Be of good courage, little flock! On numerical growth

 Be of good courage, little flock! Our Father is pleased to give us the kingdom. Jesus will build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Rejoice not that the demons submit to you, but that your names are written in heaven. 

It is tough being a Bible believing Christian in the UK today. Christendom continues its long decline. There are many encouragements, but across the board church numbers are down or flat at best. At some point this might bottom out. How many merely nominal Christians are still in church most weeks? But in places the demographics are still against us. Some of those in the pews have more of their lives behind them than in front of them. 

But we should not despair. 

(1) Numerical growth is possible. 

It is very hard for a modern Brit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. God and the Bible no longer seem natural and plausible to many. And yet Jesus is the risen Lord of Life. He rules. He can give life to whomever he pleases. All whom he chooses will come to him. He still has many people in the city. There is unchanged power in the unchanged word. The seed grows overnight all by itself, we know not how. There will be a great harvest that no one can number, thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown. Life by life and silently the Kingdom increases. This mountain shall fill the whole earth. The whole batch will be leavened. This tree will be the largest in the garden and the birds of the air will come and nest in it. The earth will be full of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

(2) We should pray and plan for numerical growth. 

Will our building be big enough?! Do we need better loos and kitchens? How will we nurture all the new believers? Is the children's Sunday Club ready to go when the young families join us?

We implore God that the Word might do its work in the power of the Spirit. Our strategy is growth not decline. And we bend every sinew to Know Christ and Make Him Known by word and deed. 

(3) But numerical growth is not our priority. 

Our priority is faithfulness, loyalty to Jesus. We do not aim to grow at all costs. Nevertheless according to your word. We are people under authority. 

We will not be handing out used tenners or bringing in the dancing girls to fill the pews.

We will stick to Jesus and his Word if it wins us a martyr's crown rather than a full megachurch. 

The power is in the pure seed of the gospel so it would be folly to switch it for something which might seem to us more effective or acceptable. To the Old Paths, to the Word and the Testimony! 

(4) Numerical growth is not our problem. 

At the end of the day, we depend on the miraculous work of the Spirit. We can give no one new life. Jesus must call them forth from the tomb. We can only sow the word and implore the mercy of heaven. 

The Lord of the Harvest knows what he is doing. Blessed be his name!

Ours is not to choose our times, only what we do with them. 

May God be pleased to grow his church. And in his grace may he even use our weak and fallible efforts. For his name's sake and glory. Amen. 

The Gospel Standard Articles of Faith 1872, 1878

 For a book review, I have been reading a little about these articles which are often (and with some justification) considered hyper-Calvinist. 

I would love someone to correct any misapprehensions here but I think we can point to a couple of errors and one weakness. 

First, we should affirm that all people ought to repent and believe but that this does not imply an natural unaided ability to do so. We are guilty and the fault is in us. Left to ourselves we cannot do otherwise but neither do we wish to do so.

Second, we should make the free offer of the gospel without this undermining the sovereign grace of God or the doctrine of particular redemption. We urge people to repent and believe knowing that God will forgive them if they do so and that they can only do so by his grace if they are among the elect for whom Christ died. 

Third, the articles are right to be nervous about drawing too many straight lines directly from the Apostles' conduct to what ministers of the gospel ought to do today. It is true that the New Testament documents are relatively brief, but they are more than sufficient to show the two points made above. 

The secret of Christian ministry

 We would all love to be more effective and fruitful in Christian ministry for a variety of reasons, some good, some bad. 

And Christian ministry is complex. There are all sorts of ways in which we could serve better and smarter. 

Snake oil salesmen will sell us the latest thing. 

And others will have a brilliant resource or course which has worked well in their context which would seem to offer hope.

Nevertheless, all eternal fruit depends on the blessing of God. It is by remaining in Jesus the vine that we bear fruit. 

There are all sorts of things we should, could, might do, but the one needful thing is to sit at Jesus' feet as his disciples. 

Christian ministry can be very difficult and challenging, but at its core it is pretty simple:

Love God. 

Love your neighbour. 

Share the Word. 

Pray. 

As the people of God, gathered around pulpit and table week by week, cry out to him for his blessing. And then seek to be his faithful people in your various vocations. Work hard and honestly. Be kind. Be ready to give a reason when they ask you for the hope you have.  

We long for revival. We would love to see 10% net growth year by year in numbers and giving. But we know what we ought to do. And it is not above all rebranding or a new website or a programme of door to door visitation, all of which might be good and worthy, but this one needful thing which Jesus would not take away from us. 

If he is pleased to give us a megachurch or a martyrs crown or something in between, all praise to his name! 

Judges 6 Sermon Preview

 Heavily influenced by The Revd Lee McMunn (whose sermons can be found here) and with a nod to Dale Ralph Davis, Alistair Roberts and maybe one or two others, here's an outline of how tomorrow's sermon might go:

Bridgebuilding: Making Peace with Conflict in the Church by Alastair McKay

 

Bridgebuilding: Making Peace with Conflict in the Church

Alastair McKay

(Norwich: CPAS / Canterbury Press, 2019) 162pp pb ISBN: 9781786221414

 

This seemed to me to be a highly valuable and worthwhile book, accessible to those like me who don’t know much about this field. There’s lots to learn, think about and apply here. Each short and highly readable chapter considers a particular topic (with a title in the form of an imperative) followed by an interview and a reflection on a passage of Scripture. 

 

We are urged to:

 

·       Know thyself – and value others.

·       Grow in emotional maturity.

·       Be real about power.

·       Use good theory.

·       Shepherd the process.

·       Make space for feelings, silence and touch.

·       Recognize the limits.

·       Love your enemy.

·       Build a culture together.

·       Observe the peacemakers.

·       Build bridges to heaven.

 

The author, an Anglican clergyman, draws on his long experience of mediation and conflict resolution with Bridge Builders (course-providers influential in church leadership in the C of E and beyond) and his connections to the Mennonites.

 

McKay argues that conflict (difference plus pressure) is a normal and natural part of creation, not necessarily sinful, which will also persist into the New Creation. We have to decide not so much whether or not to have conflict but whether our conflicts will be destructive or creative. A few love a fight, many will seek to avoid conflict (maybe through burial or grace). Often it would be wise to seek help sooner.

 

The claim that reconciliation is the gospel requires further explanation, which to my mind this book only provides to some extent. I am not totally convinced that reconciliation with God is always kept as front and centre as perhaps it should be and I expect most conservative evangelicals would expect to hear more on the atonement and the necessity of saving faith.

 

The approach here has been influenced by the family systems theory of Murray Bowen. We want to find our own individuality whilst also being positively connected to others.

 

End notes are relatively few and the work does not draw on masses of secular studies nor many weighty tomes of theology.

 

Those seeking to lead through conflict do well to seek to know themselves and how they tend to react under pressure. McKay especially likes the Friendly Style Profile developed by Susan Gilmore and Patrick Fraleigh. Do you tend to be:

 

·       Accomodating-harmonzing (a warm yellow)

·       Analysing-preserving (a cool blue)

·       Achieving-Directing (a growth green)

·       Affiliating-Perfecting (a passionate red)?

 

There is some subtlety here. I enjoyed the author’s quip that recently he has been (lightly!) chewing over whether or not over-seriousness might be a sign of anxiety!

 

Leaders ought to slow down and listen. Companionable attentive silence can be important. In heightened situations, we want to be a calm presence. Reflecting back to someone what they have said in a way they can receive is a key skill. It can be a gift to help someone to hear themselves in a different way.

 

One strength of the book is that it acknowledges the limitations of mediation and that we and our communities are works in progress. What counts as a good outcome will depend on the situation and sometimes full reconciliation will not be possible. McKay seems sensible about when facilitation might or might not be useful or necessary, advocating for the benefits of doing this in pairs and of debriefing for mediators. Often we can hope for a measure of clarity and somewhat more open and honest relationships.

 

Those very committed to the “one big idea” original intended meaning of the human author theory of application may sometimes quibble about the use of Scripture to address conflict resolution. Likely there is too much speculation, psychologising or slightly odd use of details at times but this did not particularly trouble me. No doubt you will read discerningly. Of course if you have read D. A. Carson’s Exegetical Fallacies, a siren will sound in your study when we get to the Greek words for love in John 21, but that is a very minor point which does not detract from the whole.

 

Readers may also wish to know that in addition to the Bridge Builder courses, a training resource for leading nine sessions is also available: Alastair McKay, Growing Bridgebuilders: Changing How We Handle Conflict (Coventry: CPAS and Bridge Builders Ministries, 2015), though at a rather pricey £47.

 

McKay’s DMin dissertation which looked at practicing oversight, friendship and reconciliation in church staff teams by studying two large Anglican churches is also available for free download at alastairmckay.com/writing.