Your Résumé from God

Yesterday in Christ’s Calling to the Church, I blogged the first part of my response to Kevin DeYoung’s post about The Most Urgent Need in the Church. In my post, I outlined from Ephesians 4:11-12 the résumé of the pastor-teacher.

Today, I share the résumé of the people of God from Ephesians 4:12-16. The following summary of our calling from God is taken from my upcoming book Equipping Counselors for Your Church.

The Résumé of the People of God

Sadly, in far too many churches, the people of God are second-class citizens when it comes to the work of the ministry. If a “lay” person makes a hospital visit, that’s okay, but we want to know, “Where’s my pastor!” Christ’s vision is so different. Pastors and teachers serve the people so God’s people can serve the congregation and community. Far too many “lay” people are recruited to fill a position and to fill a need—make the coffee, cover the nursery during the service—but not to fulfill a calling.

Paul’s phrase “works of service” elevates the ministry of God’s people. “Works” has a sense of divine calling and meaningful purpose. We could translate it as vocation and mission. The Bible uses it to describe God’s creative work. God the Creator commissions us for creative, zealous, purposeful work—work that glorifies Him as we serve one another.

Paul’s word for “service” highlights personal service rather than serving for wages, serving as a slave, and serving publicly. It involves love in action through sacrificial ministry modeled after Christ’s sacrifice. Christ calls His people to creative, purposeful, meaningful, sacrificial, personal ministry to one another in His name. In the context of Ephesians 4:11-16, that work is nothing less than making disciple-makers through the personal ministry of the Word.

The Member Ministry Mindset Shift That Changes Everything: Every Member a Disciple-Maker

When leaders and members fulfill their purposes together the Body of Christ builds itself up in two specific, cohesive ways: doctrinal unity and spiritual maturity (Ephesians 4:12-13). When a congregation knows the truth not just academically, but personally, then their love abounds in knowledge and depth of insight (Philippians 1:9-11).

We often miss the vital real-life, how-to application of every-member disciple-making that Paul embeds in this text. How does the church come to unity and maturity? Exactly what are pastors equipping people to do? Specifically how do members do the work of the ministry?

Paul answers: By “speaking the truth in love” we grow up in Christ (Ephesians 4:15). Every word in this passage funnels toward this remarkable phrase “speaking the truth in love.” Christ’s grand plan for His Church is for every member to be a disciple-maker by speaking and living Gospel truth to one another in love.

Paul selects an unusual Greek word which we often translate as “speaking the truth.” Actually, we should translate it both as speaking and living the truth. We might even coin the phrase “truthing.”

Paul likely had in mind Psalm 15 where the Psalmist asks, “Who may dwell in your sanctuary?” He answers: “He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart” (Psalm 15:2). Who can serve in God’s sanctuary, the church—the one who embodies the truth in relationships.

The word for “truthing” that Paul uses means transparent, truthfulness, genuine, authentic, reliable, sincere. It describes the person who ministers from a heart of integrity and Christ-like, grace-oriented love. It pictures the person whose relational style is transparent and trustworthy.

The tense and context indicates that the Body of Christ should continually, actively, and collectively be embodying truth in love as it walks together in intimate, vulnerable connection. In one word, Paul combines content, character, and competence shared in community!

While the word means more than speaking, it does not mean less than speaking. While it means more than sheer factual content, it does not mean less than the Gospel fully applied. Paul uses the identical word in Galatians 4:16. There he is clearly speaking of preaching, teaching, and communicating the truth of the Gospel of Christ’s grace (salvation) applied to daily growth in Christ (progressive sanctification).

Combine Galatians 4:16 with Ephesians 4:16, both in context, and we find an amazing description of Gospel-centered biblical counseling—of the personal ministry of the Word. Speaking the truth involves:

Communicating Gospel truth about grace-focused sanctification in word, thought, and action through one-another relationships that have integrity, genuineness, authenticity, transparency, and reliability, done in love to promote the unity and maturity of the Body of Christ for the ultimate purpose of displaying the glory of Christ’s grace. 

The normal agenda and priority of every Christian is to make disciple-makers. Christ’s training strategy for disciple-making involves pastors and teachers equipping every member to embody the truth in love through the personal ministry of the Word—biblical counseling.

What happens when leaders focus their calling on equipping God’s people to make disciple-makers through the personal ministry of the Word by speaking and living the truth in love? Paul shows us in Ephesians 4:16. The Body in robust health grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.

Join the Conversation

How well is your church fulfilling Christ’s calling for pastors and for the Body of Christ?

Tags: 4E Ministry Training Strategy, Biblical Counseling, Equipping Counselors for Your Church, Pastoral Ministry

Christ’s Calling to the Church 

Pastor Kevin DeYoung blogged yesterday on The Most Urgent Need in the Church. In his post, DeYoung quoted twice from Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book Preaching and Preachers.

Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) and DeYoung

Lloyd-Jones’ first quote included:

…to me the work of preaching is the highest and greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called…. the most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching…

DeYoung responded, in part, by asking pastors:

Do believe that you have been called to the highest and greatest and most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called? Do you believe the most urgent need in the church is not for better programs or for better leadership principles, but for better preaching? Do you believe, pastor, that the best way for you to serve the world is to study yourself full every week and preach yourself empty every Sunday?

The Controversy

Many people commented that they thought it was a tad arrogant for two pastors (Lloyd-Jones and DeYoung) to claim that their calling was somehow greater than the calling to any “non-pastor.” While the wording could cause people to interpret the quotes in that way, knowing the ministry and writing of Lloyd-Jones and DeYoung, I assume they were simply saying, “The greatest calling of the pastor is to preach the Word.”

I had a different disagreement with DeYoung and Lloyd-Jones. I think they erred in their summary of the pastor’s highest calling.

The Pastor’s Personal-Life Highest Calling: Matthew 22:35-40

While I doubt that DeYoung and Lloyd Jones would disagree with the following, I think it is a vital clarification. Pastors are, first and foremost, Christians with the same highest calling of every Christian. Jesus clearly states the highest calling of every person.

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Emphasizing what Jesus emphasized might have taken the tension out of the blog post. It would have clarified that every Christian shares the same highest calling: loving God and loving others.

The Pastor’s Ministry Highest Calling: Ephesians 4:11-16

Lloyd-Jones’ second quote attempts to address the pastor’s ministry highest calling. In part, he says:

We are here to preach this Word, this is the first thing, ‘We will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word.’ Now there are the priorities laid down once and for ever. This is the primary task of the Church, the primary task of the leaders of the Church, the people who are sit in this position of authority…

Many pastors take the calling of the Apostles to be their primary calling (Acts 6:4). Certainly, Paul repeats the message that prayer and preaching are two vital responsibilities of pastors (1 Timothy 2:1; 2 Timothy 4:2). However, in Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul presents Christ’s grand vision for His Church—including the pastor-teacher’s highest calling.

The Résumé of Pastors

Here’s how I summarize the calling of pastors in my upcoming book Equipping Counselors for Your Church (http://bit.ly/dJFGj).

In Ephesians 4:11-16, the Apostle Paul highlights the Bible’s most powerful, focused vision statement for the Church. This passage offers God’s ministry description for church leaders and for every member. By distilling the essence of God’s call, His vision captures our imagination and motivates the shift in ministry mindset that changes everything.

Most pastoral search committees would be thrilled to read a candidate’s résumé that demonstrated the ability to preach, counsel, and administrate. Most seminaries would be delighted if graduate exit interviews indicated that pastoral ministry students perceived that their seminary training equipped them for preaching, counseling, and administrating. Being equipped to do the work of the ministry seems to be everyone’s ideal goal for church leaders.

Everyone but Christ. His pastoral ministry description demands the ability to equip others to do the work of the ministry. If seminaries followed Christ’s vision for pastoral ministry, they would focus on training trainers. If pastoral search committees desired in a pastor what Christ desires, they would throw out every résumé that failed to emphasize experience in and passion for equipping the saints.

 Under the Spirit’s inspiration, Paul launches verse 12 with a tiny Greek word (pros) translated by an even smaller English word (“to”) with giant meaning: with the conscious purpose of, in order for, for the sake of, with a view to. The word indicates the future aim and ultimate goal of a current action. That is, by definition, a vision statement—Christ’s grand vision statement for every pastor/teacher.

What is the future view, the future vision to which Christ sovereignly gave His Church pastors and teachers? Paul says it succinctly: “To prepare God’s people for works of service.” These eight words must be every church leader’s reason for existence.

One central word—“prepare”—must capture every leader’s passion for ministry. “Prepare” comes from the word for artist, craftsman. Local church leader—your special craft, your opus is people, equipped people, disciple-makers. Your spiritual craft or gift is to help others to scout out their spiritual gift, identify that area of ministry, and empower them to use that gift.

In Paul’s day, people commonly used “prepare” in the context of conditioning an athlete.

Local church leader—you are a spiritual conditioning coach. Your job is not to play all the positions on the team, but to coach every player on the team, to strengthen their spiritual condition so they are able to do works of service. This fits perfectly with how Paul uses the word prepare—to train someone so they are fully fit and mature enough to complete their calling. The leader’s calling is to help God’s people to fulfill their calling.

These weren’t just words for Paul. He made making disciple-makers his personal ministry description—Colossians 1:28-29. He made equipping equippers his personal ministry practice—Acts 20:13-38. Christ’s grand vision so captured Paul’s ministry mindset that at the end of his life he passed onto Timothy the vision of equipping equippers of equippers—2 Timothy 2:2. The baton of equipping passed from Christ’s hands, to Paul’s hands, to Timothy’s hands, to the hands of reliable disciple-makers who passed it on yet again.

Let’s not drop the baton. Let’s keep Christ’s grand vision alive and moving into the future.

Yes, But

I continue in Equipping Counselors for Your Church by responding to the inevitable “yes, but.”

Some may ask, “Are you saying that pastors should not preach the Word, counsel, and administrate?” Not at all. Christ, the Head of the Church, has written the primary ministry description for all pastors. Pastors should equip equippers for the work of the ministry. Within this overriding calling, pastors preach, counsel, and administrate.

When I was Sr. Pastor, every time I preached, I asked myself, “How does this message further my calling to be a catalyst for equipping the saints for the work of ministry?” As a player-coach, when I counseled, I had trainees in the room with me. When I visited the hospital, I took apprentices with me. My goal wasn’t to be the church’s primary care-giver, but to equip a church of care-givers. In my administrative role, I sought to oversee the equipping of every member. Yes, I preached, counseled, and administrated—always within the context of Christ’s grand vision for the Church—the pastor as the equipper of equippers.

The Rest of the Story

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll further develop the highest calling of the people of God according to Ephesians 4:11-16.

Join the Conversation

What do you think the Bible says is the pastor’s highest calling?

Tags: 4E Ministry Training Strategy, Equipping Counselors for Your Church, Kevin DeYoung, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Pastoral Ministry

Five to Live By: The Rob Bell Issue 

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

The Post That Started It All

This week’s top 5 focus on “the Rob Bell issue.” Justin Taylor “broke the story” with his post, Rob Bell: Universalist? Read Taylor’s take on Bell’s forthcoming book, Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived due out on March 29 by HarperCollins.

Answering the Question

Some have taken Taylor to task for blogging before the book is released. Kevin DeYoung blows that argument out of the water with Two Thoughts on the Rob Bell Brouhaha.

What’s at Stake?

As usual, Al Mohler cuts to the chase in his response to Bell’s upcoming book. Read his take in Universalism as a Lure.

Lots of Links

Over at Christianity Today, they’ve provided a “journalistic perspective” by outlining the issue and the response, including a boatload of links and tweets. Find lots of links at Rob Bell’s Book.

See for Yourself

Watch the Rob Bell video and judge (that’s not a dirty word—discern truth) for yourself. Here’s the link to the YouTube video for Love Wins.

Bonus Link # 1: About Hell

This issue is so important, that I couldn’t stop at 5. Bonus link # 1 offers you a batch of links to books about hell. Read all about it at the 9Marks blog post Annotated Bibliography on Hell.

Bonus Link # 2: A Biblical Theology of Hell

Here’s a second post by the guy who started it all, Justin Taylor: Hell Under Fire. He outlines what looks to be an excellent book on a biblical theology of hell.

Bonus Link # 3: Historical Perspective

Being a lover of and a writer about church history, I couldn’t resist adding Shawn Lucas’ historical take on the Rob Bell issue. Read his Reformation 21 post The Lesson of David Swing.

Join the Conversation

What is your view of the “Rob Bell issue”? What other posts about this issue would you suggest that people read?

Tags: Hell, Justin Taylor, Kevin DeYoung, Love Wins, Rob Bell

This Week’s Top 5: The Best of the Best Around the Christian Net

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Reformation Sunday

Just in time for Reformation Sunday, Justin Taylor at Between Two Words interviews Carl Trueman about Luther’s 95 Theses. Read the fascinating historical background at Luther’s 95 Theses.

Martin Luther’s Story

I’ve never listed one of my own posts among the Best of the Best. But I can “get away with it” today since: a) it’s not really me—it’s Martin Luther, b) it’s four posts in one, and c) it’s realted to Reformation Sunday. The four posts share a dramatic reading that I present in character as Martin Luther telling his story of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. To read Part 1, click on Unable to Satisfy God. To read Part 2, click on A Spiritual Pauper. To read Part 3, click Clothed by Faith. To read Part 4, click Clothed by Christ. Click on the following link for a 200-page presentation of Martin Luther’s Pastoral Counseling. To download a free copy of the entire manuscript click on Martin Luther: Here I Stand!

Why We Need to Read the End of the Story

Kevin Wax is one of the most read Christian bloggers in the world. He graciously highlights God’s Healing for Life’s Losses in his post Why We Need the Rest of the Story when we’re suffering.

Blended, Praise, Hymns, or Contemporary Hymns?

A generation ago, if you attended church, you sang hymns. In recent years, the trend has been between contemporary praise choruses, the old hymns of the faith, or blended worship that contains both. Tim Challies provides links to several options if you are interested contemporary hymns: hymns with a modern melody yet rich in deep theology. Read his post and follow the links at Contemporary Hymns.

Are You Leader Material?

Kevin DeYoung posted twenty questions from Oswald Sanders about preparation for leadership. Read Are You Ready to Be a Leader and assess your readiness.

Join the Conversation

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Tags: Kevin DeYoung, Luther, Reformation Sunday, The Best of the Best, Trevin Wax

This Week’s Top Five: The Best of the Best Around the Net (9/10/10)

The Big Idea: The Best of the Best Around the Net links you to the top five Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Resources to Confront the New Fundamentalist Atheism

With Stephen Hawking’s latest pronouncements and with the ever-increasing tribe of angry, fundamentalist atheists, well-reasoned resources are always welcomed. Karisa Schlehr, writing for R. C. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries provides a boatload in her post: Does God Exist? Helpful Resources Confronting Atheism.

Scientists Respond to Hawking

As I reported in Stephen Hawking: Brilliant But Foolish, and in Hawking or God: Who Do You Believe?, the debate rages about Stephen Hawking’s latest pronouncements. The group Christians in Science and Technology has amassed a great collation of articles in their post Scientists Respond to Hawking.

Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream

It’s not often that I cite a New York Times article as one of my top five Christian blog posts. But David Brooks nails it in his Op-Ed piece The Gospel of Wealth. His column highlights the ministry and new book of Pastor David Platt who wrote Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream.

Tim Tebow Mania

If the New York Times seems an odd fit for a Christian blog recommendation, then Yahoo Sports may seem even less fitting. However, columnist Les Carpenter has an interesting article on Tim Tebow that’s worth reading: Tebow Dras Fans Like No Other in NFL. While Carpenter’s “take” is not necessarily “Christian,” the content of the article is informative regarding what people hunger for in professional athletes.

Fight Fair

We’ve all been in discussions where we’ve known the other person’s argumentation was unfair, but we couldn’t quite figure out why. Now you know. Pastor Kevin DeYoung lists six common approaches to argumentation that are less impressive than they seem. Read about them in Less Than Meets the Eye.

Bonus Post: Change Management

Here’s a bonus, sixth link. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m big on change management and conflict resolution. You also know I’m big on learning from bad examples what not to do. Michael McKinley at Nine Marks Ministries has a great post along those lines: Five Ways to Make Sure a Church Turnaround Fails.

Join the Conversation

Of The Best of the Best Around the Net, which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Tags: Best of the Best, Kevin DeYoung, New Atheism, New York Times, Nine Marks Ministries, Stephen Hawking, Tim Tebow

6 Views on Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity

Brian McLaren’s book, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith, is causing quite the stir on the Net. I’ve collated links to several reviews.

Tim Challies

Tim Challies has penned a strong (speaking the truth in love) general response at his site. It’s well worth reading.

Mike Wittmer

For a detailed, point-by-point, loving, logical, and theological response, I encourage you to visit Mike Wittmer’s site. Mike has posted responses to each of Brian’s ten questions. 

*The Introduction

*Question 1: What Is the Overarching Story Line of the Bible?

*Question 2: How Should the Bible Be Understood?

*Interlude: The Defining Issue—The Creation/Fall/Redemption Narrative

*Question 3: Is God Violent?

*Question 4: Who Is Jesus and Why Is He Important?

*Question 5, Part 1: What Is the Gospel?

*Question 5, Part 2: What Is the Gospel?

*Question 6: What Do We Do about the Church?

*Question 7: Can We Find a Way to Address Human Sexuality?

*Questions 8-9: Can We Find a Better Way of Viewing the Future? and How Should Followers of Jesus Relate to People of Other Religions?

*Question 10: How Can We Translate Our Quest into Action?

Kevin DeYoung

Kevin DeYoung, over at his Gospel Coalition blog, DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed has a two-part post. He’s also updated and expanded his response to the book in PDF format.

*Christianity and McLarenism, Part 1

*Christianity and McLarenism, Part 2

*Christianity and McLarenism, in PDF.

Scot McKnight

Christianity Today has posted a review by Scot McKnight, professor at North Park University. McKnight has been relatively sympathetic to some of McLaren’s past writings. However this review states that the book is not so much revolutionary, but evolutionary. You can read it here.  

Panel from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

A panel of professors from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in this post calls the book “a fresh take on an old lie.”

You can view the video of the entire panel discussion here.

My Take (Bob Kellemen)

I’ve posted a multi-part series with a different slant on the book. What are the implications of McLaren’s ten questions for the personal ministry of the Word? Or, put another way, What is a biblical counseling and spiritual formation response to McLaren’s take on the ten questions?    

*Introduction: Brian McLaren, I Accept Your Invitation

*Overview: A Biblical Counseling Response to Brian McLaren

*Question 1: The Narrative Question

*Question 2: The Authority Question 

*Question 3: The God Question

*Question 4: The Jesus Question

*Question 5: The Gospel Question

*Question 6: The Church Question

*Question 7: The Sex Question

*Question 8: The Future Question

*Question 9: The Pluralism Question

*Question 10: The What Now Question 

*Conclusion: The Final Word and the Word After That

*Final Recap: Links

*Free Resource # 1: I’ve collated my entire blog series into a Word Document. Visit: A Conversation about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity

*Free Resource # 2: I’ve interacted with some of these issues in another free Word Document. Visit: Just Where Did the Emergent Idea of Salvation Emerge From? 

Join the Conversation

What are your thoughts on McLaren’s book, Challies’ review, Wittmer’s reviews, McKnight’s review, the SBTS review, and my series?

Tags: A New Kind of Christianity, Book Review, Brian McLaren, DeYoung, Gospel Coalition, Kevin DeYoung, Mike Wittmer, Tim Challies