondered these things with yourselves long before this time; and that you have clearly determined, by God's grace, to give yourselves wholly to this office, whereunto it hath pleased God to call you: so that, as much as lieth in you, you will apply yourselves wholly to this one thing, and draw all your cares and studies this way; and that you will continually pray to God the Father, by the mediation of our only Saviour Jesus Christ, for the heavenly assistance of the Holy Ghost; that, by daily reading and weighing of the Scriptures, ye may wax riper and stronger in your ministry; and that ye may so endeavour yourselves from time to time to sanctify the lives of you and yours, and to fashion them after the rule and doctrine of Christ, that ye may be wholesome and godly examples and patterns for the people to follow.

And now, that this present Congregation of Christ here assembled may also understand your minds and wills in these things, and that this your promise may the more move you to do your duties, ye shall answer plainly to these things, which we, in the Name of God, and of his Church, shall demand of you touching the same.

DO you think in your heart that you be truly called, according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the order of this Church of England, to the Order and Ministry of Priesthood?

Answer.I think it.

The Bishop.ARE you persuaded that the holy Scriptures  contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? And are you determined out of the said Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge, and to teach nothing (as required of necessity to eternal salvation) but that which you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture?

Answer.I am so persuaded, and have so determined by God's grace.   

The Bishop.WILL you then give your faithful diligence always so to minister the doctrine and sacraments, and the discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and as this Church and Realm hath received the same, according to the commandments of God; so that you may teach the people committed to your cure and charge with all diligence to keep and observe the same?

Answer.I will so do, by the help of the Lord.

The Bishop.WILL you be ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word; and to use both publick and private monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the whole, within your cures, as need shall require, and occasion shall be given?

Answer.I will, the Lord being my helper.

The Bishop.WILL you be diligent in prayers, and in reading of the holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same, laying aside the study of the world and the flesh?

Answer.I will endeavour myself so to do, the Lord being my helper.

The Bishop.WILL you be diligent to frame and fashion your own selves, and your families, according to the doctrine of Christ; and to make both yourselves and them, as much as in you lieth, wholesome examples and patterns to the flock of Christ?

Answer.I will apply myself thereto, the Lord being my helper.

The Bishop.WILL you maintain and set forwards, as much as lieth in you, quietness, peace, and love, among all Christian people, and specially among them that are or shall be committed to your charge?

Answer.I will so do, the Lord being my helper.

The Bishop.WILL you reverently obey your Ordinary, and other chief Ministers, unto whom is committed the charge and government over you; following with a glad mind and will their godly admonitions, and submitting yourselves to their godly judgements?

Answer.I will so do, the Lord being my helper.

Qualifications and limits to a pastor's authority

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock (I Pet.5:2-3)

We are so disoriented when it comes to the question of authority in the life of the Church that it might be worth just unpacking some of the context in which it operates, and to see how Christ - in His wisdom - has set checks and balances in place throughout the life of a Church that help keep things healthy! The list isn’t exhaustive, but should get us started…

A pastor’s authority is derived from their faithfulness to Scripture, as the Word of God. As we were thinking in our service last Sunday it is actually Christ’s authority finding expression in the Church (and in that sense the pastor has no authority in themselves). This casts the nature of a pastor’s work in the light of servant leadership.

A pastor’s authority operates within very clearly defined limits. It is part of what the Spirit of Christ is doing to build up the body of Christ - corporately and individually. It doesn’t extend beyond this.

A pastor’s authority is tied to their being called by a congregation to that role. It is exercised by invitation, but is not easily dismissed because of that. It is associated with an office within the life of the Church, but is experienced in the context of fellowship and relationship.

A pastor’s authority is corroborated by their example in holiness and godliness. I have a vested interest in pointing out that we aren’t expecting perfection here! But there should be a clear direction of travel toward spiritual maturity. Of course, the balancing responsibility is for a congregation to follow that example, and to pray for and support a pastor in their holiness.

A pastor’s authority is derived, and is given for a specific purpose - and therefore they are answerable to Christ for how it is exercised. The pastor-teachers experience of judgement will be ‘more strict’ than for other Christians.

A pastor’s authority is exercised in plurality, not isolation. ‘Above’ a congregation there is an ‘institutional’ authority which the pastor is invested with (this is clearly patterned in the NT, but is often missed!). In the Church of England this is expressed by the Bishop giving a licence to minister and sharing with an incumbent ‘the cure of souls’. ‘Within’ a congregation a pastor functions as part of a wider leadership team. Again, in Church of England terms, this includes a wider ministry team, and the PCC, Standing Committee and Wardens.

A pastor’s authority does not put that pastor beyond challenge, reproach, rebuke or correction.

A pastor’s authority is shaped by their character before it is shaped by their gifting (or lack of it!). The greatest guard against the abuse of authority is Christlike-ness in the one(s) exercising that authority. If the pastor is humble, gracious, faithful, gentle, patient etc. a congregation will feel more confident in their exercise of authority, than if that pastor is proud, arrogant, overbearing, quick-tempered. If you wanted guidance on how to pray for your minister, here it is!!

A pastor’s authority is dependent on their own obedience to Scripture, especially to the teaching of Scripture on the exercise of the pastoral office.

like I said, not exhaustive, but enough to get us thinking!!

Vision 2020, Bible Study 1, Authority

The Question of Authority

[H]e raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

                       (Eph.1:20-21)

To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations — that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’— just as I have received authority from my Father.

(Rev.2:26-27)

 

Authority is an ambiguous thing in today’s society.  We’ve been exposed to so many abuses of authority that it becomes almost impossible to think of someone holding such a position and not abusing it to some extent.  Our cultural cynicism simply expects it, is almost resigned to it, and just hopes that it doesn’t hurt too many other people.  Unfortunately, it invariably does.  Whether in politics, policing, business, sport, media … even the Church, it’s easy to suspect that everyone is abusing their authority to some extent – it’s just they haven’t been caught yet!

Added into the mix our fear of loss of autonomy, bad experiences of arbitrary authority, bullying, manipulation, disappointment and disillusionment, and our aversion to, even resentment of, the very idea of authority comes into focus.  If we accept someone’s authority over us, it tends to be something we decide to grant, rather than it being assumed by others.  We expect people to earn a position of authority before they tell us what to do.  And where we have to accept it, we do so only in specific areas, such as in a line-management situation at work. 

By contrast, there tends to be certain arenas in which we assume no-one has the right to tell us what to do.  We might surrender that right – temporarily – in certain situations, such as a national emergency (think of recent ‘lockdowns’).  But those sorts of extremes aside, we value our autonomy, and assume that we have the freedom to shape our ‘personal’ lives more or less as we wish – with the proviso that we don’t hurt other people.

I guess the question in all of this is: where does Jesus fit?   The most basic Christian confession is ‘Jesus is Lord’.  For a variety of deep theological reasons, Jesus must be Lord before even He can be Saviour.  But the language of Lordship is intrinsically language of authority.  ‘Why do you call me Lord! Lord! But do not do what I say?’ (Lk.6:46).  Becoming a Christian is precisely a question of who has the right to tell me how to live.  His claim extends to who I am, how I live and what I believe.  As a Christian I am emphatically not free in such matters – however shocking such a statement may sound to our ears.  In terms of character, belief, lifestyle, Jesus claims, and accepts, the position and right of LORD and Master (e.g. Lk.9:33; Lk.12:36; John 13:13 etc.).  As we read through and study the Bible, we might be surprise at how far such a claim penetrates our life and being.  We expect Jesus to speak to ‘spiritual’ issues, but not content with that He extends His sceptre throughout all of life.  The shape and dynamics of marriage, being a parent or a child, and employee or an employer, how we use our money, structure our time, what we do (and don’t do) sexually, how we speak, our emotional life, attitudes, motives, alcohol, …  pretty much everything.  What we don’t often realise is that we are called to a way of life (Eph.4:24).

But the question comes closer to home when we think of how the authority of Jesus is exercised.  If we think in these terms at all, then in our individualistic age we likely assume (wrongly as it happens) that my experience of Jesus’ authority will be direct and unmediated.  ‘God told me…’.  

In fact, the structures through which Jesus exercises His authority are built into our createdness, and our place within creation.  This does not make us less human, or less valued than those who are invested with authority over us – any more than Jesus is less God than the Father because the Father has authority over Him (Matt.8:5-13; Jn.14:10; I Cor.15:24; Rev.2:27 etc.).  Those structures run through family, through society, and through Church.  The fact in each of these spheres authority has been abused is not a justification to disregard either authority or the structures through which it comes to us.  The proper response to the abuse of authority is not to disregard authority altogether, but to ensure that it is exercised within Biblical parameters, following the example of Christ and in the power of the Spirit.

Questions

When – if ever - should Christians disobey the authority of Government?

Have a read at Rom.13:1-7 & I Pet.2:11-17 if you’re not sure where to start…

 

What should a parent’s authority look like in the life of their family?  Can you back your thinking up from the Bible?  Do you think there is a ‘Biblical’ way to parent?

 

Have you ever been on the receiving end of abusive authority?  What did you do?  Does Jesus’ teaching to ‘turn the other cheek’ mean we are trapped in such situations?

 

Read Eph.4:11-16

How can you tell whether a Church leader is operating out of their own authority (Jer.5:31), or merely human authority (I Cor.9:8), or by virtue of having been ‘given’ authority by Jesus?  How would that affect how you relate to them?

 

How does recognising an apostle, prophets, evangelist, or pastor-teacher’s authority help you to grow as a Christian?  How can we recognise authority without our Church becoming a cult?  Are the leadership of a Church beyond criticism or challenge? 

 

What do you think the leadership of a Church have authority to do?  …and what not to do?

Some helpful passages here might be Tit.2:15; I Thess.4:1-2; II Cor.10:8…  does the kind of authority an Apostle has translate into other offices within Church leadership?

 

How do you think the Church should respond to someone who doesn’t recognise authority within the life of the Body of Christ?

 

How does knowing that Jesus is exercising His authority through the leadership team at MIE change how you pray for them…  and relate to them?   How do you think leaders should be appointed at MIE?

Memory Passage:

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:  “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.  For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

John 17:1-3

 

For further reflection:

I suspect we feel rather nervous working our way through a Bible Study like this one: anxiety around the prospect of abuse…  we might have theological questions about issues such as ‘priesthood of all believers’… fear of losing control… uncertainty about what this would mean in the future… vulnerable… unsure about what it all might mean…  We start with realising that Jesus’ authority – received from His Father, and passed on to the Church – aims to lovingly restore us to the Father and to His own image (Eph.4:24).  When we retain the right to respectfully disagree, politely decline, or otherwise disregard Jesus’ authority, we are injuring ourselves and hindering His purposes for us.   Likely we don’t think of ourselves as being deliberately rebellious.  It’s more that, coming from the culture we do, we have (unknowingly?) disregarded the means of Jesus’ gracious authority, and in doing so have rendered them ineffective in shaping our discipleship. 

In real terms it comes down to what we expect from our vicar, our PCC our ministry team, elders, homegroup leaders, youth leaders, children’s group leaders etc.  Our sense of what a pastor does is unlikely to include ‘encourage and rebuke with all authority’ (Titus 2:15).  It might be worth reflecting on this a bit, and continuing to explore what the Bible teaches about it.

One day of course, Jesus authority will be gloriously and unambiguously demonstrated and enforced (Phil.2:9-11).  Christian discipleship is a life lived in active anticipation of that great manifestation.  We are growing in our recognition of that authority to shape our life here and now, that it might shape our destiny then.   That is going to affect our relationship with those through whom Jesus is leading the Church here and now.