Christian Education and Communication

One of the things that always amazes me about communication is that it is incredibly tricky. We struggle with communicating enough. We struggle with miscommunication. We struggle with misinterpretation. I often wonder how we ever communicate at all.

This is especially true in closer relationships including those in the church. In communicating to those in the church I find it especially hard to remember to whom I communicated to and what. In my mind it often goes like this: “I did think that right? So, I must have told them right? I did tell him, oh, but I forgot to tell her!! I can’t believe I said that. I can’t believe you thought I said that.”

You see how hard it can be? One of the areas of mass communication is to keep communicating because we tend to forget, loose our way, need to clarify or even add new folks into the mix of the needed to be communicated to. That is why you keep hearing that commercial over and over and over again on the radio while driving home!

So, for all of us, including me, I wanted to communicate (or try to) what our youth and children’s ministries have at their foundation as I have been reminded through some denominational reading. I do not think this should come as a shock but theology is at the foundation of our ministries.

First, we are Reformed which means that the Scriptures alone reveal to us that it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone that we are saved and included into the people of God. Therefore, some foundational theological basics for us would be:

• God is absolutely sovereign
• The Bible is the Word of God and absolutely true
• We are dead in our sins from birth
• Jesus is the Son of God and salvation is through him alone
• God is the author and perfecter of our faith – he chooses us, regenerates us and seals us for eternity by the Holy Spirit.
• Repentance and faith is the response of God’s people
• We are called to live a life that glorifies him and to call others to faith and repentance

Second, we are covenantal which basically means:

• Through his electing grace God has established a promise with his people where he loves them unconditionally, is present with them and is all they need.
• God’s Word is about Jesus who proves this promise true
• God’s covenant promise is to us and to our children
• God works is families and in the family of families – the church.

(See Heirs of the Covenant by Sue Jakes for more unpacking of this in our lives)

Now that we see theology is at the foundation of our ministries, what does this mean for our ministries and how we do them?

• We focus on God and his glory over “only” the needs of our kids.
• We trust in God’s covenant promises for the salvation of our kids.
• We teach the Bible as one story about God’s promise of redemption. Christ is central!
• We see teachers as the whole church – even those without or with grown kids.
• We expect true disciples at an early age.
• We strive to integrate families into every area of ministry and home plays the key vital role for this biblically. Parents, think of your home as the everyday classroom and place for discipling the next generation. If you only leave it to church service and Sunday school it will not be enough. Your kids will learn much more from you than they ever will from a teacher in Sunday school. You must view your home as a part of the church because you make up the church. How does that change your focus of home life? In what ways? Think about it!

Obviously there is much more to our youth and children’s ministries but beginning to understand these foundational theological principles gives us better vision and understanding for what our ministries are about and how you all (TPC) actually play a part.

Our Goal: "A Missional Gospel Community"

After our 2008 Vision Meeting (1/28) and our Missions Conference last weekend, I hope we are communicating clearly with our church that we are, by God's grace, attempting to grow to a new place in the life of our congregation. There are many ways of possibly describing this vision, but for now let me use the 3 key ideas from our core values and call it "a missional gospel community".

Remember our 3 core values from our Vision meeting? 1. The Gospel has power to change lives (hence, gospel). 2. A Commitment to Christ is a commitment to the local church (hence, gospel community). 3. We are called to be Jesus' witnesses in our particular place here in Plano (hence, missional gospel community). Our goal as a church is to grow substantially into more of a "missional gospel community".

The word missional is just the adjectival form of the word mission. Covenantal is to covenant what missional is to mission. Providential is to providence what missional is to mission. It is an adjective used to describe what kind of people we are called to be.

Think about this biblically-theologically for a moment: the gospel saves us from bondage and condemnation and brings us into a new community of God's redeemed people called the church. The purpose of the gospel is to make us into a new community. Now, what is the call of this new community? It is to participate in God's mission to reach the world. (Jesus said, "Just as the Father sent me, so send I you.") So we are a missional community. We are a people gathered by the gospel of Jesus whose calling it is to extend the Kingdom of God. We are a gospel-forged community that has a mission. Hence, our goal as our church in the months and years to come is to substantially grow as a "missional gospel community".

There are numerous implications of this. I hope to share more of these implications in the near future. For example, does being missional mean simply that we share the good news of salvation with more people more often? Does it mean we start new evangelistic programs in our church? Does it mean we have more attractional outreach events? Or does it somehow also connect more broadly to my job as a software engineer, a manager, a mother, a lawyer or an educator? Or another question: does mercy ministry play a pivotal role in being missional? And if so, what exactly is that role? There are a whole host of other questions related to what it means for us to grow as a community together. I appreciate the ideas that were shared at our Vision Meeting about how to do this. The elders are examining these ideas and will be presenting a pathway forward after Easter.

By God' grace, good changes are on the way for our church family. We'll all need grace and humility to accept and adapt to these changes. I covet your prayers for Trinity as we grow to our next level in maturity and mission!

What thoughts do you have about these things I've shared?

Acts 13: "Neither Jihadism nor McWorld, but the Missio Dei"

This Sunday, if all goes as planned, I will preach on Acts 13. If the sermon comes together as I'm currently thinking it will, the title of the sermon will be "Neither Jihadism nor McWorld, but the Missio Dei." I'll explain that title on Sunday. We will learn some valuable lessons about the missio Dei (the mission of God) from this passage where Paul begins his first missionary journey. We'll also debunk some common myths regarding what it means to participate in God's mission to the world! I think this will be a good follow up to our mission conference the previous weekend. Let me encourage you to read Acts 13 prior to Sunday worship.

Orlando pastor's summit update

Just a quick update from Orlando. We did end up coming. Mindy had a flu, but has progressively felt better. Christopher still has a fever, but no more vomiting. They home with my parents. Our time at the San Pedro Retreat Center near Orlando has been very rich. We are very tired from meetings lasting all morning, afternoon and night. But these meetings have been stimulating and strengthening in terms of pushing forward with serving Christ in the church and world. They already started the next meeting without me, so I better run! We arrive home tonight. We'll be very glad to get back home and back into the normal rythyms of life!

We had to miss Sunday night

Unfortunately, Mindy and I had to miss Sunday night. Christopher has been sick with the flu and Mindy started getting it yesterday as well. Cheryl K called this morning to check up on us and she said that the Sunday evening missions events went very, very well. She noted how rich and enjoyable was the fellowship time together as a church family. We very much missed being there and getting to hear from the missionaries and have some down time with our church family!

Relationships

This week let's keep our eyes open for relational opportunities with unbelievers. Make it your goal to intentionally have one good conversation this week with a non-Christian. It doesn't have to be about the gospel. It just needs to be an enjoyable conversation where the unbeliever knows that you are interested in him/her and what is going on in his life. The goal is to bond. Of course, if any opportunities arise to share your faith, don't be ashamed of the gospel!

I'm in Orlando this week, but will be preaching next Sunday

Just a note to let you know that Mindy and I will be in Orlando this week, but I will be preaching from Acts 13 next Sunday morning. (Please come anyway!) Approximately two years ago, I asked the Session if I could accept an invitation to participate in the Pastor's Summit, a collaborative effort between Covenant, Reformed and Westminster seminaries. Our elders believed that meeting with 9 other pastors 3 times a year for two years would encourage me and further equip me for ministry here in Plano. It has. It's been one of the best experiences I've ever had. This week is our second to last meeting. Our last meeting will be in Jackson Hole, WY in July. As one of the pastor's said at the October 07 meeting, "I'm already angry about this thing ending. I don't know what I'm going to do without it." I agree. I'm already dreading the loss of this major support network in my own life. But nevertheless everything in life has a season to it. And Mindy and I are really going to enjoy this upcoming week. We'll see you all on Sunday.

P.S. - if anyone is thinking about coming over and robbing our house while we're gone, just remember three things. One, there's nothing worth taking except maybe our 19 inch television, which is worth more than $50! Two, our 3 kids with be with their grandparents all week, so you can't kidnap the most beautiful kids on the earth while we're gone. And three, there will be four bloodthirsty, ferocious dogs lying in wait all week long without any meat except the occasional robber! ;-)

Richard Pratt Talk #2: Genesis 1:26ff

This morning at 9am, Richard Pratt taught a combined all-church class. Again, I recommend that you just listen to the mp3 audio posted on the church website here. (You can put the sermon audio on your ipod by first downloading the mp3 file to your computer. You download it by right-clicking on it and selecting "Save Link As...". After it's downloaded, you open the file with iTunes and add it to your library.)

Here are some remembrances of his talk:

Introduction: Mission is not an add-on
When you add a room onto your house, no matter how hard you try, it always looks like an add-on. I never quite looks like it was originally built with the rest of the house. That is how the American church relates to mission: it feels like an add-on tacked on the end of all our activities. It's almost as if Jesus said and did all the things, and then before he ascended, he gave a little footnote that said, "Oh, yeah, and don't forget the Great Commission." But it's not that way at all. Mission didn't begin with Jesus. Or Abraham. But with Adam and Eve. God's missional kingdom is a pre-Fall reality, not a post-Fall necessity!

The idea of mission is actually bound up in the idea of what it means to be created in the image of God. Other Ancient Near Eastern religions also used the language of "image of God" and "sons of God" to describe people - but only Pharoahs and Kings. It was believed in the A.N.E. that Pharoahs were the true sons of God, made in his image. It was believed that they exercised dominion over the earth on God's behalf. Genesis takes the language of "image of God" from the surrounding religious cultures, adopts it and then co-opts it. It becomes evident very soon in Genesis that every single human being was created in the image of God.

It is a great part of our practical piety to go around saying, "Oh, I'm just a sinner. I'm scum. I can't do anything. God must do it all. I'm insignificant." Not true! This is a lie of Satan. Satan uses this kind of thinking to immobilize the church. Because we are made in his image, everything we do matters. We matter. If you convince yourself that you don't really matter and that you're life really doesn't matter for the Kingdom of God, and you won't try to do anything significant for the Kingdom of God with your life! This is the problem. But if you see yourself as an image-bearer, as God's vice-regent over creation, then you come to see that what you say, think and do matters greatly. We go around thinking that godliness is to dishonor ourselves and our lives. But godliness means living up to who we already are: image bearers of God. And if that isn't enough, we not only bear his image, but we've also been redeemed by his blood! He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and he is re-working his image in us by Holy Spirit. So live up to who you truly are. Be who you are.

Then, as his image-bearers, realize that he has given us dominion over all the earth. Earth matters. People matter. This planet and world matters. Because God has called us to make earth into his kingdom. Unfortunately, Christians don't believe this anymore. We have given up this world. We are just waiting for "heaven" - forgetting that redemption is a new earth as well.

The only people who really believe in sacrificing themselves for the sake of bringing God's kingdom to earth are the Muslims. They are willing to give all they are and have to make it Allah's kingdom. We aren't. We're giving it over to them by our own passivity. The census department tells us that there will be 5 major cities in the US with a majority Muslim population by 2025. That is tomorrow. Islam is gaining rapid ground, the evangelical church is losing ground rapidly, and we don't even know it. Because we don't think that exercising kingdom dominion over the earth is our calling or that it matters.

We see this in two ways. First, Christians aren't having children. Muslims have tons of babies. So Muslim growth is rapidly outpacing Christian growth generationally in the US. We're going to end up like England, where the Archbishop of Canteburry said a few days ago that England will have to adopt Sharia law if England is to survive. Archbishop Rowan Williams essentially laid down, rolled over and gave it up to the Muslims. We're going to be right there behind them very soon. And we don't even know it. We're too concerned about retiring at the same level of income in which we worked during our careers. So our materialism is keeping us from valuing children.

Then, we don't disciple our children. We aren't training them seriously in the faith. We let them go to a youth group or something, but we aren't serious about training them to be fully productive members of the kingdom of God. It just isn't a priority in our lives. We are loyal to our careers, but not to the kingdom of God. We're blind to the interests of the kingdom.

Our task is to turn the earth into God's Kingdom. We are called to make earth paradise by extending the reign of King Jesus everyway. Not with force like the Muslims do. With love and persusion. But also by laying down our lives. By giving away not 10% of our income but 50% of our income to the kingdom work of the church. Who believes so passionately in the kingdom of God that they give away 50% of their income. In wealthy American, this ought to be the norm among Christians. The King is coming and we must do we all possibly can to get the earth ready.

We continue to circle the wagons here. We are disengaged relationally from our changing world and especially our changing neighborhoods. But the problem is that we're going to keep circling the wagons until we don't have any more wagons. Meanwhile, our granddaughters will belong to a shiek's harem in Dallas. We've already surrendered. We treating mission as if it's a nice little add-on to the end of the happy Christian life. We have it backwards. Being a Christian is living with a mission. We must reconnect with the mission of God.

So what do we do? We fast and pray. We ask Holy Spirit to come. We fast and pray until that happens. Until we are changed. It's not just an extra. It's why we exist.

That's what I heard Richard say this morning. I'm curious - what did you hear him say? What struck you? Leave a comment and let me know!

Perseverance in Mission: Saturday morning men's breakfast

This morning our men gathered with a number of missionaries we support as a church family. Ryan Greene serves as the RUF college pastor at Texas A&M. Josh Geiger is the pastor of Christ Rey Presbyterian Church in Dallas, a Hispanic church plant. Jacob Yohannan is the church planter in the metro NYC area, reaching second generation Indian and Asian Americans. Caleb Dunn teaches and trains pastors in Mexico.

The common theme that emerged from all of their presentations was the joyful hardship of persevering in gospel mission and ministry. While they are seeing people come to faith in Christ, the work is slow and often discouraging. They are tired. They work hard weeks and long hours. Sinful people constantly disappoint. Yet, there is real joy in seeing people come to faith and grow.

I think this morning's presentations really balanced out last night's call to gospel confidence. We heard yesterday evening that the gospel is powerful and deserving of our full might and confidence. This morning we got a dose of reality. Ministry is a long road without any easy short-cuts. If you do ministry to bring glory to yourself, you won't make it. Your heart must be pure. You must be about serving Christ. Otherwise, you won't make it. I was very touched with how some of our missionaries shared how hardship in ministry exposed their own sin. They discovered that they were prideful. And they came to see their own sin as the greatest hindrance to their ministry. What a godly perspective.

I walked away from our breakfast encouraged by this: we have a high mission to fulfill, but we're not in heaven yet. So it's hard. But it's worth it. Every bit of it. So let's encourage each other more. Let's build each other up more and pray for one another more earnestly as we all partner together in kingdom ministry, whether to Collin County, Bergen County or Monterrey, Mexico.

Dr. Pratt Talk #1: Romans 1:14-17

Last night was the kickoff event to our 2008 Trinity Missions Conference, "Ordinary People in the Kingdom of God." Our plenary speaker was Dr. Richard Pratt, founder and president of Third Millennium ministry, which provides free theological education to anyone, anywhere.

Richard knocked it out of the ballpark last night, expressing a gospel vision that is the heart of the Session at Trinity. I urge you to listen or download the audio of the talk (go the bottom of the linked page). Here are some main points from Richard's teaching last night. I didn't take notes on his talk last night - I hardly ever do take notes during sermons because I want to let the main force of a sermon really settle into my heart, especially knowing that I'll learn much more when I download it and listen to it a second time. So this isn't a precise outline of his talk - just some of my general remembrances.

1. The Gospel is for Rome.
We think of Rome as a great vacation spot today, but for Paul going to Rome would be like us going to Mecca. It wouldn't be a vacation. It wouldn't be visiting museums and throwing coins into beautiful fountains. Our lives would be at stake. Yet this gospel was so valuable to Paul that he had to take it to the center of the world, despite possibly losing his own life in the process. Do we have that passion that our world needs this powerful gospel so much that we are willing to give up our comforts to get it out?

2. The Gospel is Powerful.
Paul had the confidence to take the gospel to Rome because he knew that it was the power of God for salvation. Richard knew a guy in high school that had a very ugly car, but under the hood was a powerful engine. He didn't think much of the car until he raced against it and was blown away. The gospel might not be outwardly impressive, but inside it has the very power of God. When was the last time that you truly experienced the power of the gospel in your own life? When was the last time that the story of Jesus really changed your life? If you are disconnected from the power of the gospel, you're not going to have the confidence to take it out into your world.

3. The Gospel has long arms.
Mike Tyson had a very powerful punch, but his arms were so short that he had to get in close to hit you. The gospel is very powerful, but it also has long arms. It can reach Jew and Gentile. It can reach both Jerusalem and Rome. The reach of the gospel is so extensive it can even reach me! Paul says that the gospel is for the Jew first. This is the religious person who grew up going to church, Sunday school and VBS. This is the person who feels that he needs to be moral in order to go to heaven, and knows a little about Moses and Jesus. That gospel is for that kind of person. But the gospel is also for the Greek. This is the non-religious person. This is the person who doesn't know if Moses came before or after Jesus. This is the person who doesn't even necessarily believes he has to be moral in order to go to heaven. This is the next door neighbor. This is the gay couple across the street. This is the poor person who cuts your lawn. This is the co-worker struggling through divorce. This is your son or daughter who isn't walking with Jesus. The gospel has power to reach the farthest Gentile. The gospel has long arms. Do we have confidence in the reach of the gospel? Are we participating in God's Kingdom plan to take this gospel out to our relational networks, with a conviction that this gospel really can reach these people and that all the trouble it takes to build these relationships is actually worth it?

Other Impressions
The lines between national and international are now mixed and greatly blurred. Geographical zones have been replaced now with relational networks, many of which cross national borders and time zones. So that the local Hispanic family has a stronger connection to a community in Mexico than our own missionaries might have. So that the local Asian community talks to their family in India far more than any of our own missionaries possibly ever could. The world is at our doorstep. Are we awake to this? Do we sense our call to this mission? Do we see the array of interconnections and mission opportunities that exist around us?

Last night I also had a keen sense of the lethargy of the American church. We are vitally awake when it comes to issues of personal success, kids education, politics, etc. But when it comes to the all-important vision of what God desires to do in and through us, we are largely asleep. We are unaware. We aren't giving our money. We aren't giving our time. If the good news that Jesus is King and that he is redeeming this world and recreating a new heavens and a new earth were to really take root in the heart of American Christians, we would be passionate about getting this gospel out to our relations. We would be passionate about using all of our resources to see the Kingdom grow. But we sit in church like little consumers of religious goods, filling our cups for the week so that we can have a little more success in life. Dr. Pratt called us to get back in touch with the power of the gospel. That's what I want to see happen in our church. I want to see that gospel confidence and that kingdom vision spread through our church as strongly and as quickly as a virus on the playground. A key to this is prayer. We have forgotten how to pray. We have lost a vision for simply persisting in prayer until God moves.

Holy Spirit, move upon Trinity Presbyterian Church and make us a missional community of your people with gospel confidence and kingdom vision!

These are my thoughts from last night's talk. What about last night's talk struck you? What did you think?

Just another way to keep in touch with our church family

Hi everyone! I thought I would start today a very simple little blog that would help all of us stayed connected to each other and with what's going on at our church. We may or may not use this long term. We'll see. But I'm going to start today by posting my thoughts on our missions conference here at TPC this weekend. Enjoy!