Church Growth and Conservative Theology

This week our church had its largest Easter services ever—about 650 people worshipped at Bethany Community Church .

The growth of our church is exciting and a little overwhelming. It is overwhelming as we consider the enormous responsibility each of us has to care for those who are new to our flock. It is exciting to realize that one of the main reasons our church is growing is because of the thirst people have for our Lord Jesus Christ.

In an interesting blog by Al Mohler this week entitled, “Why Conservative Churches are Growing: David Brooks and the Limits of Sociology,” he discusses a recent article by Brooks in The New York Times. In the article, Brooks maintains that Americans “have always admired the style of belief that is spiritual but not doctrinal, pluralistic and not exclusive, which offers tools for serving the greater good but is not marred by intolerant theological judgments.”

These are the hallmarks of more liberal theology. However, Brooks continues, “Vague, uplifting, nondoctrinal religiosity doesn’t actually last. The religions that grow, succor and motivate people to perform heroic acts of service are usually theologically rigorous, arduous in practice and definite in their convictions about what is True and False.”

As an example of the effectiveness of conservative churches, Brooks relates a personal anecdote: “I was once in an AIDS-ravaged village in southern Africa. The vague humanism of the outside do-gooders didn’t do much to get people to alter their risky behavior. The blunt theological talk of the church ladies — right and wrong, salvation and damnation — seemed to have a better effect.” In other words, the more conservative churches proclaim a message that is more effective in creating true heart change.

Sometimes when discussing church growth, people confuse means and ends. The assumption is that perhaps churches should be more conservative so that they will experience greater growth. But vibrant, biblical theology is not the means to the end of church growth. Rather, theology’s end is the glory of God.

My hope is that our church is growing not simply because we are conservative in our theology. My hope is that our church is growing because people are excited about their Lord Jesus Christ and are experiencing the joy of the Lord as we worship Him corporately for His glory!

Free Will, Predestination, and Advertising

Tuesday night, we watched snippets of a Frontline special entitled "The Persuaders" on PBS. It traced the science/art of advertising from the age of the smoking Flintstones to the nueromarketing of today. It was a fascinating program and can be watched in its entirety at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/ .

Several thoughts:

1. In regards to my previous post, while Big Brother may be a still distant vision, Big Business is already here and really creeps me out. The amount of information they have on you and the ability to use that information to filter out people who do not fit their target demographic is breathtaking.
2. Related to #1, it was amazing how companies can look at a person and from seemingly banal facts about them, figure out how they vote, what type of car they drive, and
3. One of the final statemens of the show reminded me of the Reformed understanding of the will. The reporter basically concluded that advertisers are not really trying to make us purchase something we don't want. Instead they are trying to find out what we want and then provide us with it. In a similar way, speaking of "free will" Reformed theologians contend that man is unable to do good on his own not because he is compelled by God to do wicked but because he doesn't want to do good. As Calvin writes: "Man will then be spoken of as having this sort of free decision, not because he has free choice equally of good and evil, but because he acts wickedly by will, not by compulsion. Well put, indeed, but what purpose is served by labeling with a proud name such a slight thing?"
4. That last statement strikes me as especially profound. Fine, let's grant that man has free will. We're in the spectacularly unenviable position to freely choose any evil we desire! Advertisers exploit our greed, gluttony, and selfishness for financial profit. They are not manipulating us...just giving us what our far too wicked hearts desire.

The Theological Argument for Adoption, Part 3

Theological Truth #3: God Calls His People to Care for Orphans

Because God cares for orphans, He calls His people to care for orphans. Isaiah 1:17, “Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless; Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.” James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”


Why are His people to care for Orphans? One reason is that caring for orphans is proclaiming the gospel—both to a child and to the world. To the world, it is a dramatic reenactment of the story of our own adoption. “But you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba Father! The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:15-16). To the child, we have the opportunity to speak into his or her life for the rest of our lives. As we bring them into our home, we practice the injunction of Deut 6 to teach God’s Word diligently to our children. We fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples of all the nations. We participate in the worship of God that He has decreed from eternity past will consist of people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Rev. 5:9).

I’ll never forget my first day in seminary. The professor, Dr. Mark Young, told us we were going to be looking at the parable of the Good Samaritan. As I opened my Bible to Luke 10:25, I turned to what I thought was a very familiar story. However, as he went through the story and applied it to missions, God worked through Dr. Young in a special way that day and my life was forever changed as I saw my responsibility to love the lost in a whole new way.

The parable is a response to a lawyer’s question about what one must do to inherit eternal life. In the parable, a man who is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho falls prey to robbers. They strip him and beat him. Disfigured and without clothes, he becomes unidentifiable and the question of the parable is who’s neighbor is this mystery man? A priest and a Levite both refuse to offer aid but a Samaritan comes upon the man and, moved by compassion, assists him.

That day in class, Dr. Young drew three truths from this parable: First, love of God and love of neighbor are essential characteristics of one who has inherited eternal life and is rightly related with God. Second, one who has inherited eternal life must have an unlimited concept of neighbor…love of neighbor has no qualifications. Third, compassion compels us to action. If you consider yourself a neighbor to all, you will be moved to some type of action when you are confronted with needs.

Is there a need to care for orphans?!?! In October of 2006, Unicef issued a report in which it estimated that there are over 130 million orphans worldwide. By 2010, that number will increase to almost 150 million. That is a staggering number…and an overwhelming opportunity! There are approximately 50 million evangelical Christians in the United States alone. God is working in the hearts of His people and helping them envision how He can use them to meet the needs of these little ones and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. By a God-given compassion, our hearts are compelled to meet the needs of these precious souls.

The question, then, for Whitney and I as we thought about this final truth was not if we would be involved in orphan ministry but rather how.

The Theological Argument for Adoption, Part 1

People who are considering adoption must answer the fundamental question of "why" very early on in the process. Why would a husband and wife voluntarily bring a person whom they have no legal obligation to provide for into their home and commit to caring for them financially, emotionally, physically and spiritually? It is an important question and one I believe many people answer it wrongly. Many, perhaps, adopt out of a desire to meet a void in their own life or assuage themselves of some guilt.

Though it may sound strange, for our family, our motivation was (I hope!) ultimately theological. Therefore a discussion of our adoption story really begins as a theological treatise in some ways. My purpose is not to bore people while only on our second adoption blog, but rather to reveal our motives. Over the next few posts, I'm going to look at three theological truths concerning adoption.

Theological Truth #1: God Cares for Orphans

Throughout Scripture, we see that God has a special concern for those who are disenfranchised and can not care for themselves. Consider just these few examples:

• "He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing" (Deut 10:18).
• "Thou hast seen [it], for Thou hast beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Thy hand. The unfortunate commits [himself] to Thee; Thou hast been the helper of the orphan" (Psalm 10:14).
• "A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation" (Psalm 68:5).
• "For in Thee the orphan finds mercy" (Hosea 14:3)

Under Levitic law, the Israelites were held culpable for how they treated those among them who were most vulnerable. God wanted provision made for these and the one who refused that provision was challenging Him. The orphan could look to God confidently for His deliverance.

The implication of this is that ultimately, it is not we who cares for orphans but God.