Church Planter

Church Planter: The Man, The Message, The Mission by Darrin Patrick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The worst thing about this book is the title. "Church Planter" is about much more than church planting, or what qualifies one to plant. It's a book that all kinds of church leaders should read, and churches in all stages (pre-planting, new plant, established church, church revitalization) can benefit from.

Darrin Patrick is the pastor of The Journey in St. Louis, a multi-campus, growing church in the Acts 29 Network. Most folks familiar with the reformed church planting culture will find that most of Patrick's ideas in this book can be found elsewhere (especially in Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, and Richard Lovelace). But even so, "Church Planter" is helpful because of the way Patrick distills and communicates information.

The book is divided into three main categories: The Man, the Message, and the Mission. The chapter breakdown looks like this:

1 - A Rescued Man
2 - A Called Man
3 - A Qualified Man
4 - A Dependent Man
5 - A Skilled Man
6 - A Shepherding Man
7 - A Determined Man
8 - A Historical Message
9 - Salvation-Accomplishing
10 - Christ-Centered
11 - Sin-Exposing
12 - Idol-Shattering
13 - The Heart of Mission: Compassion
14 - The House of Mission: The Church
15 - The How of Mission: Contextualization
16 - The Hands of Mission: Care
17 - The Hope of Mission: City Transformation

A big hurdle for some will be Patrick's complementarian understanding of manhood and womanhood - particularly his conviction that the office of elder should be reserved for men alone. He anticipates this and provides an excellent defense in the Preface. Still some will be turned off, but my hope is that wherever you stand on this issue, you'd still give the book a hearing. It's worth it. And certain chapters are worth copying and getting everyone in your church leadership to read (esp chapter 3 - the best succinct exegesis of Biblical texts on qualifications for church leaders I have read).

Read this if you are a church leader of any kind - especially if you are involved in church planting.

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Short Review: Practicing Affirmation

Practicing Affirmation: God-Centered Praise of Those Who Are Not God by Sam Crabtree

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A helpful book on the ministry of affirmation (or encouragement). The premise is this: every good thing comes from God. When we see a good thing, we ought to affirm it. When we don't, we actually pass over something good God is doing, therefore demeaning or undervaluing his work in the world or in other people. So this is a vertical issue (how we praise God), but it's also a horizontal issue (there are tremendous benefits in affirming other people).

To the first point: we need to affirm good things God is doing in others - this a helpful corrective to cynics (who see only negatives), and to the "high truth" people (who think all encouragement is fluff). To the second point: affirming others helps to build up other people. Commending what is commendable tends to reinforce good behavior in others. It helps encourage folks when they make strides in their walk with the Lord. It generally makes you a more pleasant person to be around (contra the quarrelsome person who is like Chinese-water torture). And it is a great way to gain hearing with people (so that you have the opportunity to say hard and corrective things at other times).

Perhaps the most practical lesson in the book is Crabtree's mention of the "Affirmation Ratio." Basically he argues that there is a proportionality that needs to happen with our words - we must affirm much more than we correct. This helps us see well, believe the best, have open eyes to God's work in others, and create space to be heard when we do correct. This is especially important in marriages and with children. How many relationships are in crisis because communication is primarily negative (see Proverbs for warnings about this)!

I gave this book three stars, not because the content was bad, but because it was highly repetitive. It easily could have been boiled down to a long article (20 pages or so). Chapters 2-3 are the most helpful, and could give you the essentials of the whole book. John Piper's Foreword is also worth reading.

Read this if you are a parent.

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Review: Instruction in Faith by John Calvin

Instruction in Faith by John Calvin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love Calvin. I not only think the Institutes of the Christian Religion has stood the test of time, but is one of the most accessible systematic theologies available. Instruction in Faith, however, is not nearly as useful. Written as a short, summary of the faith (33 short chapters, 90 pages) I'm sure this was extremely useful in the 16th century when there hadn't been many Protestant faith summaries circulated. But since then, there have been many, and I'm not sure this is one worth reprinting.

The best parts are that Calvin is succinct and tends to do a good job of pressing the reader to think about Christian doctrine as it applies to both head and heart. It may be a bit weaker when it comes to Christian living (much better in the Institutes). For my money, the reformed catechisms are more useful (esp Heidelberg and Westminster, and even Luther's shorter catechism). More recently, Berkhof's Summary of Christian Doctrine or Packer's Concise Theology are more helpful.

Not a waste of time (because it's so short), but this book has generally outlived it's usefulness. Read it if you are interested in the development of Calvin's thought.

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Almighty Comforter

I've really been enjoying Cardiphonia's new collection of songs for Pentecost. You can download it here (22 songs) for free.

I think, so far, this one is my favorite.

Stealing Hearts

So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. (2 Sam 14:6)

Playing second fiddle is a difficult thing. It's always been hard, and especially so now in a culture that tells us our worth is tied to how high we rise, how much power we wield, how much money we make.

I was meditating this morning on the story of Absalom's rebellion against David. There's a lot to this story, beginning with Absalom's (justifiable) anger over the rape of his sister. After murdering the perpetrator (his brother) he had to flee from Jerusalem. Eventually he was welcomed back to Jerusalem, but lived for two years shunned by David without any contact. Once their fellowship was (mostly) restored (1 Sam 14:23), Absalom set to work in turning the hearts of David's people against him.

His strategy was simple - find David's leadership weakness and exploit it. David wasn't good at hearing the disputes of people coming from other tribes. Absalom waited at the gate, heard these disputes, and lamented with them that the king didn't hear them. Over time Absalom began to have a following. He was helping people to see how he would be a better king than David. (Contrast this with David's respect for Saul's position, even though Saul was a crappy king)

Perhaps we're tempted to play the part of Absalom in our work places and churches. We don't have the position we think we should, so we set to work undermining the leaders who are in place over us. A couple of quick thoughts about this:

1. This betrays a lack of respect for authority. Ultimately all authority is put in place by God (see Romans 13). When we undermine authority, we do so usually believing we know better than God does. We don't say that, of course, but that is what's going on.

2. We often undermine authority under the guise of wishing things were better. But in reality, detracting from present leadership makes things worse. If we really wanted to make things better, we'd work with existing leaders to help them improve in the areas where they are weak, and by encouraging them in the areas where they are strong.

3. If we're not in a position of leadership, we should trust that God has us where he has us for a reason. He knows where we need to be in order to become the person we are destined to be. We may be in our present situation to learn humility, or simply to learn what it means to work hard without a whole lot of immediate gratification. Embrace the place God has you.

4. Generally, we're too cynical about other people. We have to ask: are my criticisms of my boss/leaders justified, or I am just being a cynic? Do I appreciate the challenges they face, or am I just being a nitpicker? One good indicator is to ask if we are able to point out any positives of those in authority over us. If we can't name any, it's likely we're not seeing things clearly.

Think about Paul's words - For there is no authority except from God, and those that have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment (Romans 13:1-2).

The War Within

The process of becoming more like Christ isn’t something that happens all at once, but over time. And in Galatians 5, Paul tells us it isn’t easy either. The reason for that, Paul says, is that there is a battle going on within us. Once we become a Christian, it’s not as if we all of sudden have been zapped in such a way that we only do the right thing all the time, aren’t tempted any more, and never struggle. Nothing could be further from the truth. Martin Luther (who knew a little something about the Christian life) said: “We (Christians) are not stocks and stones who are never moved with anything, never feel any lust or desires of the flesh.”

Paul says the flesh and the Spirit are battling within us. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do (Galatians 5:16-17).

The Flesh
Paul says that there are two distinct principles within each and every Christian. The first of these principles is the flesh. When you read the word flesh, don’t think about your physical body. That’s not what Paul means here. The flesh is that sin-desiring aspect of your whole being. It’s our fallen condition. The NIV renders it best here – “sinful nature.” So on the one hand, even after embracing the gospel and coming to Christ, we still have the sinful nature (the flesh) as a part of us.

The Spirit
But we also have a second principle – the Spirit – at work in us. The Holy Spirit has born in us what Paul calls in Ephesians "the new man."

Irreconcilable Antagonism
But the old man, the sinful nature, still remains us with us. And these two do battle within us. John Stott calls it an “irreconcilable antagonism.”

Two Different Motivational Systems
How does this work? The flesh and the Spirit are enemies because they operate as two completely different motivational systems within us. On the one hand, the flesh (the sinful nature) is that aspect within us that wants total and complete control of our lives – we want to be our own savior and Lord. The sinful nature doesn’t want to come to Christ for righteousness and salvation, because if we get all that by grace, then there is no limit to what God could ask of us. If it’s all from God, He can ask us to do anything, go anywhere, serve Him in any way He chooses. The sinful nature doesn’t want that. The flesh wants significance and purpose and salvation - but only on its own terms.

The motivation of the Spirit is entirely different. The Spirit in us, and the new man recognizes that everything good comes from God. And so the motivation for all we do then is the love of God, and gratitude for His grace.

So these two principles are in conflict. For the flesh, the goal is earning worth, or earning righteousness through what we do. But the goal of the Spirit is entirely different. The Spirit’s goal is not to earn anything, but to turn our attention from ourselves so that we might see who Christ is and what He has done so that we might glorify Him.

Tomorrow: Outcomes for following either the flesh or the Spirit

Affirmation on the way to gospel proclamation

I found it helpful, for example, when interacting with a self-proclaimed atheist to take this approach: "I can see that you are an intelligent person. I'm inclined to think that you are interested in following the evidence wherever it goes, embracing reality, whatever it may be." Notice that I affirmed his ability to think, and gave him the benefit of the doubt that he has some measure of interest in the truth. "May I ask you to answer a question?"


Once granted permission to pose my question, I asked, "Would you be willing to describe the god you are pretty sure you don't believe in?" This question does several things. First, it affords me an opportunity to listen, which is both honoring to him and enlightening to me. Second, it elicits from him a clear articulation of just exactly what it is he denies, an exercise that helps me understand his mental obstacles and helps him rethink his own objections as he spells them out. After all, if we are going to have differences, it will be helpful to know exactly (and not merely imagine) where they lie. Third, it - surprisingly, to him - revealed common ground. You see the puzzled and startled look on their faces when I say to self-professed atheists who know I am a God-fearing Christian, "I don't believe in that God either." We still have a difference, and we both know it. But at this point, he knows I treat him with respect as a thinking human being and that we actually have some thinking in common. We have something in common to build on. I don't believe in that god either, but now he may want to know what kind of God I do believe in.
(Sam Crabtree, Practicing Affirmation, 22)