Good Questions Have Groups Talking (copy) Untitled page

How to start new groups

Josh Hunt — Fri, 13 May 2022 15:23:00 GMT

Part of setting them up for success is preparing the group for its eventual multiplication. There are several ways to do this effectively:

1. Keep your disciples focused on the words of Jesus. If you have a group of “consumer Christians,” you will struggle to ever experience real discipleship and multiplication. The best way to break “American Dream Christianity” is to keep your disciples reading, studying, and living the words of Jesus. Keep the focus on the Great Commandment, the New Commandment, the Great Commission, and embracing the Cross.

2. Talk about multiplying early and often. Start from the very first week. Describe the fact that one of the purposes of the group is to make disciples who will make disciples. It exists to raise up leaders who will be sent out to lead new groups. At least monthly, pray in the group about the new groups to be birthed from this group. Remember, people are down on what they are not up on. Keep the group informed of the plans and progress of each step along the way.

3. Talk about multiplying in positive terms. Do not speak of “breaking up” the group, “splitting” the group, or “dividing” the group. Instead, talk about “making disciples,” “birthing” new groups, “launching” new groups, “multiplying” groups, and “raising up” new groups and leaders.

4. Talk about multiplying in terms of the big picture. For example, in Las Vegas, out of a population of 2 million people, there are 1.91 million lost people. Every new group that is born lowers the number of unreached people. When we talk about birthing new groups, we talk about reaching more of the 1.91 million lost people. I find that when we begin to speak of multiplying, people often resist. Therefore, ask them questions like: “How many of you were not in church or our group a year ago?” “What if the people who were in our group a year ago had been unwilling to give up their place in this group? Where would you be now?”

5. Pray about the best timing for multiplying. It is possible to make the right decision at the wrong time. Maybe the group is ready to multiply, but the new leader(s) are not. Or maybe the new leader(s) are ready, but the group is not. Or maybe it is a poor season to launch. Usually groups launch best at natural times in the school calendar, like fall and January. For us, summer is usually not a good season to launch. Pray about finding the best timing for multiplication.

6. Set a date for multiplying. Setting a date for multiplying is essential in achieving the dream of multiplying your group. According to Joel Comiskey’s survey of seven hundred multiplying cell leaders, “Cell leaders who know their goal—when their groups will give birth—consistently multiply their groups more often than leaders who don’t know. In fact, if a cell leader fails to set goals the cell members can clearly remember, he has about a 50–50 chance of multiplying his cell. But if the leader set goals, the chance of multiplying increases to three of four.”3

7. Celebrate the new birth. When the disciple group is ready to give birth, invite friends and have a party with lots of food. This may be a great time for testimonies. People who are staying with the original leader can share what the new leaders have meant to them. Those going with the new leader can share what they are hoping God will do through them and the new group. Some churches have the church’s small-group pastor or discipleship pastor come to preside over a special time of prayer, sending out the new group(s) and leader(s). It is a great opportunity to recast the vision for multiplying.

Earley, Dave. 2013. “Discerning the Overall Goal and Process.” In Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic.

God is not enough

Josh Hunt — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 17:47:15 GMT

Sometimes in church circles when people feel lonely, we will tell them not to expect too much from human relationships, that there is inside every human being a God-shaped void that no other person can fill. That is true. But apparently, according to the writer of Genesis, God creates inside this man a kind of “human-shaped void” that God himself will not fill.

No substitute will fill this need in you for human relationship:

Not money

Not achievement

Not busyness

Not books

Not even God himself

Even though this man was in a state of sinless perfection, he was “alone.” And it was not good.

Community is what you were created for. It is God’s desire for your life. It is the one indispensable condition for human flourishing. According to Jean Vanier, “A community is not simply a group of people who live together and love each other. It is a place of resurrection.”

Life-giving Relationships

“With billions of people in the world, someone should figure out a system where no one is lonely.”

Being in meaningful relationships is life-giving in the most literal sense.

One of the most thorough research projects on relationships is called the Alameda County Study. Headed by a Harvard social scientist, it tracked the lives of 7,000 people over nine years. Researchers found that the most isolated people were three times more likely to die than those with strong relational connections.

People who had bad health habits (such as smoking, poor eating habits, obesity, or alcohol use) but strong social ties lived significantly longer than people who had great health habits but were isolated. In other words, it is better to eat Twinkies with good friends than to eat broccoli alone. Harvard researcher Robert Putnam notes that if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, “you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half.”

For another study, as reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 276 volunteers were infected with a virus that produces the common cold. The study found that people with strong emotional connections did four times better fighting off illness than those who were more isolated. These people were less susceptible to colds, had less virus, and produced significantly less mucous than relationally isolated subjects. (I’m not making this up. They produced less mucous. This means it is literally true: Unfriendly people are snottier than friendly people.)

Yet, we are becoming increasingly disconnected from each other. This is the thesis of the most in-depth study of contemporary society done in a few decades. Robert Putnam took the title of his book, Bowling Alone, from the fact that while more people than ever are bowling these days, fewer are doing it in leagues. He and a team of researchers documented that for twenty-five years American society has experienced a steady decline of what sociologists call social capital—a sense of connectedness and community. (This was illustrated by, among other things, the T-shirt slogan that the Volunteer Fire Department in Gold Beach, Oregon, used to promote their annual fund-raising event: “Come to our breakfast, we’ll come to your fire.”) Whether it’s measured by civic involvement, volunteer organizations, neighborhood relationships, or religious participation, Putnam found, the level of community in America is at its lowest point in our lifetimes, and this loss of social capital results in lower educational performance, more teen pregnancy, greater depression, and higher crime rates.

Ortberg, John. 2009. Everybody’s Normal till You Get to Know Them. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Nothing More Important than Attitude

Josh Hunt — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 21:30:17 GMT

This may shock you, but I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me, or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. The attitude I choose keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

Yet we must admit that we spend more of our time concentrating and fretting over the things that can’t be chnged—than we do giving attention to the one that we can change, our choice of attitude. Stop and think about some of the things that suck up our attention and energy, all of them inescapable: the weather, the wind, people’s action and criticisms, who won or lost the game, delays at airports or waiting rooms, x-ray results, gas and food costs.

Quit wasting energy fighting the inescapable and turn your energy to keeping the right attitude. Those things we can’t do anything about shouldn’t even come up in our minds; the alternative is ulcers, cancer, sourness, depression.

Let’s choose each day and every day to keep an attitude of faith and joy and belief and compassion.

Swindoll, Charles R. 2005. Day by Day with Charles Swindoll. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Following Jesus -- easily and routinely

Josh Hunt — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 14:57:26 GMT

There are now signs that significant groups among professing Christians are ready to take up discipleship to Jesus as the core of their religious life. A realization has been setting in that the redemption Christ offers is for all aspects of life, from the deepest parts of the human being outward to the last details of our actions. Many who previously had only a superficial connection with Christ are coming to understand that whole-life discipleship to him is the easy way to live: the “easy yoke” and the “light burden” that Jesus promised to those who step into the yoke with him to learn of him.

We will see great progress for Jesus’ work on earth, and great blessing upon the lives of groups and individuals, if this new seriousness about discipleship stays focused on three things.

First, there must be no mistaking the fact that discipleship to Jesus means primarily learning from him how to do—easily and routinely do—the very things he said for us to do. Obedience is the only sound objective of a Christian spirituality. Of course, we do not obey to earn anything—earning is out of the question—but we obey because doing the things that Jesus said is what is best for us and for everyone around us.

Second, we do not become able to obey by trying to obey, but by becoming the kind of person who naturally does obey. That means our intention is to acquire, by intelligent effort and grace, the inward character of Jesus Christ himself. We think and feel like him; our will has his habits of choosing; our very body is poised toward righteous deeds; and our way of relating to others is governed by his kind of love.

Third, the activities of our fellowship groups and their leaders are explicitly designed to make disciples—not some lesser version of “Christian,” but genuine apprentices to Jesus in kingdom living—and to teach everyone in the group to do the things Jesus said. Leaders do this by bringing their fellowship groups through effective processes of inward transformation of the dynamics of human life.

In this way we will do what Jesus told us to do: “Make disciples as you go, submerge them in the Trinitarian reality, and train them to do everything that I commanded you” (paraphrase of Matt. 28:19–20). That is what it means to choose the life. The ills of the church and of the individual derive almost totally from the simple failure to do what Jesus told us to do in the Great Commission. There is no excuse whatsoever for not doing it, and every rationalization is simply a wound to our own souls, an injury to our groups, and an insult to the Christ who told us what to do.

Bill Hull has learned a lot from his years in the church as a pastor and leader. Most importantly, as this book shows, he has learned about himself. He has a vivid sense that what matters is what you are on the inside; that is the place where discipleship takes hold and where the only possible foundation for uncomplicated obedience is laid. He is delightfully candid and fresh, and conveys profound substance with stark clarity. You will wince as he relates painful experiences incurred while trying to lead his church to “great things” with thoughts and feelings remaining un-Christlike. But you will see with joy how character—not just bright ideas and slick techniques—has genuine power in human relationships under God.

He has found that “an environment of grace is a community in which disciples accept each person where they are, celebrate how God has made them, and encourage each other to train to be godly.” We can only hope and pray that the desire to build such communities will now become widely contagious, as has been gloriously so in past times among Jesus’ people.

Dallas Willard

Dallas Willard, “Foreword,” in Choose the Life: Exploring a Faith That Embraces Discipleship (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004), 6–8.

Making application work

Josh Hunt — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 19:32:32 GMT

God is a rewarder

Hebrews 11:6 is my favorite verse:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.—Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

God is a rewarder. It is impossible for me to draw near to God except that I believe that God is a rewarder. If God is a rewarder, I will be rewarded for seeking Him. It is always in my best interest to live the Christian life. It is always good for me to follow God.

This is important because we are all irrevocably hardwired to do what we believe to be in our best interest. The key word is believe. This is why faith is so important to Christian living. What we believe determines what we do. If we believe that God is good; if we believe that He is smart; if we believe that He has our best interest at heart; then trusting Him is relatively easy.

But if in my heart of hearts I believe that God is not good, that He can’t be trusted, that He is not after my well-being, it is impossible—impossible for me to draw near to Him. Not because this belief that God is a rewarder is some kind of magic key that opens the door; it is simply the nature of things. I am irrevocably hardwired to do what I believe to be is in my best interest. I will only seek God if I really believe He is a rewarder.

I must come to love the Christian life or I will never come to live the Christian life.

The people you teach must come to love the Christian life or they will never come to live the Christian life.

Prayer must become for them a sweet hour of prayer, or I will bet they didn’t pray this morning.

Service is either a joy or a struggle.

Self-control will only get us so far. We will only make it so far forcing ourselves to do what we fundamentally don’t believe is in our best interest. Sooner or later we will do what we believe is best for us. We either come to believe that God is good, that God is a rewarder, that it is good for us to follow God, or we will not follow God very far.

There is a place in Christian living for self-control. There are times when we must force ourselves to do what we don’t feel like doing in the moment. There are times we must force ourselves to give even when it hurts. But, we either become joyful givers or we end up becoming stingy, selfish, people.

We must come to love the Christian life, or we will never come to live the Christian life. This is the key to application.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

Learning Prayer from Children

Josh Hunt — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 19:04:13 GMT

Have you ever noticed how children ask? Boy, do they ask—freely and often! One story tells of a little boy who was misbehaving one night when his father was trying to get him into bed. The boy’s mother had gone to a meeting and his father was taking care of things at home. Long after the little boy had been tucked in for the night, he was doing the classic drink of water routine: “Dad? I need a drink of water.” His father came upstairs and gave him a drink of water, and of course a short time later the boy had to go to the bathroom. This happened several times. Finally the exasperated dad reached the limit of his patience and said, “No more. Young man, you get into bed and you stay there.”

A few minutes later, however, this father heard the pitter-patter of little feet upstairs. He bolted to the foot of the stairs, this time angry that his reading had been interrupted. He yelled up to his misbehaving son, “Look, I’m telling you for the last time! You get in bed and you stay in bed! If you get out of bed one more time, you’re in trouble. I’ll be coming up there and you’ll get a whipping!”

For a moment it was very quiet. Then a little voice drifted down: “Daddy, when you come up here to give me a whipping, could you bring me a glass of water?”

That’s how children are. They never quit. It doesn’t matter how many times you say no, they keep coming back. They keep asking. They ask and ask and ask.

I think that’s what Jesus is talking about here. He wants us to come to Him and…ask.

David Jeremiah, Prayer: The Great Adventure (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1997), 22–23.

How to be a happy Christian

Josh Hunt — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 22:08:43 GMT

If anyone asks, “How can I be a happy Christian?” our Lord’s answer is very simple. About the vine and the branches, He says, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” In effect, He is saying, “You cannot have My joy without My life. Abide in Me, and let Me abide in you, and My joy will be in you.” All healthy life is a thing of joy and beauty. Live the branch life undividedly, and you will have His joy in full measure.

To many Christians, the thought of a life wholly abiding in Christ is one of strain and painful effort. They cannot see that the strain and effort exist only because we do not yield ourselves unreservedly to the life of Christ in us. They have not yet experienced the very first words of the parable: “‘I am the true vine.’ I undertake all and provide for all. I ask nothing of the branch but that it yields wholly to Me, and allows Me to do all. I engage to make and keep the branch all that it ought to be.” Would it not be an infinite and unceasing joy to have the Vine thus work all? How glorious to know that it is no one less than the blessed Son of God in His love who is each moment bearing us and maintaining our life!

“That my joy might remain in you.” We are to have Christ’s own joy in us. And what is Christ’s own joy? There is no joy like love. There is no joy but love. Christ had just spoken of the Father’s love, of His own abiding in it, and of His having loved us with that same love. His joy is nothing but the joy of love, of being loved, and of loving. His joy was in receiving His Father’s love, abiding in it, passing it on, and then pouring it out on sinners.

He wants to share this joy with us: the joy of being loved of the Father and of Him; the joy of, in our turn, loving and living for those around us. This is the joy of being truly branches—abiding in His love, and then giving up ourselves in love to bear fruit for others. Let us accept His life, as He gives it in us as the Vine. His joy will be ours: the joy of abiding in His love, the joy of loving like Him, of loving with His love.

“And that your joy might be full.” May it be complete, and may you be filled with it. How sad that we need to be reminded that as God alone is the fountain of all joy, “God our exceeding joy,” the only way to be perfectly happy is to have as much of God—as much of His will and fellowship—as possible! Christianity is meant to be a thing of unspeakable joy.

And why do so many complain that it is not so? Because they do not believe that there is no joy like the joy of abiding in Christ and in His love. They do not know the joy of being branches through whom He can pour out His love on a dying world.

Oh, that Christ’s voice might reach the heart of every young Christian, and persuade him to believe that His joy is the only true joy. His joy can become ours and truly fill us. And the sure and simple way of living in it is—only this—to abide as branches in Him our heavenly Vine. Let the truth enter deep into us—as long as our joy is not full, it is a sign that we do not yet know our heavenly Vine completely. Every desire for a fuller joy must only urge us to abide more simply and more fully in His love.

My joy—your joy. In this, too, it is: as the Vine, so the branch; all the Vine in the branch. Your joy is our joy—Your joy in us, and our joy fulfilled. Blessed Lord, fill me with Your joy—the joy of being loved and blessed with a divine love. Give me the joy of loving and blessing others.

Andrew Murray, The True Vine (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2002).

The Pursuit of Holiness

Josh Hunt — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 22:41:18 GMT

The Apostle John said, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin” (1 John 2:1). The whole purpose of John’s letter, he says, is that we not sin. One day as I was studying this chapter I realized that my personal life’s objective regarding holiness was less than that of John’s. He was saying, in effect, “Make it your aim not to sin.” As I thought about this, I realized that deep within my heart my real aim was not to sin very much. I found it difficult to say, “Yes, Lord, from here on I will make it my aim not to sin.” I realized God was calling me that day to a deeper level of commitment to holiness than I had previously been willing to make.

Can you imagine a soldier going into battle with the aim of “not getting hit very much”? The very suggestion is ridiculous. His aim is not to get hit at all! Yet if we have not made a commitment to holiness without exception, we are like a soldier going into battle with the aim of not getting hit very much. We can be sure if that is our aim, we will be hit—not with bullets, but with temptation over and over again.

Jonathan Edwards, one of the great preachers of early American history, used to make resolutions. One of his was, “Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.”5 Dare we modern-day Christians make such a resolution? Are we willing to commit ourselves to the practice of holiness without exceptions? There is no point in praying for victory over temptation if we are not willing to make a commitment to say no to it.

Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1978), 92–93.

William Carey -- I Can Plod

Josh Hunt — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 14:21:02 GMT

Carey was raised in the obscure, rural village of Paulerpury, in the middle of England. He apprenticed in a local cobbler’s shop, where the nominal Anglican was converted. He enthusiastically took up the faith, and though little educated, the young convert borrowed a Greek grammar and proceeded to teach himself New Testament Greek.

When his master died, he took up shoemaking in nearby Hackleton, where he met and married Dorothy Plackett, who soon gave birth to a daughter. But the apprentice cobbler’s life was hard—the child died at age 2—and his pay was insufficient. Carey’s family sunk into poverty and stayed there even after he took over the business.

“I can plod,” he wrote later, “I can persevere to any definite pursuit.” All the while, he continued his language studies, adding Hebrew and Latin, and became a preacher with the Particular Baptists. He also continued pursuing his lifelong interest in international affairs, especially the religious life of other cultures.

Carey was impressed with early Moravian missionaries and was increasingly dismayed at his fellow Protestants’ lack of missions interest. In response, he penned An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. He argued that Jesus’ Great Commission applied to all Christians of all times, and he castigated fellow believers of his day for ignoring it: “Multitudes sit at ease and give themselves no concern about the far greater part of their fellow sinners, who to this day, are lost in ignorance and idolatry.”

Carey didn’t stop there: in 1792 he organized a missionary society, and at its inaugural meeting preached a sermon with the call, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God!” Within a year, Carey, John Thomas (a former surgeon), and Carey’s family (which now included three boys, and another child on the way) were on a ship headed for India.

Stranger in a strange land

Thomas and Carey had grossly underestimated what it would cost to live in India, and Carey’s early years there were miserable. When Thomas deserted the enterprise, Carey was forced to move his family repeatedly as he sought employment that could sustain them. Illness racked the family, and loneliness and regret set it: “I am in a strange land,” he wrote, “no Christian friend, a large family, and nothing to supply their wants.” But he also retained hope: “Well, I have God, and his word is sure.”

He learned Bengali with the help of a pundit, and in a few weeks began translating the Bible into Bengali and preaching to small gatherings.

When Carey himself contracted malaria, and then his 5-year-old Peter died of dysentery, it became too much for his wife, Dorothy, whose mental health deteriorated rapidly. She suffered delusions, accusing Carey of adultery and threatening him with a knife. She eventually had to be confined to a room and physically restrained.

“This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me,” Carey wrote, though characteristically added, “But I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding; and God is here.”

Gift of tongues

In October 1799, things finally turned. He was invited to locate in a Danish settlement in Serampore, near Calcutta. He was now under the protection of the Danes, who permitted him to preach legally (in the British-controlled areas of India, all of Carey’s missionary work had been illegal).

Carey was joined by William Ward, a printer, and Joshua and Hanna Marshman, teachers. Mission finances increased considerably as Ward began securing government printing contracts, the Marshmans opened schools for children, and Carey began teaching at Fort William College in Calcutta.

In December 1800, after seven years of missionary labor, Carey baptized his first convert, Krishna Pal, and two months later, he published his first Bengali New Testament. With this and subsequent editions, Carey and his colleagues laid the foundation for the study of modern Bengali, which up to this time had been an “unsettled dialect.”

Carey continued to expect great things; over the next 28 years, he and his pundits translated the entire Bible into India’s major languages: Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit and parts of 209 other languages and dialects.

He also sought social reform in India, including the abolition of infanticide, widow burning (sati), and assisted suicide. He and the Marshmans founded Serampore College in 1818, a divinity school for Indians, which today offers theological and liberal arts education for some 2,500 students.

By the time Carey died, he had spent 41 years in India without a furlough. His mission could count only some 700 converts in a nation of millions, but he had laid an impressive foundation of Bible translations, education, and social reform.

His greatest legacy was in the worldwide missionary movement of the nineteenth century that he inspired. Missionaries like Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, and David Livingstone, among thousands of others, were impressed not only by Carey’s example, but by his words “Expect great things; attempt great things.” The history of nineteenth-century Protestant missions is in many ways an extended commentary on the phrase.

Mark Galli and Ted Olsen, “Introduction,” (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 244–246.

Jesus' impact on history

Josh Hunt — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 17:15:02 GMT

Yale historian Jaroslav Pelikan wrote, “Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western Culture for almost twenty centuries. If it were possible, with some sort of super magnet, to pull up out of the history every scrap of metal bearing at least a trace of his name, how much would be left?

We live in a world where Jesus’ impact is immense even if his name goes unmentioned. In some ways, our biggest challenge in gauging his influence is that we take for granted the ways in which our world has been shaped by him. G. K. Chesterton said that if you want to gauge the impact of his life, “The next best thing to being really inside Christendom is to be really outside it.”

Children would be thought of differently because of Jesus. Historian O. M. Bakke wrote a study called When Children Became People: The Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity, in which he noted that in the ancient world, children usually didn’t get named until the eighth day or so. Up until then there was a chance that the infant would be killed or left to die of exposure—particularly if it was deformed or of the unpreferred gender. This custom changed because of a group of people who remembered that they were followers of a man who said, “Let the little children come to me.”

Jesus never married. But his treatment of women led to the formation of a community that was so congenial to women that they would join it in record numbers. In fact, the church was disparaged by its opponents for precisely that reason. Jesus’ teachings about sexuality would lead to the dissolution of a sexual double standard that was actually encoded in Roman law.

Jesus never wrote a book. Yet his call to love God with all one’s mind would lead to a community with such a reverence for learning that when the classical world was destroyed in what are sometimes called the Dark Ages, that little community would preserve what was left of its learning. In time, the movement he started would give rise to libraries and then guilds of learning. Eventually Oxford and Cambridge and Harvard and Yale and virtually the entire Western system of education and scholarship would arise because of his followers. The insistence on universal literacy would grow out of an understanding that this Jesus, who was himself a teacher who highly praised truth, told his followers to enable every person in the world to learn.

He never held an office or led an army. He said that his kingdom was “not from this world.” He was on the wrong side of the law at the beginning of his life and at its end. And yet the movement he started would eventually mean the end of emperor worship, be cited in documents like the Magna Carta, begin a tradition of common law and limited government, and undermine the power of the state rather than reinforce it as other religions in the empire had done. It is because of his movement that language such as “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” entered history.

The Roman Empire into which Jesus was born could be splendid but also cruel, especially for the malformed and diseased and enslaved. This one teacher had said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these …, you did for me.” An idea slowly emerged that the suffering of every single individual human being matters and that those who are able to help ought to do so. Hospitals and relief efforts of all kinds emerged from this movement; even today they often carry names that remind us of him and his teachings. — John Ortberg, Who Is This Man? The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012).

The Matthew Party

Josh Hunt — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 19:46:50 GMT

WHEN THE APOSTLE MATTHEW began to follow Christ, he was so enthusiastic he threw a big party, invited all his friends, and celebrated. Jesus and all the apostles attended and apparently had a great time (see Matthew 9:10). He was criticized for attending, eating, drinking—and with sinners! How scandalous! This was a great celebration that Matthew threw in honor of his newfound faith in the Messiah Jesus.

WHERE TO GO

• Campuses

• Parks

• Neighborhoods

• Downtown

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Two banner signs (3x6 feet): “It’s Party Time”

Folding tables for serving (depending on how many you will serve)

Coolers (several, depending on how many you will serve)

Drinking cups

Barbeque grills

Burgers and hot dogs to grill

Other food and beverages

Ice

Game centers for children (for example, face painting, balloon animals, penny toss)

Connection cards

My church throws big parties in the spirit of what Matthew did. We fire up several barbeque grills and put on hot dogs and burgers. Multiple small groups provide desserts of all kinds. Kids’ games with prizes abound. Local professional athletes make a showing. We’ve even raffled off a donated car (we gave the tickets away the day before and the day of the event; the winner had to be present to collect the prize).

After a couple of hours, more prayer, conversation, laughs, and hugs have happened than anyone can count. The neighborhood feels touched and invested in. Group members are invited into neighborhood homes. We’ve had close to a thousand guests show up to one of these bashes. Not only are the people of the neighborhood encouraged, loved, and prayed for, but also the members of the multiple small groups who sponsor it are built up by seeing their combined energies make a big impression.

Steve Sjogren, 101 Ways to Reach Your Community (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2014).

Pack your coffin

Josh Hunt — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 16:46:26 GMT

A century ago, a band of brave souls became known as one-way missionaries. They purchased single tickets to the mission field without the return half. And instead of suitcases, they packed their few earthly belongings into coffins. As they sailed out of port, they waved good-bye to everyone they loved, everything they knew. They knew they’d never return home.

A. W. Milne was one of those missionaries. He set sail for the New Hebrides in the South Pacific, knowing full well that the headhunters who lived there had martyred every missionary before him. Milne did not fear for his life, because he had already died to himself. His coffin was packed. For thirty-five years, he lived among that tribe and loved them. When he died, tribe members buried him in the middle of their village and inscribed this epitaph on his tombstone:

When he came there was no light.

When he left there was no darkness.

When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things? That faithfulness is holding the fort? That playing it safe is safe? That there is any greater privilege than sacrifice? That radical is anything but normal?

Jesus didn’t die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous.

Faithfulness is not holding the fort. It’s storming the gates of hell.

The will of God is not an insurance plan. It’s a daring plan.

The complete surrender of your life to the cause of Christ isn’t radical. It’s normal.

It’s time to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.

It’s time to go all in and all out for the All in All.

Pack your coffin!

Mark Batterson, All in: You Are One Decision Away from a Totally Different Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013).

How to demolish strongholds

Josh Hunt — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 18:40:35 GMT

How can we “demolish” those things that once blew us away? With Christ living out His very life through ours, that’s how. By His power we can give ourselves away again and again and again. And we won’t fear the outcome. We won’t even feel slighted when we don’t get the same treatment in return.

Servants, remember, don’t “keep score.” Dale Galloway tells a story in Dream a New Dream that beautifully illustrates this point.

Little Chad was a shy, quiet young fellow. One day he came home and told his mother, he’d like to make a valentine for everyone in his class. Her heart sank. She thought, “I wish he wouldn’t do that!” because she had watched the children when they walked home from school. Her Chad was always behind them. They laughed and hung on to each other and talked to each other. But Chad was never included. Nevertheless, she decided she would go along with her son. So she purchased the paper and glue and crayons. For three whole weeks, night after night, Chad painstakingly made thirty-five valentines.

Valentine’s Day dawned, and Chad was beside himself with excitement! He carefully stacked them up, put them in a bag, and bolted out the door. His mom decided to bake him his favorite cookies and serve them up warm and nice with a cool glass of milk when he came home from school. She just knew he would be disappointed . . . maybe that would ease the pain a little. It hurt her to think that he wouldn’t get many valentines—maybe none at all.

That afternoon she had the cookies and milk on the table. When she heard the children outside she looked out the window. Sure enough here they came, laughing and having the best time. And, as always, there was Chad in the rear. He walked a little faster than usual. She fully expected him to burst into tears as soon as he got inside. His arms were empty, she noticed, and when the door opened she choked back the tears.

“Mommy has some warm cookies and milk for you.”

But he hardly heard her words. He just marched right on by, his face aglow, and all he could say was:

“Not a one . . . not a one.”

Her heart sank.

And then he added, “I didn’t forget a one, not a single one!”5 So it is when God is in control of the servant’s mind. We realize as never before that life’s greatest joy is to give His love away

Charles R. Swindoll, Improving Your Serve (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004).

The Navigators Word Hand Illustration

Josh Hunt — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 20:26:08 GMT

The "Word Hand" shows us the five methods of "getting a grip" on the Bible:

Hearing the Word taught by pastors and Bible teachers.

Reading the Bible to gain an overall picture of God’s Word.

Studying the Scriptures to make personal discoveries of God’s truths.

Memorizing God’s Word to help guard against sin and make the Word readily available for witnessing or helping others.

Meditating on God’s Word—thinking of its meaning and application to our lives.

You can use the hand illustration to explain to a new Christian how to absorb God’s Word into his life.

1. After explaining what each of the fingers symbolizes, try to hold a Bible using only your little finger ("Hearing"). Point out that it’s difficult to get a good grip on the Bible only by hearing others teach from it.

2. Add the "Read" finger and show how it helps to stabilize your grasp of the Bible. Ask the other person to take the Bible away from you—he should be able to do it easily.

3. Add the remaining fingers one at a time, commenting about how each additional finger ("Study" and "Memorize") provides a firmer grasp on God’s Word. With each step, have the person snatch the Bible from your hand.

4. Finally, grip the Bible with all four fingers and the thumb. Show how adding "Meditation" significantly strengthens your grip on the Bible—and makes it very difficult for anyone to take the Scriptures away from you.

Discipleship Journal, Issue 51 (May/June 1989) (NavPress, 1989).

What shocked the world about the early church

Josh Hunt — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 17:53:03 GMT

Back to cranky old Emperor Julian. Remember that one of his pet peeves about the Christians was their practice of a surprising form of hospitality. He complained to his officials that one of the Christians’ methods for “perverting” the empire was their so-called love-feast, or service of tables. He appeared to be uncertain of the name of their gathering because, he said, “they have many ways of carrying it out and hence call it by many names.”

So what was he referring to exactly? And how many different ways were there of carrying it out? Well, to begin with, it is doubtful that he was referring exclusively to the Eucharist or the practice of the Lord’s Supper, although this was probably part of the original Christian love-feasts. We know the Corinthians were practicing a communal meal as part of their weekly habit because Paul rebukes them for conducting it so poorly in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. More on that later. In any case, it seems that the early Christians must have focused so much of their lifestyle and ministry around the table that outside observers like Julian were confused as to the exact nature of any given meal.

Around AD 112 Pliny the Younger, the Roman governor of Bithynia-Pontus (now in modern Turkey), wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan to ask for counsel on dealing with the church. He reported that the Christians would meet “on a fixed day” in the early morning to “sing responsively to Christ, as to a god.” Later in the same day they would “assemble again to partake of food —but ordinary and innocent food.”[10]

In other documents of the time, there appear various references to the separation of the Eucharist from the love feast, as though they were seen as two very distinct gatherings. This might be why Emperor Julian had trouble keeping track. In any case, a rhythm eventually developed where it was standard practice for the early Christians to celebrate the Eucharist in the morning and the love-feast in the evening.

My point is that eating has been a central Christian practice since the beginning of our movement. And not only eating sacramentally, as in the Eucharist, but eating missionally as a way to express love to all. More than that, eating with others can be perceived as a profoundly theological practice. It mirrors the character of the Triune God. As Janice Price of the Church of England World Mission Panel says,

Hospitality, as the mutual indwelling one with another, becomes the modus operandi of mission as those in common participation in the life and mission of God meet and receive from each other. . . . Hospitality is an attitude of the heart which is about openness to the other. . . . This mirrors the hospitality of the Trinity as God chooses to open himself to the other through the Incarnation and to subject himself to the created order. . . . It is about a generous acknowledgement and meeting of common humanity as well as meeting the needs of humanity, emotional, spiritual and physical, with generosity. As such it mirrors the activity of God towards creation.[11]

I want you to foster the habit of eating with three people every week. But I want you to know that this isn’t merely good missional strategy. It is a way to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

English pastor and author Tim Chester once posed the question, “How would you complete the following sentence: ‘The Son of Man came . . .’?” There are three ways that the New Testament completes that sentence; while the first two are well known (and might have come to your mind when you read Chester’s question), the third is surprising:

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, ESV).
“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10, ESV).
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking” (Luke 7:34).

While the first two oft-quoted verses tell us about Jesus’ purpose in coming —to serve, to give his life as a ransom, to seek and save the lost —the third describes his method. How did Jesus come? He came eating and drinking.

Note that in these verses Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man.” He uses various titles to describe himself in the Gospels, but this is one of the more dramatic. “Son of Man” comes from the apocalyptic book of Daniel and is used to describe the one who would come before God to receive authority over the nations (see Daniel 7). That Jesus attributes this apocalyptic (and somewhat esoteric) title to himself might at first sound spectacular, but he then goes on to describe this Son of Man not coming in glory on the clouds of heaven, accompanied by an army of angels, but simply eating and drinking.

It’s always interested me that the one thing Jesus actually told us to do every time we meet together was to eat. It’s not lost on me that his detractors regularly accused him of being a drunkard and a glutton (see Luke 7:34). Jesus was neither of those things, but obviously his preparedness to eat and drink with sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes gave his enemies plenty of ammunition. So, when he comes to give his first followers something to do to remember him by, what is it? Remember Luke 22:19: “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’” Yes, the “drunkard” and the “glutton” instructed his followers to eat and drink in remembrance of him. It’s beautifully subversive.

Michael Frost, Surprise the World: The Five Habits of Highly Missional People (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2016).

See our Bible Study here.

When God wants to thrill a man

Josh Hunt — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 16:47:53 GMT

GOD IN THE STORM

When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man,
And skill a man;
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part,
When he yearns with all his heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch his methods, watch his ways —

How he ruthlessly perfects
Whom he royally elects.
How he hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows, converts him
Into trial shapes of clay
Which only God understands.

While his tortured heart is crying,
And he lifts beseeching hands.
How he bends but never breaks
When his good he undertakes.

How he uses
Whom he chooses,
And with every purposes, fuses him,
By every act, induces him
To try his splendor out.
God knows what he’s about.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN — Marc Maillefer and R. Kent Hughes, God in the Storm (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005).

The principle of replacement

Josh Hunt — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 19:40:37 GMT

Steve Reynolds weighed a hundred pounds before he started grade school. He ate a bowl of ice cream every night of his life until he was forty eight years old. Through the principle of replacement, he lost 100 pounds. He has written an excellent book on the subject which includes a program for churches to use that includes a “Biggest Loser” style contest. Fox news dubbed him the “Anti-fat pastor.” What is his secret formula for weight loss?

Replace a bagel with a health bar
Replace ice cream with non-fat yogurt
Replace a hamburger and fries with a chicken salad
Replace mayonnaise with mustard
Replace beef with fish and chicken
Replace white bread with wheat bread

Steve doesn’t teach a complicated diet. His is a common sense approach that has helped thousands of people lose weight. It comes down to habits. It comes down to a thousand little decisions. It comes down to the principle of replacement—of replacing a healthy food for an unhealthy one. Most of us know how to lose weight. The formula is actually pretty simple: eat fewer calories and exercise more. Through the principle of replacement, eating fewer calories can become a reality. It can become a habit. Through the principle of replacement, exercising more can become a habit in your day-to-day life.

The principle of replacement doesn’t just apply to eating and exercise. James Macdonald says:

None of us can overcome evil by simply renouncing it. Rather, we must substitute that which was evil and replace it with that which is good. Sinful habits cannot be broken without replacing them with righteous ones. Try this simple experiment: Think of the number eight. Have you visualized it? If yes, then use your willpower to stop thinking about the number eight right now.

Were you able to do it? Of course not. Can you, by sheer willpower, stop thinking about the number eight? By no means. Trying to push it out of your mind actually causes you to focus your attention on it.

Although we can’t stop thinking about that number by sheer resistance, we can push it out of our minds quite easily. Here’s how: Think about a few bits of information you remember about your mother while growing up. Reminisce about your place in the family, whether you are still connected with them or disconnected. Concentrate on this new information, and you’ll stop thinking of the number eight.19

It is not hard to imagine a number of areas where the principle of replacement might apply. Here are a few:

Replace a meal with a meal replacement shake.
Replace nicotine for cigarettes with nicotine gum or a nicotine patch. People who do so are two or three times as likely to kick the habit.
Replace one thirty-minute sit-com with thirty-minutes of reading.
Replace French fries with a side-salad.
Replace complaining with gratefulness.

Josh Hunt, Break a Habit / Make a Habit (Josh Hunt, 2013).

Man of sorrows

Josh Hunt — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 19:25:05 GMT

Sorrow can be like a stab in the back—painful and alarming. Sorrow is not easy to swallow when it is sudden, like an unexpected car accident. Or it can tarry like a terminal disease. Sorrow saps hope from your heart and courage from your countenance. It is a drain on the disposition in the mightiest of men. You cannot hide sorrow, for it shows in your face and flows through your words. Like an uninvited guest, sorrow may stay longer than you intended and become a nuisance that never seems to go away. Sorrow makes a heart sad, it weighs on the mind, and it steals away most of your motivation.

Sorrow comes with death. When you lose someone you love dearly, sorrow is a natural and healing outcome. In most cases, you must first tread through the sand of sorrow before you can arrive at the sea of gladness. It is a process through which your Savior accompanies you, for He understands. He was a man of sorrow who was acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). Sorrow, for your Savior, is not a foreign language. He is fluent, and has survived its purging process. Sorrow is not static, for it moves you to seek out what matters most. When sorrow arrives at the doorstep of your life, your Savior’s presence becomes more precious than ever before. Sorrow may come in the form of a teenager who chooses not to talk anymore. This breaks your heart. However, this too shall pass. A teen’s transition into young adulthood is hardest for them. Their internal conflict of confidence and emerging emotions is enough to cause anyone to clam up. They want to be on their own, so they think they don’t need their parents anymore. This semi-rebellious rejection is a magnet for sorrow because it hurts to not be needed anymore.

But Jesus is the Savior of your sorrows. His grace is like a miracle-working detergent that removes sorrow’s deepest stains. He can erase sorrows that have etched themselves into your emotions. He can extract sorrows that have embedded themselves into the archives of your attitude. He can lift sorrows that have burdened your heart and have weighed down your actions to the point of inertia. Therefore, allow His love to squeeze the sorrow from your weeping heart as if from a water-soaked towel. He can wring the sorrow out that has disabled your discipleship. It is okay to be sorrowful, but it is not okay to remain sorrowful. Jesus can remove your sorrow by His comfort or His cleansing. Your removal of sorrow may be contingent on your confession and repentance of sin. Whatever the source of your transgression, give it over to the Lord. Sorrow seeps out of a heart that often does business with the Almighty. Your sorrow may be the natural outcome of grief or regret. But now is the time for Christ to bring closure and heal your heart. Sorrow need not keep you sad indefinitely, for it is a pass-through to His peace. Furthermore, do not bear your burden alone. Allow your community of Christians to love you through this time of trial. Joy is with you in Jesus and His followers.

Sorrow is for a season, but joy and peace are for an eternity. Tomorrow’s hope deletes today’s sorrow.

Boyd Bailey, Seeking Daily the Heart of God (Atlanta: Wisdom Hunters, 2011).

What Does Hesed Mean?

Josh Hunt — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 20:28:54 GMT

The Greek word agape is one of the most important words in the New Testament. It means “unconditional love”—the no-strings-attached love with which God loves us. Agape’s Hebrew parallel in the Old Testament, hesed, is less familiar but no less important. It means “loyal love” and describes God’s everlasting love for His people, Israel (and Israel’s spiritual descendants, the church).

Loyalty is almost a lost value in today’s world. Everything seems to be for sale, including friendship, affection, and devotion—the things that make up loyalty. Even Jesus’ disciples found themselves lacking in loyalty on the day Jesus was crucified—all the disciples except one, that is. The disciple named John seems to have had a devotion to Jesus that the others lacked prior to His resurrection. John was the only one of the original band of disciples who stood at the foot of the cross in Jesus’ final hours. John was loyal to the very end. Every Christian should ask himself, “Would I have been there with John? Will I be loyal to Jesus regardless of the price?”

The deeper our understanding of God’s agape, the deeper the manifestation of our hesed.

David Jeremiah, David Jeremiah Morning and Evening Devotions: Holy Moments in the Presence of God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2017).

It is not the critic who counts...

Josh Hunt — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 16:27:05 GMT

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. — Teddy Roosevelt

"Coincidences" in Esther

Josh Hunt — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 17:04:03 GMT

Here are some of those “coincidences” or “stuff” Dever says “just seems to happen” in Esther:

Esther just happens to be Jewish, and she just happens to be beautiful.
Esther just happens to be favored by the king.
Mordecai just happens to overhear the plot against the king’s life.
A report of this just happens to be written in the king’s chronicles.
Haman just happens to notice that Mordecai does not kneel down before him, and he just happens to find out that Mordecai is a Jew.
When Haman plots his revenge, the dice just happen to indicate that the date for exacting revenge is put off for almost a year! (What does Prov 16:33 say? “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”)
Esther just happens to get the king’s approval to speak, but then she happens to put off her request for another day.
Her deferral just happens to send Haman out by Mordecai one more time, …
… which just happens to cause him to recount it to his friends.
They, in turn, just happen to encourage him to build a scaffold immediately!
So Haman just happens to be excited to approach the king early the next morning.
It just so happens that the previous night, the mighty king could not command a moment’s sleep, …
… and he just happened to have had a book brought to him that recounted Mordecai’s deed.
He then happened to ask whether Mordecai had been rewarded, to which his attendants happened to know the answer. Simply consider for a moment the fact that Mordecai happened not to have been rewarded for having saved the king’s life. How unusual this must have been! Someone who saved the king’s life never rewarded? I wonder if Mordecai ever chafed under that: “Doesn’t he realize what I did for him?” Well, it all just happened.
Haman happens to approach the king just when the king is wondering how Mordecai should be honored.
Later on the king happens to return to the queen just when Haman happens to be pleading with Esther in a way that can be misconstrued.
The gallows Haman built for Mordecai just happens to be ready when King Xerxes wants to hang Haman (Dever, The Message of the Old Testament, 455–56; emphasis original).

All of these “coincidences” show that the events in Esther are not determined by chance but by control, not by luck but by the Lord. To see it any other way is dangerous. — Landon Dowden, Exalting Jesus in Esther (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2019).

Bible Study on Esther

Procrastination

Josh Hunt — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 15:06:02 GMT

Once upon a time, the devil decided to destroy the world. He called in all his little devils to make the plans. Anger came first and asked to be allowed to do the job by setting brother against brother. He would make people angry with one another, and they would destroy themselves. Then Lust came and offered to go. He would defile minds, turn people into beasts by causing love to disappear. Next, Greed spoke and offered to destroy humankind with the most destructive of passions: uncontrolled desires. Gluttony and Drunkenness offered to disease bodies and minds and then destroy them. Idleness, Hatred, and Envy each claimed that they could do the job.

The devil was not satisfied with any one of them, but then the last assistant came. He said, “I will talk with people persuasively in terms of all that God wants them to be. I will tell them how fine their plans are to be honest, clean, and brave. I will encourage them in the good purposes of life!” The devil was aghast at such talk. However, the assistant continued: “But I will tell them there is no hurry. They can do all of these things tomorrow. I will advise them to wait until conditions become more favorable before they start!” The devil replied, “You are the one who shall go to earth to destroy humankind!” The assistant’s name was Procrastination.

Failure’s most successful strategy is procrastination. Now is the best time to be alive and productive. If you want to make an easy job seem difficult, just keep putting off doing it.

John Mason, Believe You Can--the Power of a Positive Attitude (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2010).

The significance of the third day

Josh Hunt — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 13:15:39 GMT

This is a “three-day story.” The first day is a very dark day. It looks as if the God of Israel is defeated and the glory is gone. In fact, there is a very poignant episode. After they lose the battle and the ark is captured and the old priest Eli dies, his daughter, the old new atheist, names her son Ichabod. “The whole thing is a pipe dream. Abraham was deluded. Moses was just wandering around in the wilderness. There is no God, no Yahweh. No glory. Life doesn’t mean anything. You’re born. You die. That’s it. Our son may as well know that as soon as he’s grown up. Ichabod. Glory’s gone.” That’s the first day. Heaven is silent. No hope. No glory. No one can understand why. Some days are like that.

Then there is the second day, a day of hidden combat. It is shrouded in mystery. It is the day Dagon falls down but gets propped back up. It is a day of ambiguity and anxiety. Some days are like that.

But this is a third-day story. On the third day, the story takes a 180-degree turn. The idol is overturned. The time of captivity is over. God is going to come home to his people because the third day is God’s day. That’s the day of hope. He’s the “third-day God.” This part of the story gets a little earthy — I would apologize for it, but it comes out of the text. God sent a plague that involved mice.

What the Philistines are afflicted with is hard to translate: The New International Version has “tumors,” kind of a polite choice. The Modern Language Bible is a little more literal: “The LORD’s hand lay heavy on the Ashdodites. He punished them with hemorrhoids, both at Ashdod and in its suburbs” (1 Samuel 5:6). The King James Version is just slightly more delicate: “they had hemorrhoids in their secret parts” (5:9; that’s where they usually go). The obvious question is, why would this detail make it into the Bible? What got into whoever was writing this material?

This detail is a very deliberate part of the story — here’s why. These were the Philistines — Israel’s enemies. There were very powerful; they had Iron Age technology. The writer wants the readers to know: Don’t be afraid of your enemies. Don’t envy them. Don’t try to be like them.

If for a while it looked like the Philistines were going to come out on top, don’t be deceived. That was first-day stuff. Third day was coming.

The writer wants us to know that in the presence of God’s judgment, the Philistines were embarrassingly human. All their iron swords, spears, and shields did them no good, because what they really needed was inflatable cushions to sit on, and while the Iron Age had arrived, the Inflatable Cushion Age was still centuries away.

One of the ways you can divide up Bible stories is by their time frame. One kind of story is the forty-day story. These are usually “wait-around-and-learn-patience” stories. Noah’s family was in the ark for forty days and nights of rain; the Israelites hung around Mount Sinai forty days waiting for the Ten Commandments; Elijah spent forty days in the wilderness hiding out from Jezebel. Jesus began his ministry by spending forty days in the wilderness; after the resurrection he and the disciples spent another forty days waiting for his ascension and then the coming of the Holy Spirit. The focus of these stories is on the need for people to be faithful, to persevere. Forty-day stories are Crock-Pot stories.

But there is another kind of story: the three-day story. These are stories about crisis and urgency — microwave stories. The focus here is not on the need for a human response at all. Here the pressure is so crushing that God must show up to rescue — or it’s curtains. Three-day stories are stories of desperate need and anticipation and hope hanging by a thread.

When a hero named Joseph was in prison, he said to Pharaoh’s cupbearer, “Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position” (Genesis 40:13).

When Israel was trapped in slavery, Moses asked Pharaoh, “Let us take a three-day journey into the desert” (Exodus 5:3).

When the Israelites arrive at Sinai, God said, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. . . . And be ready the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people” (Exodus 19:10 – 11).

When Israel was afraid to go into the Promised Land, God said to Israel, “Be strong and courageous. . . . Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own” (Joshua 1:6, 11).

When Israel was threatened with genocide, Queen Esther said that she would fast for three days then go to the king to seek deliverance for her people.

Want to take a guess on how long Jonah was in the belly of the big fish? Yep, he was in there three days before he was released. His prayer the whole time he was in that big fish was, “God, just let me go out the way I came in.” At least I think that’s probably what his prayer was.

The third day was used so frequently in this way that it became kind of a technical expression meaning a time to wait for deliverance. “Right now, things are messed up. Right now, hope is being crushed. Right now, hearts are disappointed. But a better day is coming.”

In the book of Hosea, the prophet says it like this: “Come, let us return to the LORD. . . . After two days, he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence” (Hosea 6:1 – 2).

John Ortberg, Know Doubt: Embracing Uncertainty in Your Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014).

Success God's Way

Josh Hunt — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 14:56:47 GMT

Joseph had to pursue God’s definition of success even when everything around him appeared to be headed for failure. Joseph was not being treated as number one when his father sent him to check on his brothers and the flocks in Shechem. Joseph was his father’s errand boy at that point—a messenger, or in our terms today, a guy in the mailroom. He was at the bottom rung on the ladder, asked to do a task that any servant could have done for Jacob.

Was Joseph a success in his search for his brothers? Yes, but not entirely by his own ability. He found his brothers with a little help from a man he stopped to ask along the way.

Was Joseph a success when his brothers responded to his arrival by throwing him into a pit, intending to leave him for dead, and then later deciding to sell him as a slave to a passing band of Midianite traders? Yes. On what basis was he a success? He continued to trust God and to live as a person of honor and integrity. How do we know that was his response? Because the Bible says he served Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, in such an honorable way that Potiphar knew “the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man” (Gen. 39:2). Potiphar took as a sign of Joseph’s success that the Lord made “all he did to prosper in his hand” (Gen. 39:3).

Was Joseph a success when Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce him and Joseph refused her offers and ran from her presence, leaving his garment behind—an act that resulted in his being falsely accused and sent to a place where the king’s prisoners were confined? Yes, Joseph was still a success. How do we know? Because Joseph continued to obey God in the prison, and the Lord “showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison” (Gen. 39:21). Joseph was put in charge of all the prisoners and had great authority in that prison “because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper” (Gen. 39:23).

Was Joseph a success when he interpreted the two dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker? Yes. His interpretations of the dreams were right on target.

Was Joseph a success even though the butler forgot his promise to tell Pharaoh about Joseph for two long years? Yes. Joseph continued to trust God, and when the time came for Joseph to interpret Pharaoh’s strange dream, he was ready. The Lord revealed to him the meaning of the dream, and in a day, Joseph went from being a prisoner to being the number–two man in Egypt. Pharaoh said to Joseph,

Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you … See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. (Gen. 41:39–41)

Certainly Joseph may not have felt successful when he was on a journey into slavery in Egypt or when he was cast into Pharaoh’s prison. But in God’s eyes, Joseph had not failed, and God’s purposes for him were continuing to unfold. Later, when Joseph had an opportunity to provide again for his father and brothers and their families in a time of severe famine, Joseph concluded,

God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. (Gen. 45:7–8)

Joseph knew that the Lord had planned and provided for his success.

What is the general success pattern that we see in Joseph’s life? It is a pattern of vision followed by years of faithful preparation, trust, and obedience resulting in years of service, authority, and reward.

We see this pattern in the lives of a number of Christian leaders through the centuries. Many men and women can say, “I had a dream when I was a child,” or “God placed this on my heart when I was just a young teenager,” or “I felt the call of God on my life when I was just a youngster.” These same men and women spent years in training, studying, and preparing themselves, and perhaps even years of work and ministry—sometimes in very small churches, in out–of–the–way mission stations, in rural areas, in menial tasks for a ministry organization. And then the time came when God seemed to say, “You’re ready now. I am moving you into the limelight. I am bringing you to the forefront. Now is the hour for which you have been prepared.

Charles F. Stanley, Success God’s Way (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 2000).

Our God Reigns

Josh Hunt — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 21:31:41 GMT

God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. Psalm 47:8

God reigns over the entire earth. He is not just the God of the east or the God of the west. He is the God of the north, south, east and west. The long arm of the Lord reigns over everyone. The sun never sets on the omnipresent shadow of our Savior Jesus. Indeed, He is the greatest in power, high and lofty in dominion, extremely eminent in wisdom and elevated in excellence of glory. Our God reigns. Our God reigns. He reigns in war. He reigns in peace. He reigns in crisis. He reigns in calm. He reigns in economic catastrophe. He reigns in economic prosperity. Our God reigns. He reigns over evil. He reigns over good. He reigns over nations. He reigns over individuals. Our God reigns.

Moreover, He reigns from His holy throne. His is not a throne soiled with corruption and self-serving scenarios. His throne is full of grace and truth. His throne is marked and defined by holiness. It is a throne that has never been stained with sin, corrupted by cover up or defiled by injustice. God is seated on His holy throne. He never sits dismayed or in a dilemma. God does not ring His hands in worry. He sits in serenity for He knows His own power, and He sees that His purposes will not miscarry. He sits on a throne that dispenses truth and wisdom. Therefore, approach His holy throne boldly but reverently.

Furthermore, God reigns over the human heart. It is here that we can submit to or spurn the Almighty’s authority. We are wise to jettison the latter. It is in submission to our reigning King Jesus that we come to know His will for our lives. Obedience leads to opportunity. Because our God reigns, He can be trusted. His rules are for our good pleasure. Christ is not a cosmic killjoy. His rules are inviting when we are in right relationship with our reigning King. It is when we resist Him that we foolishly push back from His gracious guidelines. Therefore, love Him and you will love to follow His statutes. Indeed, our God reigns in love and holiness. It is easy to follow an unconditional lover. He reigns lovingly.

Therefore, we have reason to celebrate Christ’s reign. His kingship brings praise to our lips. Our Lord reigns. Hallelujah! We have no real reason to worry and to stress out because our God reigns. We can put the kibosh on our complaining and murmuring because our God reigns. We can rest in a peaceful sleep at night, and not toss and turn in distrust because our God reigns. We can let go of control and not be controlled because our God reigns. We can give Him our grief, sorrow, and sin because our God reigns.

Our God reigns for the purpose of His glory and His glory alone. It is all about Him and His eternal aspirations. Our God reigns for righteousness sake. Our God reigns for the sake of the gospel. Live like He reigns. Live free and by faith. Tell all whom you have earned the right to tell. Your God reigns. Validate your words with your life of faith and faithfulness. Your God reigns. He reigns now and for evermore. Amen and amen!

Boyd Bailey, Seeking God in the Psalms (Atlanta: Wisdom Hunters, 2013).

Fellowship of the unashamed

Josh Hunt — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 17:23:56 GMT

Embracing the cross and embracing Jesus are inseparable realties. A few verses later in Luke, Jesus comments on this connection:

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:26 NKJV)

I came across the following declaration several years ago and am always challenged when I read it. Read it slowly and see how your life compares:

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed, I have the Holy Spirit power, the die has been cast, I have stepped over the line, the decision has been made: I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I do not have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean in His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I won’t give up, shut up, let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up for the cause of Jesus Christ.

I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till everyone knows, work till He stops me, and when He comes for His own, He will have no trouble recognizing me because my banner will have been clear.

These words were found in the possession of a young African after he was martyred for his faith in Zimbabwe.10 He denied himself, took up his cross and fully followed Jesus.

Would you be willing to die for Jesus Christ? Obviously, you would never really die for Jesus unless you are unashamedly speaking up for Jesus right now.

Dave Earley, “Embracing the Cross: Declaration,” in Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013).

Dallas Willard on Hell

Josh Hunt — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 16:12:54 GMT

THUS NO ONE CHOOSES in the abstract to go to hell or even to be the kind of person who belongs there. But their orientation toward self leads them to become the kind of person for whom away-from-God is the only place for which they are suited. It is a place they would, in the end, choose for themselves, rather than come to humble themselves before God and accept who he is. Whether or not God’s will is infinitely flexible, the human will is not. There are limits beyond which it cannot bend back, cannot turn or repent.

One should seriously inquire if to live in a world permeated with God and the knowledge of God is something they themselves truly desire. If not, they can be assured that God will excuse them from his presence. They will find their place in the “outer darkness” of which Jesus spoke. But the fundamental fact about them will not be that they are there, but that they have become people so locked into their own self-worship and denial of God that they cannot want God.

Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2002), 57.

The Need for Pre-Evangelism in a Postmodern World

Josh Hunt — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 14:20:29 GMT

The Need to Overhaul Our Evangelism Paradigms

Something is missing today in our approach to evangelism. Methods and tools used in the sixties and seventies don’t have the impact they once did. Our models for evangelism need an overhaul. While proclaiming the Gospel may be relatively simple, getting to that proclamation is not. Worse yet, we now live at a time when people may think we are evil for believing there is only one way to heaven. As a result, it’s imperative that we modify our existing models to include other elements necessary for success. Such a paradigm shift is needed for at least three reasons.

Many People Are Less Interested in a Simple Presentation of the Gospel

First, there is less and less interest in the Gospel message itself. Consequently, Christians today find their traditional approaches to evangelism somewhat limiting. It was common 30 to 40 years ago to use a simple tract to share the Gospel with others, especially on college campuses. Many baby boomers were won to Christ back in their youth because someone shared the Gospel with them in this way. Today it is much more difficult to reach people by just sharing a simple four-point Gospel presentation. This is true of people in the East or West.

The director for a large Christian ministry on a campus in the US once confessed to me (David), “Only on a good day do I help someone take a step closer to Christ.” Expectations have changed, even among college workers in the last 30 years. A former seminary student of mine in Singapore suggested that something is missing in our approach to reaching students in the East. She said, “As a campus ministry staff person, I am trained in using a simple Gospel presentation and some apologetic skills, but I have problems trying to integrate them during evangelism. When people indicate that they are not interested, I can only ask them for the reason and then invite them for an evangelistic Bible study or share my personal testimony.” She felt limited in her ability to reach students with the training she had received in evangelism, especially with those who were not yet ready to hear about Christ.

A former country evangelism director for a large college ministry in Asia confessed how the training we gave her and her staff have helped her to be successful, now that she is back in the workplace. After using some traditional approaches in witnessing to her colleagues and seeing some resistance, she remembered what she had learned and, as a result, saw greater spiritual openness. “The more I thought about what happened,” she said to us, “the more I realized that in today’s generation, people would generally not give Christians a full uninterrupted ten minutes to share the Gospel with them. It is more likely that we share the Gospel through injecting it into normal conversations of everyday life.”

We are not advocating that we get rid of all the evangelistic tools we’ve used in the past. God can and does use these tools with those who have some receptivity to the Gospel. What is needed today, however, is a tool that can supplement what we already know about evangelism, especially when presenting the Gospel to those who are indifferent, skeptical, or even hostile to the claims of Christ. Not everyone is at the same point in their openness to the Gospel, and we need to use different approaches depending on someone’s spiritual openness.

The World We Live in Has Changed

The second reason we need to develop a new model of evangelism is that the world we live in has changed in ways that often create barriers to the Gospel. The world today can be characterized by a rejection of moral absolutes, a deep religious skepticism, and an indifference or outright rejection of objective truth.

The Rejection of Moral Absolutes. Sheryl Crow’s song, “Every Day Is a Winding Road,” sums up the situation well in these words: “These are the days that anything goes.”1 We live in a different world than our parents did, a different world with a different and relativistic value system. Unfortunately, our young people have discarded many of the moral values that make up the fabric of our society. This rejection of moral beliefs has caused some major repercussions to our effectiveness in evangelism.

Cultural anthropologist Gene Veith says, “It is hard to proclaim the forgiveness of sins to people who believe that, since morality is relative, they have no sins to forgive … It is not the lunatic fringe rejecting the very concept of (absolute) truth, but two-thirds of the American people.”2 Another has said, “As we approach the twenty-first century, it does not take a rocket scientist to recognize that our entire culture is in trouble. We are staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, and we can no longer afford to act like it’s loaded with blanks.”3

One of the characters in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s classic novel The Brothers Karamazov contends that if there is no God, everything is permitted. Unfortunately, this pervasive perspective has led to many serious consequences. Newspapers remind us daily of the painful repercussions of a culture teetering toward not only financial bankruptcy but more importantly moral bankruptcy.

It is especially difficult to share Christ with those who have been brought up in an atmosphere of relativism. An increasing number of non-Christians regard our message as irrelevant, judgmental, or no better than any other perspective. As a result, many in our culture are pre-disposed to not even give the message of Christ a hearing. This makes our task in evangelism more difficult than ever. Those who have been inoculated against the very concept of ultimate truth may be indifferent to the “Good News” if they do not realize there is such a thing as “bad news.” Consequently, we must defend the concept of absolute truth as we try to explain more clearly to those we witness to why we believe that Christianity is true and other religions are false.

But it is not just the irreligious we need to worry about today. Even many church people are having a difficult time swallowing the idea that absolute truth exists. More Bible-believing, self-described “evangelical Christians” than ever before now think there are ways to heaven other than Jesus.4 Some who call themselves Christians also have a hard time believing that God’s standard for reconciliation is perfection (Matthew 5:48; James 2:10), a standard impossible for any human to attain. Rather than seeing this as a motivation to embrace the cross of Christ and His atonement for our sins, many will lower God’s standards and try to convince themselves that if their good deeds outweigh their bad, this will create a big enough crack to allow them through the door of heaven.

Skepticism Toward Truth. We also live in a world that is becoming increasingly more skeptical about objective truth, especially religious truth. This skepticism is especially prevalent in the academic community. We must follow the lead of the biblical men of Issachar, “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). Part of understanding the times we live in is to realize that people generally do not take at face value what we say is true, especially if it is religious truth. It is common to believe that something cannot be known to be true unless it can be verified through the scientific method of repeated observations. Furthermore, a great number claim that we can’t come to any conclusion about any religious truth.

This skeptical disposition has led many to question whether we can really know that what was said about Jesus actually happened 2000 years ago. After I gave a student some evidence for Christ’s resurrection, he said, “If I were living at the time of Christ, I could make decisions about who Jesus is, but it’s been 2000 years. So, we cannot really make decisions like that anymore.”

In the last ten years, with the onslaught of books, movies, and documentaries such as The Da Vinci Code, The Gospel of Judas, and The Lost Tomb of Jesus, and with the resurgence of atheism in our culture, skepticism about the history of the Christian faith is at an all-time high. In general, people in the first century did not have the obstacles that we have 2000 years later to believe what the New Testament writers recorded about the life of Christ. Even some non-Christian writers at that time acknowledged that Jesus was a wonder worker.5

The apostles and disciples also did not have to prove the existence of God or the possibility of miracles to their Jewish and god-fearing Greek audiences; most of them already believed in a theistic God. They also believed that something miraculous happened as evidenced by the empty tomb. This was common knowledge of the time.

Nonbelievers nowadays struggle with the question, “Can we know truth at all, even if it does exist?” Some people today deny that we can even know historical truths of recent times, such as the Holocaust, even though there are still people alive who survived Nazi prison camps.6 This overarching skepticism of reality itself in our society has made our task of evangelism more difficult in this new millennium. I remember one day trying to witness to a college student who was trying to convince me he didn’t even exist. So I wasn’t surprised that he had difficulty taking seriously anything the Bible had to say about him or about Jesus.

An Indifference Toward Truth. Our society has not only rejected truth and moral absolutes and developed a deep skepticism, especially regarding religious matters, but it has also developed indifference toward truth in general. The main problem in evangelism today is the “ever-increasing number of people who are simply not interested in hearing about Jesus because they are quite happy with their own views.”7 As a result, some will say, “It’s nice for you that you believe in truth,” or “It’s nice that it works for you, but it doesn’t work for me or mean anything to me. It may certainly be true for you, but not for me.”8

One international student said, “I agree with the point that religion is good for society … but what that religion is is not that important. It’s better to have people believe in something, rather than nothing. After I came to the US, I found that people who believe in God are generally better off than those who believe in nothing. But it has nothing to do with the existence of God. It’s a kind of social psychology.”

These events should be no surprise to those who believe the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 4:3–4, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” This was true in the first century, but it is even truer today. As the moral fabric of our society deteriorates, we will need to do more to supplement our evangelism just to get a hearing.

These are global changes. The sad truth is that the tsunami of postmodernism is sweeping from the West to the East with devastating impact. Today Eastern and Western cultures are looking more and more alike and losing their distinctions in an increasingly pluralistic world.

A former seminary student in the East, who is a college worker at a church in Singapore, sent the following urgent email one day about her difficulties in witnessing to college students.

Many students [in Singapore] don’t think that there is a standard of right and wrong. Rather, they believe that this is up to the individual. This means they do hold a standard of right and wrong themselves, but they feel that each person’s standard of right and wrong differs from the other. Personally, I feel stuck as to how to proceed on with the conversation. It’s like saying that this food is nice for me but may not be nice for you. They relegate the standard of right and wrong to personal preference. I find that I’m shaken. Not in terms of my faith, but in terms of how to answer such questions.

It is clear that our approach needs an overhaul. Is the church ready to respond to these postmodern influences, especially in the way it goes about doing evangelism today?

An Increasing Intolerance Toward Those Who Believe in Absolute Truth

Third, the world’s perspective on those who believe in an absolute truth has also made our task more daunting. Not only do we live in a world characterized by a rejection of moral absolutes, deep skepticism, and an indifference to or rejection of truth, there is also intolerance toward those who claim to know the truth. For us as Christians to claim that Jesus is the only way to God sounds arrogant and intolerant to our non-Christian postmodern friends.9 We are considered arrogant to even proclaim that we know the truth. Worse, it proves that we claim to be better than others or at the very least that we are intolerant of other beliefs.

If you add up all these factors, it is clear that our evangelistic task today is more daunting than ever before. It is also clear that our approach to evangelism in the new millennium needs to be repackaged to be more effective. Specifically, we need to add a new element to more effectively communicate the Gospel to this postmodern generation. This essential element to be added is pre-evangelism, or what we call here conversational pre-evangelism.

David Geisler and Norman Geisler, Conversational Evangelism: How to Listen and Speak so You Can Be Heard (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2014), 19–25.

Conversational Evangelism in a Nutshell

Josh Hunt — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 20:07:44 GMT

Sixth, we should actively seek for opportunities to transition from pre-evangelism to direct evangelism and share the Gospel. Here we can integrate this pre-evangelism model into whatever method we are using to explain the Gospel. Sometimes when transitioning from pre-evangelism to evangelism, it is helpful to ask, “Has anyone ever explained to you the difference between Christianity and all other religions? I can explain the difference using just two words—do versus done.”21 This is a helpful approach because it likely will create some curiosity with those you are speaking to. They may wonder how you can explain the difference using only two words.

All the religions in the world, except for Christianity, say “do this” to get to heaven (or the equivalent). Muslims say, “Your good deeds have to outweigh your bad deeds.” Hindus say, “You have to overcome karma and reincarnations by doing good works.” Buddhists say, “You need to get rid of desire through an eight-fold path.” All the religions of the world say you have to do something.

Christianity, on the other hand, is not about doing something but about what has already been done. The Bible teaches us that there is nothing we can do to earn a relationship with God. No matter how good I am or what I do for God, it will never be enough to earn the right to have a relationship with Him (Ephesians 2:8–9; Titus 3:5). That is why the focus in Christianity is not on do but done. Jesus provided the sacrifice to atone for my sins (Romans 5:8). My responsibility is to accept what God has done for me and allow Christ to come into my life (John 1:12) and change me from the inside out—not in my own power, but in His strength (Philippians 2:13; 4:13).

If the analogy of “Do versus Done” causes your nonbelieving friends to be open to talk about Christ, you can then offer them a more detailed explanation of the Gospel, whether you use a Bible or maybe a tract you’re familiar with. Your pre-evangelism becomes seamlessly and effectively woven into your evangelism and witnessing style.

In order to build a bridge to the Gospel, it is helpful to keep these six steps in mind:

find the right balance in your approach
find common ground
construct a bridge (both head and heart)
memorize an outline
remember the goal
actively seek to transition from pre-evangelism to direct evangelism

By utilizing these six steps over time, you may find your nonbelieving friends making real progress in their spiritual journey to the cross.

Conversational Evangelism in a Nutshell

In brief, Conversational Evangelism involves listening carefully to others, learning their story, and hearing the gaps in their beliefs and then illuminating those gaps by asking questions to help clarify their beliefs and surface uncertainty and expose the weaknesses of their perspective. Then, we want to dig up their history and uncover their underlying barriers to Christ and build a bridge to the Gospel (1 Corinthians 3:6).

We must always begin with hearing conversations. Yet knowing what to do next is more of an art than a science. We may want to ask illuminating questions about the discrepancies we hear or we may next want to dig up their history a little to find out how they came to be on their current path before we ask any questions that help them to surface the truth for themselves. Each situation is different, and one approach may not work as well as another. We need to be sensitive to God’s leading and ask Him for wisdom (James 1:5).

The most important thing to remember about the pre-evangelism process is that it should involve at least four different aspects: hearing, illuminating, uncovering, and building. These correspond to four kinds of roles that we can play in the life of our nonbelieving friends: musician, artist, archaeologist, and builder. Understanding how to integrate these aspects of pre-evangelism into our evangelism training can play an important part in helping us to more effectively reach the skeptics, pluralists, and postmodernists of our day.

May God help us all to understand, like the men of Issachar, the times in which we live and to know what we should do (1 Chronicles 12:32).

David Geisler and Norman Geisler, Conversational Evangelism: How to Listen and Speak so You Can Be Heard (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2014), 150–152.

The key to spiritual growth

Josh Hunt — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:37:00 GMT

No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture. The reasons for this are obvious. In the Bible God tells us about Himself, and especially about Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God. The Bible unfolds the Law of God to us and shows us how we’ve all broken it. There we learn how Christ died as a sinless, willing Substitute for breakers of God’s Law and how we must repent and believe in Him to be right with God. In the Bible we learn the ways and will of the Lord. We find in Scripture how to live in a way that is pleasing to God as well as best and most fulfilling for ourselves. None of this eternally essential information can be found anywhere else except the Bible. Therefore if we would know God and be Godly, we must know the Word of God—intimately.

However, many who yawn with familiarity and nod in agreement to these statements spend no more time with God’s Word in an average day than do those with no Bible at all. My pastoral experience bears witness to the validity of surveys that frequently reveal that great numbers of professing Christians know little more about the Bible than Third-World Christians who possess not even a shred of Scripture.

Some wag remarked that the worst dust storm in history would happen if all church members who were neglecting their Bibles dusted them off simultaneously.

Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), 28.

The Master Plan of Evangelism

Josh Hunt — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 15:48:35 GMT

It all started by Jesus calling a few men to follow him. This revealed immediately the direction his evangelistic strategy would take. His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow. Remarkable as it may seem, Jesus started to gather these men before he ever organized an evangelistic campaign or even preached a sermon in public. Men were to be his method of winning the world to God.

The initial objective of Jesus’ plan was to enlist men who could bear witness to his life and carry on his work after he returned to the Father. John and Andrew were the first to be invited as Jesus left the scene of the great revival of the Baptist at Bethany beyond the Jordan (John 1:35–40). Andrew in turn brought his brother Peter (John 1:41–42). The next day Jesus found Philip on his way to Galilee, and Philip found Nathanael (John 1:43–51). There is no evidence of haste in the selection of these disciples, just determination. James, the brother of John, is not mentioned as one of the group until the four fishermen are recalled several months later by the Sea of Galilee (Mark 1:19; Matt. 4:21). Shortly afterward Matthew is called to follow the Master as Jesus passed through Capernaum (Mark 2:13–14; Matt. 9:9; Luke 5:27–28). The particulars surrounding the call of the other disciples are not recorded in the Gospels, but it is believed that they all occurred in the first year of the Lord’s ministry.1

As one might expect, these early efforts of soul winning had little or no immediate effect upon the religious life of his day, but that did not matter greatly. For as it turned out, these few early converts of the Lord were destined to become the leaders of his church that was to go with the gospel to the whole world, and from the standpoint of his ultimate purpose, the significance of their lives would be felt throughout eternity. That’s the only thing that counts.

Men Willing to Learn

What is more revealing about these men is that at first they do not impress us as being key men. None of them occupied prominent places in the synagogue, nor did any of them belong to the Levitical priesthood. For the most part they were common laboring men, probably having no professional training beyond the rudiments of knowledge necessary for their vocation. Perhaps a few of them came from families of some considerable means, such as the sons of Zebedee, but none of them could have been considered wealthy. They had no academic degrees in the arts and philosophies of their day. Like their Master, their formal education likely consisted only of the synagogue schools. Most of them were raised in the poor section of the country around Galilee. Apparently the only one of the Twelve who came from the more refined region of Judea was Judas Iscariot. By any standard of sophisticated culture then and now they would surely be considered as a rather ragged collection of souls. One might wonder how Jesus could ever use them. They were impulsive, temperamental, easily offended, and had all the prejudices of their environment. In short, these men selected by the Lord to be his assistants represented an average cross section of society in their day.2 Not the kind of group one would expect to win the world for Christ.

Yet Jesus saw in these simple men the potential of leadership for the Kingdom. They were indeed “unlearned and ignorant” according to the world’s standard (Acts 4:13), but they were teachable. Though often mistaken in their judgments and slow to comprehend spiritual things, they were honest men, willing to confess their need. Their mannerisms may have been awkward and their abilities limited, but with the exception of the traitor, their hearts were big. What is perhaps most significant about them was their sincere yearning for God and the realities of his life. The superficiality of the religious life about them had not obsessed their hope for the Messiah (John 1:41, 45, 49; 6:69). They were fed up with the hypocrisy of the ruling aristocracy. Some of them had already joined the revival movement of John the Baptist (John 1:35). These men were looking for someone to lead them in the way of salvation. Such men, pliable in the hands of the Master, could be molded into a new image—Jesus can use anyone who wants to be used.

Concentrated on a Few

In noting this fact, however, one does not want to miss the practical truth of how Jesus did it. Here is the wisdom of his method, and in observing it, we return again to the fundamental principle of concentration on those he intended to use. One cannot transform a world except as individuals in the world are transformed, and individuals cannot be changed except as they are molded in the hands of the Master. The necessity is apparent not only to select a few helpers but also to keep the group small enough to be able to work effectively with them.

Hence, as the company of followers around Jesus increased, it became necessary by the middle of his second year of ministry to narrow the select company to a more manageable number. Accordingly Jesus “called his disciples, and he chose from them twelve, whom also he named apostles” (Luke 6:13–17; see Mark 3:13–19). Regardless of the symbolical meaning one prefers to put on the number twelve,3 it is clear that Jesus intended these men to have unique privileges and responsibilities in the Kingdom work.

This does not mean that Jesus’ decision to have twelve apostles excluded others from following him, for as we know, many more were numbered among his associates, and some of these became very effective workers in the church. The seventy (Luke 10:1); Mark, the Gospel writer; and James, his own brother (1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 2:9, 12; see John 2:12; 7:2–10), are notable examples of this. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that there was a rapidly diminishing priority given to those outside the Twelve.

The same rule could be applied in reverse, for within the select apostolic group Peter, James, and John seemed to enjoy a more special relationship to the Master than did the other nine. Only these privileged few are invited into the sick room of Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:37; Luke 8:51); they alone go up with the Master and behold his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:2; Matt. 17:1; Luke 9:28); and amid the olive trees of Gethsemane casting their ominous shadows in the light of the full Passover moon, these members of the inner circle waited nearest to their Lord while he prayed (Mark 14:33; Matt. 26:37). So noticeable is the preference given to these three that had it not been for the incarnation of selflessness in the person of Christ, it could well have precipitated feelings of resentment on the part of the other apostles. The fact that there is no record of the disciples complaining about the preeminence of the three, though they did murmur about other things, is proof that where preference is shown in the right spirit and for the right reason, offense need not arise.4

Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2006), 21–25.

The high price of loneliness

Josh Hunt — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 19:08:06 GMT

Being in meaningful relationships is life-giving in the most literal sense.

John Ortberg, Everybody’s Normal till You Get to Know Them (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009).

How to make disciples

Josh Hunt — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 15:45:33 GMT

Having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being with them. This was the essence of his training program—just letting his disciples follow him.

When one stops to think of it, this was an incredibly simple way of doing it. Jesus had no formal school, no seminaries, no outlined course of study, no periodic membership classes in which he enrolled his followers. None of these highly organized procedures considered so necessary today entered into his ministry. Amazing as it may seem, all Jesus did to teach these men his way was to draw them close to himself. He was his own school and curriculum.

The natural informality of this teaching method of Jesus stood in striking contrast to the formal, almost scholastic procedures of the scribes. These religious teachers insisted on their disciples adhering strictly to certain rituals and formulas of knowledge which distinguished them from others; whereas Jesus asked only that his disciples follow him. Knowledge was not communicated by the Master in terms of laws and dogmas, but in the living personality of One who walked among them. His disciples were distinguished, not by outward conformity to certain rituals, but by being with him, and thereby participating in his doctrine (John 18:19).

To Know Was to Be With

It was by virtue of this fellowship that the disciples were permitted “to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:10). Knowledge was gained by association before it was understood by explanation. This was best expressed when one of the band asked, “How know we the way?” reflecting his frustration at the thought of the Holy Trinity. Jesus replied: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:5–6), which was to say that the point in question already was answered, if the disciples would but open their eyes to the spiritual reality incarnated in their midst.

This simple methodology was revealed from the beginning by the invitation that Jesus gave to the men he wanted to lead. John and Andrew were invited to “come and see” the place where Jesus stayed (John 1:39). Nothing more was said. Yet what more needed to be said? At home with Jesus they could talk things over and there in private see intimately into his nature and work. Philip was addressed in the same essential manner: “Follow me” (John 1:43). Evidently impressed by this simple approach, Philip invited Nathanael also to “come and see” the Master (John 1:46). One living sermon is worth a hundred explanations. Later when James, John, Peter, and Andrew were found mending their nets, Jesus used the same familiar words, “Come ye after me,” only this time adding the reason for it, “and I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 1:17; see Matt. 4:19; Luke 5:10). Likewise, Matthew was called from the tax collector’s booth with the same invitation: “Follow me” (Mark 2:14; Matt. 9:9; Luke 5:27).

The Principle Observed

See the tremendous strategy of it? By responding to this initial call, believers in effect enrolled themselves in the Master’s school where their understanding could be enlarged and their faith established. There were certainly many things which these men did not understand—things which they themselves freely acknowledged as they walked with him; but all these problems could be dealt with as they followed Jesus. In his presence they could learn all that they needed to know.

This principle, which was implied from the start, was given specific articulation later when Jesus chose from the larger group about him the Twelve “that they might be with him” (Mark 3:14; see Luke 6:13). He added, of course, that he was going to send them forth “to preach, and to have authority to cast out devils,” but often we fail to realize what came first. Jesus made it clear that before these men were “to preach” or “to cast out devils” they were to be “with him.” In fact, this personal appointment to be in constant association with him was as much a part of their ordination commission as the authority to evangelize. Indeed, it was for the moment even more important, for it was the necessary preparation for the other.

Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2006), 33–35.

What is a group to do? (Swindoll)

Josh Hunt — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:01:14 GMT

For some, it seems an endless trip, filled with thankless responsibilities and relentless tasks, disappointments and deadlines, and daily demands.

Being imperfect doesn’t help. Every so often we make stupid decisions. We say things we wish we could retrieve. Selfishly, we look out for number one and later regret it. We act impulsively and realize, after the fact, how foolish we were, how dumb we looked. On top of all that, we hurt the ones we love the most. All this stuff caves in on us at certain times, and we wonder how anybody could ever love us . . . especially God.

When we start thinking like this, we need to turn our mind to the “one anothers” in the New Testament. Here’s just a sampling: Love one another, build up one another, live in peace with one another, confess your sins to one another, speak to one another, admonish one another, comfort one another, pray for one another.

I deliberately saved my favorite for last: “Bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2).

Imagine two mountain hikers trudging along, each carrying a backpack. The one on the left has a tiny, light pack that a kid could carry, while the poor soul on the right is so loaded down we can’t even see his head or his body.

Let’s imagine what he might be lugging in that pack down that long road. It could be a long-standing grudge that’s poisoning his insides. It might be a broken relationship with his wife or one of his kids. That pack could be loaded with unpaid bills, all of them overdue.

The question is, Where can that fella on the right go to unload so the fella on the left can help “bear the burden”? By sitting in church alongside a few hundred or a couple thousand other folks? Hardly. What he needs most is to be involved in an adult fellowship in a small-group setting, a place where there is person-to-person caring and the opportunity for authentic sharing. Where he will feel free, without embarrassment or shame, to tell his secret or state his struggle; where someone will listen, help him unload, and give him fresh strength.

Adult fellowships and small groups are not miniature church services. They are pockets of people who love Christ and believe in helping one another. They don’t point fingers or preach or compare. They are your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Once you begin unloading that pack, you’ll discover how much easier the journey seems.

Charles R. Swindoll, Day by Day with Charles Swindoll (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005).

The Inner Ring -- Lewis

Josh Hunt — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 16:42:58 GMT

May I read you a few lines from Tolstoi’s War and Peace?

When Boris entered the room, Prince Andrey was listening to an old general, wearing his decorations, who was reporting something to Prince Andrey, with an expression of soldierly servility on his purple face. “Alright. Please wait!” he said to the general, speaking in Russian with the French accent which he used when he spoke with contempt. The moment he noticed Boris he stopped listening to the general who trotted imploringly after him and begged to be heard, while Prince Andrey turned to Boris with a cheerful smile and a nod of the head. Boris now clearly understood—what he had already guessed—that side by side with the system of discipline and subordination which were laid down in the Army Regulations, there existed a different and a more real system—the system which compelled a tightly laced general with a purple face to wait respectfully for his turn while a mere captain like Prince Andrey chatted with a mere second lieutenant like Boris. Boris decided at once that he would be guided not by the official system but by this other unwritten system.6

When you invite a middle-aged moralist to address you, I suppose I must conclude, however unlikely the conclusion seems, that you have a taste for middle-aged moralising. I shall do my best to gratify it. I shall in fact give you advice about the world in which you are going to live. I do not mean by this that I am going to attempt a talk on what are called current affairs. You probably know quite as much about them as I do. I am not going to tell you—except in a form so general that you will hardly recognise it—what part you ought to play in postwar reconstruction. It is not, in fact, very likely that any of you will be able, in the next ten years, to make any direct contribution to the peace or prosperity of Europe. You will be busy finding jobs, getting married, acquiring facts. I am going to do something more old-fashioned than you perhaps expected. I am going to give advice. I am going to issue warnings. Advice and warnings about things which are so perennial that no one calls them “current affairs.”

And of course everyone knows what a middle-aged moralist of my type warns his juniors against. He warns them against the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. But one of this trio will be enough to deal with today. The Devil I shall leave strictly alone. The association between him and me in the public mind has already gone quite as deep as I wish; in some quarters it has already reached the level of confusion, if not of identification. I begin to realise the truth of the old proverb that he who sups with that formidable host needs a long spoon. As for the Flesh, you must be very abnormal young people if you do not know quite as much about it as I do. But on the World I think I have something to say.

In the passage I have just read from Tolstoi, the young second lieutenant Boris Dubretskoi discovers that there exist in the army two different systems or hierarchies. The one is printed in some little red book and anyone can easily read it up. It also remains constant. A general is always superior to a colonel and a colonel to a captain. The other is not printed anywhere. Nor is it even a formally organised secret society with rules which you would be told after you had been admitted. You are never formally and explicitly admitted by anyone. You discover gradually, in almost indefinable ways, that it exists and that you are outside it, and then later, perhaps, that you are inside it. There are what correspond to passwords, but they too are spontaneous and informal. A particular slang, the use of particular nicknames, an allusive manner of conversation are the marks. But it is not constant. It is not easy, even at a given moment, to say who is inside and who is outside. Some people are obviously in and some are obviously out, but there are always several on the border line. And if you come back to the same divisional headquarters, or brigade headquarters, or the same regiment, or even the same company after six weeks’ absence, you may find this second hierarchy quite altered. There are no formal admissions or expulsions. People think they are in it after they have in fact been pushed out of it, or before they have been allowed in; this provides great amusement for those who are really inside. It has no fixed name. The only certain rule is that the insiders and outsiders call it by different names. From inside it may be designated, in simple cases, by mere enumeration; it may be called “you and Tony and me.” When it is very secure and comparatively stable in membership, it calls itself “we.” When it has to be suddenly expanded to meet a particular emergency, it calls itself “all the sensible people at this place.” From outside, if you have despaired of getting into it, you call it “that gang” or “they” or “so-and-so and his set” or “the Caucus” or ‘the Inner Ring.” If you are a candidate for admission, you probably don’t call it anything. To discuss it with the other outsiders would make you feel outside yourself. And to mention it in talking to the man who is inside, and who may help you in if this present conversation goes well, would be madness.

Badly as I may have described it, I hope you will all have recognised the thing I am describing. Not, of course, that you have been in the Russian Army or perhaps in any army. But you have met the phenomenon of an Inner Ring. You discovered one in your house at school before the end of the first term. And when you had climbed up to somewhere near it by the end of your second year, perhaps you discovered that within the Ring there was a Ring yet more inner, which in its turn was the fringe of the great school Ring to which the house Rings were only satellites. It is even possible that the School Ring was almost in touch with a Masters’ Ring. You were beginning, in fact, to pierce through the skins of the onion. And here, too, at your university—shall I be wrong in assuming that at this very moment, invisible to me, there are several rings—independent systems or concentric rings—present in this room? And I can assure you that in whatever hospital, inn of court, diocese, school, business, or college you arrive after going down, you will find the Rings—what Tolstoi calls the second or unwritten systems.

All this is rather obvious. I wonder whether you will say the same of my next step, which is this. I believe that in all men’s lives at certain periods, and in many men’s lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age, one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside. This desire, in one of its forms, has indeed had ample justice done to it in literature. I mean, in the form of snobbery. Victorian fiction is full of characters who are hagridden by the desire to get inside that particular Ring which is, or was, called Society. But it must be clearly understood that “Society,” in that sense of the word, is merely one of a hundred Rings and snobbery, therefore, only one form of the longing to be inside. People who believe themselves to be free, and indeed are free, from snobbery, and who read satires on snobbery with tranquil superiority, may be devoured by the desire in another form. It may be the very intensity of their desire to enter some quite different Ring which renders them immune from the allurements of high life. An invitation from a duchess would be very cold comfort to a man smarting under the sense of exclusion from some artistic or communist côterie. Poor man—it is not large, lighted rooms, or champagne, or even scandals about peers and Cabinet Ministers that he wants; it is the sacred little attic or studio, the heads bent together, the fog of tobacco smoke, and the delicious knowledge that we—we four or five all huddled beside this stove—are the people who know. Often the desire conceals itself so well that we hardly recognise the pleasures of fruition. Men tell not only their wives but themselves that it is a hardship to stay late at the office or the school on some bit of important extra work which they have been let in for because they and So-and-so and the two others are the only people left in the place who really know how things are run. But it is not quite true. It is a terrible bore, of course, when old Fatty Smithson draws you aside and whispers, “Look here, we’ve got to get you in on this examination somehow” or “Charles and I saw at once that you’ve got to be on this committee.” A terrible bore … ah, but how much more terrible if you were left out! It is tiring and unhealthy to lose your Saturday afternoons, but to have them free because you don’t matter, that is much worse.

Freud would say, no doubt, that the whole thing is a subterfuge of the sexual impulse. I wonder whether the shoe is not sometimes on the other foot. I wonder whether, in ages of promiscuity, many a virginity has not been lost less in obedience to Venus than in obedience to the lure of the caucus. For, of course, when promiscuity is the fashion, the chaste are outsiders. They are ignorant of something that other people know. They are uninitiated. And as for lighter matters, the number who first smoked or first got drunk for a similar reason is probably very large.

I must now make a distinction. I am not going to say that the existence of Inner Rings is an evil. It is certainly unavoidable. There must be confidential discussions, and it is not only not a bad thing, it is (in itself) a good thing that personal friendship should grow up between those who work together. And it is perhaps impossible that the official hierarchy of any organisation should quite coincide with its actual workings. If the wisest and most energetic people invariably held the highest posts, it might coincide; since they often do not, there must be people in high positions who are really deadweights and people in lower positions who are more important than their rank and seniority would lead you to suppose. In that way the second, unwritten system is bound to grow up. It is necessary, and perhaps it is not a necessary evil. But the desire which draws us into Inner Rings is another matter. A thing may be morally neutral and yet the desire for that thing may be dangerous. As Byron has said:

Sweet is a legacy, and passing sweet

The unexpected death of some old lady.

The painless death of a pious relative at an advanced age is not an evil. But an earnest desire for her death on the part of her heirs is not reckoned a proper feeling, and the law frowns on even the gentlest attempt to expedite her departure. Let Inner Rings be an unavoidable and even an innocent feature of life, though certainly not a beautiful one; but what of our longing to enter them, our anguish when we are excluded, and the kind of pleasure we feel when we get in?

I have no right to make assumptions about the degree to which any of you may already be compromised. I must not assume that you have ever first neglected, and finally shaken off, friends whom you really loved and who might have lasted you a lifetime, in order to court the friendship of those who appeared to you more important, more esoteric. I must not ask whether you have ever derived actual pleasure from the loneliness and humiliation of the outsiders after you yourself were in; whether you have talked to fellow members of the Ring in the presence of outsiders simply in order that the outsiders might envy; whether the means whereby, in your days of probation, you propitiated the Inner Ring were always wholly admirable. I will ask only one question—and it is, of course, a rhetorical question which expects no answer. In the whole of your life as you now remember it, has the desire to be on the right side of that invisible line ever prompted you to any act or word on which, in the cold small hours of a wakeful night, you can look back with satisfaction? If so, your case is more fortunate than most.

But I said I was going to give advice, and advice should deal with the future, not the past. I have hinted at the past only to awake you to what I believe to be the real nature of human life. I don’t believe that the economic motive and the erotic motive account for everything that goes on in what we moralists call the World. Even if you add Ambition, I think the picture is still incomplete. The lust for the esoteric, the longing to be inside, take many forms which are not easily recognisable as Ambition. We hope, no doubt, for tangible profits from every Inner Ring we penetrate: power, money, liberty to break rules, avoidance of routine duties, evasion of discipline. But all these would not satisfy us if we did not get in addition the delicious sense of secret intimacy. It is no doubt a great convenience to know that we need fear no official reprimands from our official senior because he is old Percy, a fellow member of our Ring. But we don’t value the intimacy only for the sake of convenience; quite equally we value the convenience as a proof of the intimacy.

My main purpose in this address is simply to convince you that this desire is one of the great permanent mainsprings of human action. It is one of the factors which go to make up the world as we know it—this whole pell-mell of struggle, competition, confusion, graft, disappointment, and advertisement, and if it is one of the permanent mainsprings, then you may be quite sure of this. Unless you take measures to prevent it, this desire is going to be one of the chief motives of your life, from the first day on which you enter your profession until the day when you are too old to care. That will be the natural thing—the life that will come to you of its own accord. Any other kind of life, if you lead it, will be the result of conscious and continuous effort. If you do nothing about it, if you drift with the stream, you will in fact be an “inner ringer.” I don’t say you’ll be a successful one; that’s as may be. But whether by pining and moping outside Rings that you can never enter, or by passing triumphantly further and further in—one way or the other you will be that kind of man.

I have already made it fairly clear that I think it better for you not to be that kind of man. But you may have an open mind on the question. I will therefore suggest two reasons for thinking as I do.

It would be polite and charitable and, in view of your age, reasonable, too, to suppose that none of you is yet a scoundrel. On the other hand, by the mere law of averages (I am saying nothing against free will) it is almost certain that at least two or three of you before you die will have become something very like scoundrels. There must be in this room the makings of at least that number of unscrupulous, treacherous, ruthless egotists. The choice is still before you, and I hope you will not take my hard words about your possible future characters as a token of disrespect to your present characters. And the prophecy I make is this. To nine out of ten of you the choice which could lead to scoundrelism will come, when it does come, in no very dramatic colours. Obviously bad men, obviously threatening or bribing, will almost certainly not appear. Over a drink or a cup of coffee, disguised as a triviality and sandwiched between two jokes, from the lips of a man, or woman, whom you have recently been getting to know rather better and whom you hope to know better still—just at the moment when you are most anxious not to appear crude, or naïf or a prig—the hint will come. It will be the hint of something which is not quite in accordance with the technical rules of fair play; something which the public, the ignorant, romantic public, would never understand; something which even the outsiders in your own profession are apt to make a fuss about, but something, says your new friend, which “we”—and at the word “we” you try not to blush for mere pleasure—something “we always do.” And you will be drawn in, if you are drawn in, not by desire for gain or ease, but simply because at that moment, when the cup was so near your lips, you cannot bear to be thrust back again into the cold outer world. It would be so terrible to see the other man’s face—that genial, confidential, delightfully sophisticated face—turn suddenly cold and contemptuous, to know that you had been tried for the Inner Ring and rejected. And then, if you are drawn in, next week it will be something a little further from the rules, and next year something further still, but all in the jolliest, friendliest spirit. It may end in a crash, a scandal, and penal servitude; it may end in millions, a peerage, and giving the prizes at your old school. But you will be a scoundrel.

That is my first reason. Of all passions the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things.

My second reason is this. The torture allotted to the Danaids in the classical underworld, that of attempting to fill sieves with water, is the symbol not of one vice but of all vices. It is the very mark of a perverse desire that it seeks what is not to be had. The desire to be inside the invisible line illustrates this rule. As long as you are governed by that desire you will never get what you want. You are trying to peel an onion; if you succeed there will be nothing left. Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain.

This is surely very clear when you come to think of it. If you want to be made free of a certain circle for some wholesome reason—if, say, you want to join a musical society because you really like music—then there is a possibility of satisfaction. You may find yourself playing in a quartet and you may enjoy it. But if all you want is to be in the know, your pleasure will be short-lived. The circle cannot have from within the charm it had from outside. By the very act of admitting you it has lost its magic. Once the first novelty is worn off, the members of this circle will be no more interesting than your old friends. Why should they be? You were not looking for virtue or kindness or loyalty or humour or learning or wit or any of the things that can be really enjoyed. You merely wanted to be “in.” And that is a pleasure that cannot last. As soon as your new associates have been staled to you by custom, you will be looking for another Ring. The rainbow’s end will still be ahead of you. The old Ring will now be only the drab background for your endeavour to enter the new one.

And you will always find them hard to enter, for a reason you very well know. You yourself, once you are in, want to make it hard for the next entrant, just as those who are already in made it hard for you. Naturally. In any wholesome group of people which holds together for a good purpose, the exclusions are in a sense accidental. Three or four people who are together for the sake of some piece of work exclude others because there is work only for so many or because the others can’t in fact do it. Your little musical group limits its numbers because the rooms they meet in are only so big. But your genuine Inner Ring exists for exclusion. There’d be no fun if there were no outsiders. The invisible line would have no meaning unless most people were on the wrong side of it. Exclusion is no accident; it is the essence.

The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surprising result will follow. If in your working hours you make the work your end, you will presently find yourself all unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters. You will be one of the sound craftsmen, and other sound craftsmen will know it. This group of craftsmen will by no means coincide with the Inner Ring or the Important People or the People in the Know. It will not shape that professional policy or work up that professional influence which fights for the profession as a whole against the public, nor will it lead to those periodic scandals and crises which the Inner Ring produces. But it will do those things which that profession exists to do and will in the long run be responsible for all the respect which that profession in fact enjoys and which the speeches and advertisements cannot maintain. And if in your spare time you consort simply with the people you like, you will again find that you have come unawares to a real inside, that you are indeed snug and safe at the centre of something which, seen from without, would look exactly like an Inner Ring. But the difference is that its secrecy is accidental, and its exclusiveness a by-product, and no one was led thither by the lure of the esoteric, for it is only four or five people who like one another meeting to do things that they like. This is friendship. Aristotle placed it among the virtues. It causes perhaps half of all the happiness in the world, and no Inner Ringer can ever have it.

We are told in Scripture that those who ask get. That is true, in senses I can’t now explore. But in another sense there is much truth in the schoolboy’s principle “them as asks shan’t have.” To a young person, just entering on adult life, the world seems full of “insides,” full of delightful intimacies and confidentialities, and he desires to enter them. But if he follows that desire he will reach no “inside” that is worth reaching. The true road lies in quite another direction. It is like the house in Alice Through the Looking Glass.

C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses (New York: HarperOne, 2001), 141–157.

What is the SOAP method of Bible study?

Josh Hunt — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 14:24:31 GMT

For a lifetime of growth, continual learning is an essential. Experience alone will not guarantee learning. It’s what you learn from your experiences that will transform your future. Your future is not comprised of the sum total of all your experiences—it will consist of how you have defined them.

So what life-learning dictionary do you use? What meaning do you give to each event?

Remember that suffering will change you, but not necessarily for the better. You must choose to grow better not bitter.

Consistently make your learning greater than your experience by defining each occurrence and setback biblically. It will save you years of cleanup and miles of burned bridges.

The Bible is God’s choice for a life-dictionary. Joseph will help you convert family betrayal into a future of promise. King David will help you through a child’s rebellion. Moses will help leaders with complaining staff. Abigail will encourage those with foolish husbands.

ONE PREREQUISITE TO LEARNING

At New Hope we’ve done any number of things over the years to help our church grow, but one thing we’ve done stands head and shoulders above everything else.

It has nothing to do with demographics.

It doesn’t depend on location.

It isn’t triggered by worship style.

It’s developing a self-feeding program, using a simple system of daily devotions.

Some time ago I read in a medical magazine these poignant words: The health of twenty-first-century America will no longer be determined by what people get the doctors to do for them, but rather by what doctors can get people to do for themselves.

Self-feeding will be the heart of a healthy Christian, the heart of a healthy twenty-first-century church. It will be each of us, on a daily basis, recording biblical instructions that contain centuries of wisdom and applying them like an unguent to relational grievances and to life’s cuts and bruises.

At the heart of journaling is an easy-to-remember acrostic: SOAP.

S = Scripture

O = Observation

A = Application

P = Prayer

Let me describe how SOAP works. It’s a basic system that can have profound results. It will help you be productive right out of the chute.

To set the stage, allow me to quote the beautiful words of Psalm 19:9 in the King James Version. It helps us to remember what SOAP is all about: “The fear of the Lord is clean.”

S = SCRIPTURE

In the last chapter you read how a Bible bookmark (or some other reading plan) will give you an extended reading from both Testaments for every day of the year. As you peruse the entire scheduled reading for a given day, ask the Lord to bring home to your heart one text in particular.

That is a prayer the Holy Spirit loves to answer.

He will highlight one verse or thought that momentarily stops you in your tracks or seems to shine out from the page. He will whisper, “This is for you—this is a promise you can hold to” or “This instruction will get you back on track.” Whatever the text is, write it down in your journal. Copy out the verse at the top of your entry for that day.

Why is it so important to focus on one short text or verse rather than several? Why do I strongly encourage you to find one thing the Spirit is saying to you? It’s quite simple, and I’ve seen this borne out time and again: If you try to catch more than that, I guarantee that at the end of the year you’ll remember none of them. But if you focus on just one a day, by the time December 31 rolls around, you’ll have more than three hundred sixty gems packed away in your heart. And that’s priceless!

By interacting in this way with the Lord through His Word, you’ll be hearing His prophetic voice. You will begin making permanent decisions based on eternal wisdom, not on temporary setbacks.

Let God’s Word hold you up! Develop a daily discipline of devotions that is unshakable.

During the time I almost dropped out of ministry, I ended up spending some time at a “no talking” monastery in California to regain my physical and spiritual equilibrium. Even though my psyche was fried and my energy depleted, I continued my devotions. If it weren’t for the disciplines I’d developed over the years, I doubt I would have found my way home.

It was there, on the verge of cashing it all in, that the Lord spoke once more through Jeremiah: “But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You.”2

That was His prophetic word for me.

In the midst of that dark, dry time, that single verse spoke more to my heart than volumes of eloquent verbiage. And that verse will always illustrate for me the truth of this one: “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”3

Allow God to speak that apt word to you by focusing on one main thought from your daily reading—not five, ten, or a baker’s dozen.

One thing.

O = OBSERVATION

The question is never “Does God speak?” but rather “Am I listening?” To best hear what God has to say to you, you must still your heart.

Set aside your pressing demands.

Turn off all your electronic distractions.

Rarely does God shout to make himself heard!

As the Spirit highlights that one single thought, observe carefully what the verse says. Think about to whom the passage was originally addressed and why it was written. Ponder its meaning, its tone, its purpose. Take several moments to meditate on it, to let its message soak clear through to your heart.

The first and most important commandment of all, according to Jesus, is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”4 That means He doesn’t want you to disengage your brain as you listen for His voice.

Have you ever noticed how often in Scripture God requires His servants to “observe” something in order to learn a divine lesson from it? Ponder just a few examples:

“Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.”5
“Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.”6
“Consider Abraham: ’He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.”7
“He [Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins.”8

Now it’s your chance to do some careful observing and considering of your own. Ponder the message God has highlighted for you.Write out in manuscript form what you observe. It may be only a paragraph or perhaps a few sentences. The important thing is to put pen to paper and make an observation in your journal. Take into context the setting and the situation. Make an observation of what’s happening, who’s affected, what’s taking place. This will increase your comprehension and develop your observation skills.

A = APPLICATION

After you’ve carefully observed what the text says, take some time to write out how you plan to put into practice the lesson the Divine Mentor has just brought to your attention. How will you be different today as a result of what you’ve just read? Application answers the question, “How does this verse or thought apply to me?”

Application is a crucial part of this process, for without it, all you’re doing is amassing facts, trivia, and bits of knowledge. Do you remember what the Lord Jesus thought of that kind of practice? In a classic confrontation with the Pharisees, He said: “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.”9

Have you ever pondered the amazing irony of the Pharisees’ relationship with Jesus? They were bona fide Jews with prodigious pedigrees. Yet they plotted how to violate the sixth commandment, and then schemed a cover-up by making sure the Romans committed the murder and took His body down from the cross before the Sabbath arrived so the Jews wouldn’t defile the day.

Astonishing. The Pharisees had extensive knowledge of and intimate familiarity with the details of God’s Word … while missing the whole point!

Amassing biblical knowledge without a commitment to applying it to life leads only to massive miscomprehension. Paul agrees: “We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.”10

James created an unforgettable metaphor to say much the same thing:

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.11

Application is what seals God’s Word to our hearts. Application makes the difference between hearing His will and doing His will. Application is what sets apart a disciple from a dabbler, a follower from a fan. Application states how you will live differently because of what you’ve just read.

A powerful force comes into play when we bring “what we believe” and “how we live” closer together. One of Christendom’s greatest maladies is the phenomenon of living inconsistently with what we believe. Incongruence is one of the foremost causes of anxiety. We espouse one thing yet live another.

We know all there is to know about love, but we aren’t known for being loving.
We know all there is to know about joy, but there is no joy in our homes.
We know all there is to know about forgiveness, but we still can’t forgive.

Some years ago a pastor friend of mine was carrying on an illicit sexual affair. When it finally came to light, he was reprimanded, summarily dismissed, and put under discipline and counseling. As a friend, I called him one day and asked, “How could you do that?”

“Wayne,” he replied, “I don’t need more people to condemn me.”

I reassured him of my friendship and my heart, but I told him I needed to know how he could tolerate the pain sustained by the massive inconsistency of his lifestyle with his message.

I’ll never forget his answer. “Wayne,” he said, with a heavy sigh. “I wasn’t reading the Bible for life. I studied the Bible only to get sermons out of it. I would find one and immediately give it as a message on Sunday. As soon as I could extract enough lesson material to hand out, I was done for the day. It was never routed through my heart, so it left me starving even though I was overseeing an orchard.”

Knowledge alone is no guarantee of growth. But with God’s help we can dial in the two lenses of knowledge and application. Clarity appears, and focus results. One of the greatest blessings is promised to those who consistently apply what they know: “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”12

P = PRAYER

The final stage of your journal entry is recording your prayer. It could read as simply as: Lord Jesus, help me to be a person who listens to Your Word. Today I will take time to hear what You are saying to me. Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.

Finish your time in the Word with a thoughtful prayer to God. Ask Him to help you apply what you’ve just learned. And don’t forget to tell Him how thankful you are for the power of His Word!

Some people object to writing out their prayers, but I’ve found this to be a wonderful way to cement everything that’s just happened in my mind and heart. Avoid writing your entry in notation form. No CliffsNotes! Write out everything God said to you; when it comes time to pass along what you learned, everything will come back—even the prayer you offered to Him.

Sometimes when I return to an old journal entry, I read the prayer portion—and soon I feel convicted by my own prayer. How often I’ve asked God to return to me the heart I had when I first heard Him. Over the years, our heart can change; it can harden and become calloused. Rereading our own prayers reminds us to keep a supple heart, one that’s always pliable in the hands of the Maker.

Once you’ve written out your prayer, I suggest you return to the top of your entry and give it some descriptive title. Maybe you’ve highlighted Matthew 10:27, which says: “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.”

Give your entry a title like “Listening” or “Ears That Hear.” Write it at the top of your entry for that day. Now you have captured a gem in the making. Applying it into the daily-ness of life will make for a vibrant and verifiable faith.

Finally, it’s important to provide a quick notation in the front of your journal about what God spoke to you, and when. The Life Journal has a ready-made place for that, in the very front under “Table of Contents.”

In your table of contents, write out the title you gave to your entry, along with the Scripture reference, the date, and the journal page where your entry is found.

If three months later you were to ask me what God has been saying to me, I can go to the Life Journal’s table of contents and find it in seconds. Everything God spoke to me will return. There I have a treasured record of His wisdom, personalized directly to my heart, and it can never be taken away from me.

When God highlights a verse or thought from your daily reading, put some SOAP on it—Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer! Then record it in your table of contents. You will hereby give God’s truth roots into your soul, and you’ll be building a spiritual resource that will enrich your life for years to come.

WHEN YOU’RE AT YOUR BEST

Over the years many people have inquired as to the best time for daily devotions.

I have a very basic answer.

The best time for devotions is when you’re at your best.

I’m a morning person, so I do my devotions early, about six-thirty. That’s when I’m at my best.

On the other hand, Anna comes alive in the evening. So she usually does her devotions after the sun has gone down, because she wants to give the Holy Spirit the prime moments of her day. In this way she grows more, retains more, and comprehends more.

While her brain is going full speed at 7:00 P.M., mine is shutting down—I’m losing functionality by the second. By the time 10:00 P.M. rolls around, I’m comatose.

My wife and I have different time schedules and different body rhythms. There is nothing wrong with that. I don’t buy the one-size-fits-all idea, the concept that if you want really good devotions, you have to do them early in the morning.

Do your devotions at whatever time is your best time. When you give God your best, that’s when class is in session … for you.

CREATE SOME FERTILE SOIL

By using this simple SOAP method to journal every day, you’ll create fertile soil in your heart. God will plant a seed there, and soon a tree will take root and fruit will come forth:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in its season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.13

Wayne Cordeiro, The Divine Mentor: Growing Your Faith as You Sit at the Feet of the Savior (Bloomington, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2007), 101–110.

What is Zion?

Josh Hunt — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:03:08 GMT

What Is Zion? What Is Mount Zion? What Is the Biblical Meaning of Zion?

Psalm 87:2–3 says, “The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are said of you, O city of God.” Occurring over 150 times in the Bible, the word “Zion” essentially means “fortification.” In the Bible, Zion is both the city of David and the city of God. As the Bible progresses, the word “Zion” transitions from referring primarily to a physical city to having a more spiritual meaning.

The first mention of the word “Zion” in the Bible is 2 Samuel 5:7: “Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David.” “Zion,” therefore, was originally the name of the ancient Jebusite fortress in the city of Jerusalem. “Zion” came to stand not only for the fortress but also for city in which the fortress stood. After David captured “the stronghold of Zion,” Zion was then called “the City of David” (1 Kings 8:1; 1 Chronicles 11:5; 2 Chronicles 5:2).

When Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, “Zion” expanded in meaning to include the temple and the area surrounding it (Psalms 2:6; 48:2, 11–12; 132:13). “Zion” was eventually used as a name for the city of Jerusalem, the land of Judah, and the people of Israel as a whole (Isaiah 40:9; Jeremiah 31:12; Zechariah 9:13).

The most important use of the word “Zion” is in a theological sense. “Zion” is used figuratively of Israel as the people of God (Isaiah 60:14). The spiritual meaning of “Zion” is continued in the New Testament, where it is given the Christian meaning of God’s spiritual kingdom, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 14:1). Peter refers to Christ as the Cornerstone of Zion: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6).

Got Questions Ministries, Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2002–2013).

What does it mean to be baptized for the dead?

Josh Hunt — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 13:44:41 GMT

Those who believe this use the following verse for their proof: “Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?” (1 Cor. 15:29).

The practice of vicarious baptism such as that which is practiced by some cults today appeared as early as the second century. It should be noted that a biblical doctrine should not be built on any verse as obscure as this one in 1 Corinthians. Since the Bible clearly teaches that baptism does not save an individual, then being baptized in the place of those who are already dead cannot benefit anyone. The interpretation of this difficult verse yields to an understanding of the Greek preposition hyper. Usually the word means “over” or “instead of.” But there are times when the only translation possible is “concerning.” The translation should be “concerning the dead.” The idea is that Christian baptism concerning death and the promise of resurrection is a meaningless ordinance unless the resurrection is a reality. Paul was questioning why they were continuing to baptize new converts if there was no resurrection, since baptism symbolizes our death and resurrection.

A second interpretation of the passage is that the expression is to be taken synonymously with the meaning found in verse 30, thus being rendered “baptized with reference to the dead.” This would be a nonsacerdotal use of the term “baptism.” That is, the people of whom Paul was speaking were being literally immersed in such severe persecution that they were dying for their faith.

Elmer Towns, Bible Answers for Almost All Your Questions (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2003).

What is the unpardonable sin?

Josh Hunt — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 13:42:24 GMT

The unpardonable sin was first mentioned by Jesus when the Pharisees rejected the miracles that He did. Jesus knew their thoughts and said, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matt. 12:31–32).

There are several views concerning this unpardonable sin. First, several in the Roman Catholic Church have taught that the unpardonable sin is suicide. Since a person committing suicide can’t take advantage of extreme unction or confess sins to a priest, that person has committed a sin that cannot be pardoned. Suicide is unpardonable because a person cannot take advantage of forgiveness offered by the Church.

Certain Christians believe that when they commit sins of blasphemy, rejection of God, or apostatizing, they lose their salvation. When they commit such sins, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Heb. 10:26).

A third view held by dispensationalists is that only those who live in the time of Christ could commit the unpardonable sin. It is attributing to Satan the miracles of God as demonstrated by Jesus Christ. Since Christ no longer lives on earth, people can no longer commit this unpardonable sin.

There is a fourth view that says when people deliberately and in their hearts finally reject Jesus Christ, they are dead while they are living. That means some living people are lost and cannot be saved because they have committed the final act of rejection. Those who hold this view quote such verses as “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever” (Gen. 6:3). People who commit an unpardonable sin cross a point of no return when they reject Jesus Christ one time too many.

A last view is that the only sin God cannot forgive is the sin of unbelief. The very nature of unbelief indicates that God cannot forgive it. But anyone who wants to be saved can be saved. Even Paul the murderer was forgiven, and the thief on the cross was told, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). The last chapter of the Bible invites “Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). So those who want to be saved have not committed the unpardonable sin. However, if a person dies in unbelief, that person has committed a sin that cannot be pardoned; that person has committed the unpardonable sin. According to this view, no one who is living has committed the unpardonable sin.

So what is the unpardonable sin? The unpardonable sin is simply the final rejection of Jesus Christ at death.

Elmer Towns, Bible Answers for Almost All Your Questions (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2003).

Should Christians tithe?

Josh Hunt — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 21:54:38 GMT

“Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything” (14:20). Here we have the first mention of a tithe in Scripture. The second occurrence is also found in Genesis (28:22), when Jacob promises a tenth to God if God brings him safely back from Paddan Aram. Even today, some churches will encourage their members to give a tenth of their income to the work of the church. Is this a scriptural principle that should be followed today?

The two occurrences in Genesis are voluntary offerings, not obligatory. Abram’s offering indicates his recognition that Melchizedek as king of Sodom was the leader of the Canaanite coalition (studies have shown that it was an ancient Near Eastern custom to give the king a tenth8) and also that this king was priest of the same God that Abram himself worshiped. Jacob’s vow was also a voluntary offering.

Though these gifts were voluntary, there is no doubt but that later Mosaic law mandated that Israelites give a tenth. Nowhere do these later laws ground the practice in the earlier events recorded in Genesis. Indeed, there is some question as to how the various tithing laws in the Torah relate to one another.

In Numbers 18:21–24 (see also Lev 27:30–33) God announces that he grants to the Levites “all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting” (v. 21). In the next paragraph (vv. 25–29), he tells Moses to inform the Levites that they are to take a tithe of the tithe they receive and give that to the priesthood. Here, in other words, we learn how God provided for the provision for the Levites and priests.

The book of Deuteronomy also addresses the issue of the tithe (Deut 12:6, 11, 17; 26:12–15; esp. 14:22–29), but in a way that some believe conflicts with the law as found in Numbers (and Leviticus). According to Deuteronomy 14:12–15, the tithe brought to the sanctuary would be consumed by the offerers. Either a tenth of the grain, new wine, and olive oil and firstborn of the herds and flocks were brought or, if the distance to the sanctuary was too great, these goods could be exchanged for silver and then “use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice” (Deut 14:26). In addition, there is the provision that every three years the tithes would not be brought to the sanctuary but stored in the various towns for the Levites, poor, and other disadvantaged people.

The early rabbis posited three different tithes (the first tithe to the Levites and priests [Num 18:21–29], the second that was used for the celebration of the worshipers [Deut 14:22–27], and a third in the third year for the Levites and the poor in the various towns [Deut 14:28–29]). Other, more modern, scholars try to reconcile these laws by positing a historical development in the tithe, but Averbeck disagrees and provides a reasonable perspective on how these laws complement each other.9 There was one tithe and that was presented during an annual festival at the sanctuary. From that tithe, resources were expended for celebration of the worshipers themselves in keeping with Numbers 18, but this would not expend more than a fraction of the tithe itself. A tithe of the tithe for the Levites would be used for the maintenance of the priests. And the tithe of every third year (the third and sixth year of the sabbatical year cycle) would be placed not at the central sanctuary, but in the local towns and used for the sustenance of the local Levites and the poor and the vulnerable.

Thus, there is no question but that the tithe was a legal requirement imposed on God’s people from the time of Moses. Those familiar with the history of the Israelite people as described in the Old Testament will not be surprised to realize that Israel did not live up to this ideal.

However, the question for the Christian today is whether the tithe is still a legal requirement. Must Christians set apart a tenth of their income for donation to the church or at least to the furtherance of the gospel?

The Gospels only mention the tithe as the practice of the Jewish people of the time. Indeed, Jesus criticizes the Jewish leaders for keeping the tithe but ignoring the broader principles of justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt 23:23; Luke 11:42; see also Luke 18:12). The only other place in the New Testament where the tithe is mentioned is in Hebrews 7:1–10 where the author cites the story of Genesis 14 where Abraham pays a tithe to Melchizedek in order to argue that Jesus is the ultimate high priest.

In other words, the New Testament, after the death and resurrection of Christ, never appeals to the law of the tithe as a requirement for New Testament Christians. Averbeck points out that this observation is more than an argument from silence, since there are ample opportunities in Paul’s many appeals for Christians to be generous in their giving for him to cite the requirement of a tithe (Rom 15:25–28; 1 Cor 9:16–18; 16:1–3; 2 Cor 8–9; Eph 4:28, etc.).10

Rather than thinking that these biblical-theological observations on the tithe relieve the Christian of giving a tenth of their income to God’s work, one needs to wonder whether a tenth is sufficient. If the Old Testament believer gave a tenth, what should the Christian give who is the recipient of God’s grace and mercy in Jesus? There is no legal formula here. We should give out of our gratitude and joy in the Lord’s work in our life.

Tremper Longman III, Genesis, ed. Tremper Longman III, The Story of God Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 193–195.

Will pets go to Heaven?

Josh Hunt — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 21:50:46 GMT

I’ve often thanked God for my golden retriever, Champ—my dog when I was growing up. I have lots of great memories of running and playing and hanging out with Champ. I especially remember the many times when he crawled into my sleeping bag as I lay in my backyard looking up at the stars.

You might really love animals. If you do, that’s good. If you’ve ever had a pet that died (or several, or maybe lots, like thirty-seven gerbils), you’re probably wondering if you’ll see him or her again.

God, who created the animals, has touched many people’s lives through them. It would be simple for him to re-create a pet in Heaven if he wants to. He’s the giver of all good gifts, not the taker of them.

God loves to give good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:9-11). So if it would please you to have one or more of your pets with you on the New Earth, that may be a good enough reason for God to make it happen.

Aren’t you glad you’ve had two hamsters, a rabbit, a calico cat, and a chocolate lab? That might mean that you will be a pet owner on the New Earth, too. Or if your family wasn’t able to have a pet, Heaven may be the place where you’ll have a pet for the first time, and all of your friends will unselfishly share their pets with you.

The most important passage on this subject may be Romans 8:18-22. (You can read it yourself.) It says that “all creation” suffers because of human sin and longs for the deliverance that will come with our resurrection. It’s like everything around us is yearning to be made free from suffering. But there is good news—nothing in creation will rot or die after God raises us from the dead. And our resurrection will apparently be the means by which all creation will be restored to its former glory, and go beyond it.

I think there’s every reason to believe that “all creation” that longs for deliverance includes the animals. At the time when God’s people are raised from the dead, creation will experience what it longs for. It will be “set free from its bondage to decay” (Romans 8:21, ESV).

Romans 8 hints that some of the animals that lived and suffered and died on this old Earth will be the same ones restored to life in God’s earthly kingdom that’s to come. They suffered because of our sin, so their bodies will be freed when we receive our new bodies. They will then live in a world where they will never hurt each other or people or be hurt by anyone.

So here’s the question: If any animals on this old Earth will experience life without suffering on the New Earth, won’t some of those animals probably be our pets?

It seems to me God could do one of three things on the New Earth: (1) create entirely new animals; (2) bring back to life animals that have suffered in our present world, giving them new bodies that will last forever; (3) create some animals brand-new and bring back to life some old ones. Only God knows for sure what he plans to do. But Romans 8 leads me to believe that on the New Earth we will likely live again with some of the pets we have loved.

Randy Alcorn and Linda Washington, Heaven for Kids (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Kids, 2012).

Who Was Cain's Wife?

Josh Hunt — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 21:47:39 GMT

In Genesis 4:17 we read that “Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch.” Many people wonder where Cain found a wife, and this question undermines their faith in the book of Genesis. Actually, though, the question is not difficult to answer.

Adam and Eve had other children after the births of Cain, Abel, and Seth. Genesis 5:4 tells us, “The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.” Eight hundred years is a long time to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28)!

Adam and Eve were the first man and woman, and God had commanded them and their descendants to be fruitful and multiply, so Cain probably married one of his many sisters. Given the long life spans at that time, he could have married a niece or even a grandniece.

In the early years of the human race, no genetic defects had yet developed as a result of the fall of man. By the time of Abraham, God had not yet declared this kind of marriage to be contrary to His will (see Genesis 20:12). Apparently, incest was not prohibited until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18:7-17; 20:11-12,14,17,20-21).

Ron Rhodes, 5-Minute Apologetics for Today: 365 Quick Answers to Key Questions (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2010).

The Bible and interracial marriage

Josh Hunt — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 21:24:53 GMT

My aim in this chapter is to argue from Scripture and experience that interracial marriage is not only permitted by God but is a positive good in our day. It is not just to be tolerated, but celebrated. America is ambivalent about this. On the one hand, interracial marriage has been advancing:

Half of all Asians are now marrying non-Asians; by the third generation half of all Hispanics are also marrying outside the ethnic group. The black intermarriage rate is slowly but steadily rising. The categories “Hispanic,” “Asian,” and “white” (always questionable) are fast becoming a positive anachronism, and even “black” is a label that is fraying at the edges.1

On the other hand, the history of resistance, while changing, is still with us. There is opposition to interracial marriage from all sides.

LAWS AGAINST MISCEGENATION

Thankfully, this strange word, miscegenation, is not known the way it used to be. It means “the interbreeding of people considered to be of different racial types.” It used to be found in the law books of many states—as prohibited.2

“As late as 1958, only 4 per cent of American whites approved of inter-racial marriage.”3 Interracial marriage was against the law in sixteen states in 1967 when the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court decision struck down those laws.4 Not until 1998 did South Carolina, the state I grew up in, remove from the state constitution language that prohibited “marriage of a white person with a Negro or mulatto or a person who shall have one-eighth or more Negro blood.”5 “According to a Mason-Dixon poll four months before the vote, 22 [percent] of South Carolina voters were opposed to the removal of this clause. It had been introduced in 1895.”6

The legislature in Alabama took until the year 2000 to remove from the state constitution Article IV, Section 102, which said, “The Legislature shall never pass any law to authorize or legalize any marriage between any white person and a Negro, or a descendant of a Negro.”7 That law had been introduced in 1901. “According to a poll conducted by the Mobile Register in September of 2000, 19 [percent] of voters said that they would not remove section 102.… However, 64 [percent] said that they would vote to remove it.”8

That is very fresh historically. I spent the first eighteen years of my life growing up in a state where interracial marriage between white and black was illegal. When those laws were struck down by the Loving case in 1967, I was a senior in college. From a historical perspective, that is almost like yesterday. Laws reflect deep convictions. Often the change in conviction lags far behind the change in law. That is certainly the case with regard to interracial marriage.9

OPPOSITION TO INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE

When I was preparing to preach on this topic in January of 2005, the first website that came up on my Google search for Martin Luther King and interracial marriage was the website of the Ku Klux Klan, which still had this anachronistic quote: “Interracial marriage is a violation of God’s Law and a communist ploy to weaken America.” Communist?

Many African Americans believe interracial marriage erodes the solidarity of the African American community. Lawrence Otis Graham wrote that “interracial marriage undermines [African-Americans’] ability to introduce our children to black role models who accept their racial identity with pride.”10

Some whites oppose interracial marriage for a different reason. Syndicated columnist H. Millard wrote:

We are seeing the death of the American and his replacement with a non-European type who now has enough mass in our society to pervert European-American ways.… White people … are going to have to struggle mightily to survive the Neo-Melting Pot and avoid being part of the one-size-fits-all human model. Call it what it is: Genocide and extinction of the white genotype.11

One personal letter I received from a white Christian man went like this:

As individuals, they are precious souls for whom Christ died and whom we are to love and seek to win. As a race, however, they are unique and different and have their own culture.… I would never marry a black. Why? Because I believe God made the races, separated them and set the bounds of their habitation (Deuteronomy 32:8; Acts 17:26).

He made them uniquely different and intended that these distinctions remain. God never intended the human race to become a mixed or mongrel race. So, while I am strongly opposed to segregation, I favor separation that the uniqueness with which God made them is maintained.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

To these opposing views, I would add my own experience. I was a Southern teenage racist (by almost any definition), and since I am a sinner still, I do not doubt that elements of it remain in me, to my dismay. For these lingering attitudes and actions, I repent and set my heart against them.

Racism is a very difficult reality to define. But let’s again make use of the definition that the Presbyterian Church in America decided on in the summer of 2004: “Racism is an explicit or implicit belief or practice that qualitatively distinguishes or values one race over other races.”12 That is what I mean when I say I was a racist growing up in Greenville, South Carolina. My attitudes and actions were demeaning and disrespectful toward nonwhites, and blacks were the only nonwhites I knew. At the heart of those attitudes was opposition to interracial marriage.

As I mentioned in the introduction, my mother, who literally washed my mouth out with soap once for saying “Shut up!” to my sister, would have washed my mouth out with gasoline if she knew how foul my mouth was racially. She was, under God, the seed of my salvation in more ways than one. As I mentioned previously, after our church voted not to admit blacks in 1963, when I was seventeen, my mother ushered the black guests at my sister’s wedding right into the main sanctuary herself because the ushers wouldn’t do it. I was on my way to redemption.

In 1967 my wife, Noël, and I attended the Urbana Missions Conference. I was a senior at Wheaton College. There we heard Warren Webster, former missionary to Pakistan, answer a student’s question: “What if your daughter falls in love with a Pakistani while you’re on the mission field and wants to marry him?” With great forcefulness, he said something like, “Better a Christian Pakistani than a godless white American!” The impact on us was profound.

Four years later I wrote a paper called “The Ethics of Interracial Marriage” for Lewis Smedes in an ethics class at Fuller Seminary. I still have it. For me that was a biblical settling of the matter, and I have not gone back from what I saw there. The Bible does not oppose or forbid interracial marriages. And there are circumstances which together with biblical principles make interracial marriage in many cases a positive good.

Now I am a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. One quick walk through the pictorial directory of our church gives me a rough count of 203 non-Anglos pictured in the book. I am sure I missed some, and that more have joined since the directory was printed in 2005. And I am sure the definition of Anglo is so vague that someone will be bothered that I even tried to count. But the point is this: many of them are children and teenagers and single young men and women. This means very simply that we as a church need a clear place to stand on interracial marriage. Church is the most natural and proper place to find a spouse. And some of them will find each other across racial lines.

John Piper, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 203–206.

What does the Bible say about tatoos?

Josh Hunt — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 21:17:13 GMT

QA sermon in our church regarding tattoos has stirred a debate in our home, and I need your help to clarify a couple of things.

1. Based on Leviticus 19:28 and 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, would someone who gets a tattoo be honoring God with his/her body?

2. If so, how does this differ from ear piercing?

3. How can we apply one law from the Old Testament and discard others, specifically the laws in Leviticus about cutting hair on the sides, mixing crops in the field, etc.?

A The New Covenant is not composed of 50 percent of the Old Covenant. It’s not 60-40, 80-20, or even 95-5. It is all new. All of it. We cannot decide which Old Covenant laws, prohibitions, statutes, or ordinances are “in effect” and which have been nailed to the cross. No human being can do that—no minister, no priest, no scholar—for it is clear that nothing in the Old Covenant is binding/required for the Christian today. Nothing, as stipulated in the Old Covenant, is required for Christians.

There are laws and principles in the Old Covenant that teachings of the New Covenant are based upon, but when they are, they are clearly enunciated in the New Testament. If they are not, then there is no clear mandate that Christians have to pick and choose from the Old Covenant, or to teach that some of the Old Covenant is required for Christians while other parts are not.

What about your specific question . . . ear piercing, cutting hair, mixing crops, and tattoos? Sincere and well-intentioned Christians, church leaders, and pastors often decide that they need to make a statement and draw a line in the sand about what they believe to be a negative social or cultural trend. They realize that they should base their convictions in and on the Bible, so they do. They often search for and find a place in the Bible that agrees with their a priori conclusion. This practice is called proof-texting—or script-torture.

Years ago, when the Beatles first became popular, some Christians were convinced that their music was at the very best bad, and at the worst evil, because the Beatles had “long hair.” They thus condemned the Beatles and their music by saying that long hair is a shame to a man, quoting 1 Corinthians 11:14. But, 1) that is not what the passage in 1 Corinthians means, and 2) even if it did, there are many cultural difficulties with determining what constitutes long hair for a man. For example, Roman men, at the time of the writing of 1 Corinthians, wore their hair much shorter than did the Jews of Palestine. The Beatles, and their music, may have been good, bad, or somewhere in between, but to try to force the Bible to line up behind cultural values we prefer is biblically dishonest.

Regarding tattoos: the prohibition you note in Leviticus has to do with a specific practice in that day and age that had religious overtones, not the practice that most men and women (specifically the young) find appealing today. We should not try to infer that the Bible (and hence God) agrees with us, when in fact the Bible is silent.

I personally happen to believe that a young man or woman who gets multiple tattoos is one day going to wish he or she had not covered their body with these markings. Scarring your skin with the name of a boy-or girlfriend who may well not wind up as your spouse is not a smart, long-term decision; but for those who only live in the moment, it seems exciting. Perhaps the concern of a message, a sermon, or a discussion on this topic ought to be about long-term consequences of decisions that we make today—and how we all, young and old, need to keep that principle (which is biblical) in mind.

Greg Albrecht, Between Religious Rocks and Life’s Hard Places: 101 Answers to Tough Questions about What You Believe (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007).

What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

Josh Hunt — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 21:10:27 GMT

HOMOSEXUALITY Sexual relations between people of the same sex. When discussing homosexuality, the biblical emphasis is on behavior, and the verdict is always that it is sinful.

Homosexuality is a consequence of rejecting the created order. The prima facie case against homosexuality in the Scripture is found in God’s creative plan for human sexuality. God created mankind as male and female, to procreate within the context of marriage (Gen. 1:27–28; 2:18–24). This creation order for human sexuality received the endorsement of both the Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 10:6–9; Matt. 19:4–6) and the Apostle Paul (Eph. 5:31). On the surface, homosexual behavior should be recognized as sinful because it violates God’s original plan for heterosexual monogamy.

Against this background of God’s creation scheme for human sexual expression, Paul makes a theological argument in Rom. 1:18–32 that homosexuality is one consequence of rejecting God as Creator and His created order. Paul indicates that both male homosexuality and female lesbianism result from a denial of God. He begins by showing that through rejection of the “creation” (1:20) and “the Creator” (1:25) women “exchanged natural sexual intercourse for what is unnatural” (1:26 HCSB). He adds also that the men “left natural sexual intercourse with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males” (1:27 HCSB). Paul’s argument: Because these people reject God, He gives them over to the desires of their own sinful hearts. In the course of this text, Paul uses several other negative terms to describe homosexuality, such as “uncleanness,” “dishonor,” “vile passions,” “error,” “debased mind,” and “not fitting.” In addition, homosexuality is included here in a serious list of vices that are deserving of death, not only for those who practice but also for those who approve (1:32).

As to modern notions of “homosexual orientation,” a scriptural perspective will view any same sex inclinations at least as harmful as proclivities toward any other sin, as negative consequences of fallen human nature that is inclined towards sin. In light of Rom. 1, homosexual predisposition may also be an indication and outworking of earlier and other sin(s).

Homosexuality is a sin that results in judgment. The first mention of homosexuality in the Bible depicts God’s judgment upon it as sin. It was the outstanding transgression of Sodom and Gomorrah. The severity of the judgment, which came because of homosexuality, indicates the seriousness of this sin (Gen. 19:1–11). Both cities were destroyed as “the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire” (19:24 NASB). The NT commentary on this event is that these two cities were turned to ashes as a matter of God’s holy wrath, specifically because their inhabitants had given themselves to “sexual immorality and practiced perversions” (2 Pet. 2:6–7; Jude 7).

Some pro-homosexual interpreters have claimed that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not homosexuality per se, but homosexual gang rape. While it is accurate to say that the men of Sodom sought to rape Lot’s guests, the text does not indicate that the sex would have been acceptable if only the angelic visitors had consented. Also, the fact that God’s judgment came upon two entire cities argues that it was not just the one instance of gang rape in Sodom that was an offense to God. Instead, God’s announced plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah before the rape incident occurred indicates that the practice of homosexual behavior in both cities was an affront to the holiness of God. When the homosexuals demanded carnally “to know” Lot’s guests, they were merely attempting again what they had been doing for some time. Lot protested, “Do not act wickedly” (Gen. 19:7 NASB). But long before this, when Lot initially pitched his tent toward the city, we read “the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the LORD” (13:13 NASB). Again, before the attempted gang rape, God said, “Their sin is exceedingly grave” (18:20 NASB), and Abraham also said they were “wicked” (18:23, 25).

Another pro-homosexual interpretation is that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was inhospitality, not homosexuality or homosexual rape. An appeal is made from Ezek. 16:49 that Sodom was judged for violating the hospitality code. From this passage, the claim is made of Gen. 19 that the men of Sodom wanted “to know” (yadaʿ) Lot’s guests only in the sense of “getting acquainted with them.” However, yadaʿ is used in a sexual way in the OT at least 10 times, and half of these uses occur in Genesis. Added to this, the context of Gen. 19 argues for the sexual meaning of “to know.” It makes no sense to say that yadaʿ means “acquainted with” in verse 8 where Lot says his daughters had not “known” any men. Certainly they were acquainted with men of the city. But they had not sexually “known” any men.

The “inhospitality” interpreters also point to the absence of any mention of homosexuality in other passages that hold up Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of judgment, such as Isa. 1:10; Jer. 23:14; Matt. 10:14–15; and Luke 10:10–12. There are also several problems with this approach. First, these texts do not exclude homosexuality. In the case of Ezek. 16:49, sexual sins should be viewed as a form of selfishness. Besides, the next verse (16:50) shows that the sin was sexual by calling it an “abomination.” In Lev. 18:22 this same word is used to describe homosexual sins. Most of all, the problem with this view is that the 2 Peter and Jude passages do link the judgment of the cities to the sexual sin of homosexuality, and this does not contradict in any way the other judgment passages. For this reason, those who take the authority of Scripture seriously will reject the pro-homosexual/inhospitality view (Judg. 19:16–24).

Violation of Old Testament law The Holiness Code, which conveyed God’s demands for ordering the life of His covenant people, contained two clear prohibitions against homosexual activity. In a large section on sexual morality which should be viewed as an extension of the seventh commandment, “The LORD spoke to Moses saying … ‘You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female’ ” (Lev. 18:1, 22 NASB). Then later, repeating with 18:22 that homosexuality is an “abomination,” Lev. 20:13 adds, “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them … shall surely be put to death.”

Violation of New Testament ethic In 1 Tim. 1:8–10 Paul discusses the value of the OT law in the present era, if used wisely. It is to be used to judge “sinners.” Then he includes “homosexuals” (arsenokoitai) in his vice list, which delineates those who are “the ungodly.” Also in 1 Cor. 6:9–11 “homosexuals” appears in a similar vice list, and Paul comments that anyone who continues in these sins will not inherit the kingdom of God. Arsenokoites refers to the active partner in the homosexual act. However, in addition to “homosexuals” in 1 Cor. 6:9, Paul adds a second word, “effeminate” (malakoi). Malakoi refers to the passive member in the homosexual relationship. The point is that both passive and active kinds of “homosexual” behavior are sinful, ungodly, and disqualify one from entrance into the kingdom of God.

Forgivable and changeable through Jesus Christ However ungodly and undeserving of heaven any homosexual might be, there is the opportunity to be forgiven, changed, and declared righteous through Jesus Christ. Paul continues in 1 Cor. 6:11 (HCSB) to say, “Some of you were like this.” The Corinthian church evidently contained some former homosexuals who had been converted. Furthermore, Paul adds of them, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” The homosexual who repents and believes receives the same cleansing, sanctification, and justification as every other believer who turns from sin to Christ.

Jerry A. Johnson

Jerry A. Johnson, “Homosexuality,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 777–779.

Should we have women pastors? (A historical perspective.)

Josh Hunt — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 21:05:21 GMT

There have been women pastors and Bible teachers in the history of the church, but there were almost none up until 1850. There were very few from 1850 to 1950, although some charismatic groups and some groups that placed a high emphasis on personal calling and evidence of effective ministry (such as Wesleyans and Nazarenes) did have some women pastors.

The most significant increase in the number of women pastors occurred from 1950 to the present, and it has come largely in more liberal denominations. However, some evangelical groups have also been part of this trend, particularly since the 1970s and 1980s.

So in the last 150 years, there is some historical precedent for women pastors and Bible teachers, but it is not as strong as egalitarians would have us believe, and it is small compared with the entire history of the church. In any case, our final standard of what is right and wrong must be Scripture, not church history.

Claims of God’s evident blessing on women’s pastoral ministry, claims that God is calling certain women to be pastors and Bible teachers to be men, claims about the uniqueness of this time in history, and claims that manhood and womanhood aren’t really different must be answered with the affirmation that the Bible alone is our final authority, not our experiences.

Therefore, the egalitarian claims in this chapter do have some interest, and they must be considered, but ultimately the answer to the controversy must be found in Scripture, not in evidence from history or personal experience.

Wayne Grudem, Evangelical Feminism & Biblical Truth: An Analysis of More than One Hundred Disputed Questions (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 489.

Should we pray for the dead?

Josh Hunt — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 19:56:45 GMT

Not only is it unbiblical to pray to the dead, but we believe that it is also wrong to pray for the dead. There are several Protestant objections to praying for the dead. The most important ones are the following:

Praying for the dead contradicts the separation of death. The Bible speaks of death as separating the living from the departed. Paul speaks of death as “departure” from earth and being with Christ (Phil. 1:23; cf. 2 Tim. 4:6). It is when we “leave the body” (2 Cor. 5:7). Luke 16:26 speaks of a “great chasm” between the living and the dead. Paul speaks of death separating loved ones until they are reunited at the resurrection (1 Thess. 4:13–18). In all of Scripture death is a veil that seals off the living from the dead. Any attempted contacts with the dead are not only futile but forbidden (Deut. 18:11) because of the possibility of demonic deception (cf. 1 Tim. 4:1).

Praying for the dead contradicts the example of David. When David’s baby was alive but seriously ill he prayed for it fervently. However, when the baby died he ceased praying for it immediately.48 When asked why, he replied, “While the child was living, I fasted and wept, thinking, ‘Perhaps the LORD will grant me the child’s life.’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to be with him, but he will not return to me” (2 Sam. 12:22–23). It is clear that David, who as a prophet of God claimed that “the spirit of the LORD spoke through me” (2 Sam. 23:2), believed that prayers for the dead were ineffective. For if he believed that any prayer for the dead was effective, he certainly would have attempted it in his most desperate hour. In fact, in all of his many spiritual writings in the Psalms about how to communicate with God David never once even suggested that we pray for the dead.

Praying for the dead contradicts the example of Jesus. When Jesus lost his close friend Lazarus by death he never prayed to God for him.49 He simply resurrected him with the command “Lazarus, come forth!” Rather than pray for the dead, Jesus prayed for the living. At Lazarus’s graveside Jesus prayed, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me” (John 11:41–42). Ironically, many reverse this by weeping for the living who stray and praying for the dead, while Jesus wept for the dead (John 11:35) and prayed for the living (11:41–42). The practice of praying for the dead is not the only time that humanly initiated religious practice has made void the teaching of Sacred Scripture (cf. Matt. 15:6).

Praying for the dead contradicts the sacrifice of Christ. As we have already noted, the whole idea that our prayers or works can do anything on behalf of the dead is contrary to the all-sufficiency of the completed work of Christ on the Cross. His mediation and intercession for them (1 John 2:1–2) are more than sufficient. When Jesus died and rose again the work of salvation was “finished” (John 19:30; cf. 17:4; Heb. 10:14). When he purged our sins he “took his seat” at the right hand of God (Heb. 1:3) since there was absolutely nothing more to do for our salvation. The whole concept of praying for the dead “that they might be freed from sin” is an insult to the finished work of Christ, “who freed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev. 1:5). Jesus not only obtained salvation from all our sins at one time but, as our great high priest (Heb. 7), he alone implements it for all time (see chaps. 12 and 13)

Norman L. Geisler and Ralph E. MacKenzie, Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1995), 353–354.

Be Still and Know That I Am God

Josh Hunt — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 21:44:39 GMT

BE STILL

Frederick Buechner

“Be still, and know that I am God!” PSALM 46:10 NRSV

In our minds we are continually chattering with ourselves, and the purpose of meditation is to stop it. To begin with, maybe we try to concentrate on a single subject—the flame of a candle, the row of peas we are weeding, our own breath. When other subjects float up to distract us, we escape them by simply taking note of them and then letting them float away without thinking about them. We keep returning to the in-and-out of our breathing until there is no room left in us for anything else. To the candle flame until we ourselves start to flicker and burn. To the weeds until we become only a pair of grubby hands pulling them. In time we discover that we are no longer chattering.

If we persist, every once and so often we may find ourselves entering the suburbs of a state where we are conscious but no longer conscious of anything in particular, where we have let go of almost everything.

The end of meditation is to become empty enough to be filled with the kind of stillness the psalmist has in mind.

Frederick Buechner et al., Faith That Matters: 365 Devotions from Classic Christian Leaders (Grand Rapids, MI: HarperOne, 2018).

The Basic Needs of a Growing Christian

Josh Hunt — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 19:07:03 GMT

Beside assurance and acceptance, a growing Christian has four basic needs. He needs protection, fellowship, food, and training.

He needs protection. Paul continued to undergo the pains of childbirth for his converts till Christ was formed in them (see Gal. 4:19). He prayed for the Corinthians that they would not do anything wrong (see 2 Cor. 13:7).

New babies need protection. In a hospital nursery the nurses sterilize everything; they wear masks to protect the new little lives from germs. New life is tender and fragile, and must be protected from disease. So it is with new babes in Christ. They need protection from false cults and a variety of attacks by the enemy. People spreading the disease of false religion will show up at their door. The convert’s old cronies will try to entice him back into the old paths. A former girlfriend will want to renew the relationship. Satan, as a roaring lion, will try to destroy him. So he must be protected and immunized with the Word of God.

He needs fellowship. He has been bom into a family and he needs the fellowship of his brothers and sisters in Christ. When my wife and I came to Christ, a woman in the church we attended took special pains to make sure we met Christian couples our age. She took time to look up passages in the Bible for us in answer to the many questions we had. She would introduce us to others in the congregation who would invite us to their homes for fellowship during the week. A farmer, a banker, a barber—they extended their lives to us and made us feel at home and welcome in the Sunday school and church.

I would still go out with some of my old ex-Marine buddies occasionally, but these people from church stuck with Virginia and me like a peel on an orange. I know our language and lifestyle must have caused them some concern and no doubt even offended some of them, but they overlooked it. Babies occasionally make messes, do foolish things, and may be somewhat of a bother. So are babies in the spiritual realm. Our new friends from church didn’t let it bother them, and after some months I noticed something. I felt more at home with these new friends than I did with the people I had known most of my life. The Spirit of God, who had made us part of the body of Christ, was beginning to make us feel part of the body.

When I was in high school, I worked in a bakery. Frequently we would make batches of frosting for cakes and chocolate donuts. I would take great lumps of broken chocolate, put them in a pan, and warm them over a low fire. The chocolate lumps would begin to melt, stick together, and finally blend into one pan full of melted chocolate.

That’s what Christian fellowship is all about. Not a group of people in one building like marbles in a bag, but like lumps of chocolate that have blended together and become part of one another. This only happens through the ministry of the Holy Spirit as He slowly warms our hearts together in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Gal. 5:22-23).

He needs food. Natural babies need to be fed regularly. Spiritual babies need the same regularity in their feeding. And their spiritual food is the Word of God. “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3).

You give the new believer food in two ways. One is to teach him the Word. When my wife and I would visit in the homes of our new Christian friends, the conversation would invariably turn to spiritual things. We would ask questions, and they would get out their Bibles and share the answers with us. I soon became convinced that every answer to every question was in that Book. When they didn’t have an answer to a question I asked, they would go to other leaders in the church who would help them with it and they in turn would share that answer with us. I was also learning the Scriptures in Sunday school and church.

But it wasn’t till I met Waldron Scott that I learned the second way of feeding on the Word. My friends fed me from the Bible, but Scotty taught me to feed myself. He took Virginia and me through some basic question and answer Bible studies where we had to dig out the answers ourselves. He taught us to memorize Scripture for ourselves. He showed us how we could feed ourselves from the Bible.

So, in order to help a new Christian grow, you must teach him the Word, share it with him, but also teach him how to dig in for himself. Do your best to get him off the spiritual milk bottle. Do your best to help him pass the stage where you have to spoon feed him his spiritual pablum. Teach him to feed himself.

Unless you teach him that vital habit, he will be dependent on others for the rest of his life. God wants him to grow and develop into a strong disciple of Jesus Christ who can, in turn, meet the needs of others and eventually teach them to repeat the process.

He needs training. Again Paul left us an example, “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children” (1 Thess. 2:11). His example of a father is interesting.

A father does not teach his child everything. He does not teach him world history or geometry, but he sees to it that his child goes to school. He may turn him over to a swimming instructor to teach him how to swim; he may take him to a soccer coach to teach him to play that sport. Someone else may teach him the art of photography or the techniques of skiing, but the father is responsible for the overall development of the child.

In your training of the new believer, you should focus on the “how to” of things. The answers to “why?” will come later, but at first the new Christian needs to learn how. Paul told the Thessalonians, “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more” (1 Thess. 4:1).

The growing believer needs to learn how to have a time of morning prayer and Bible reading, how to memorize the Word of God, how to do Bible study, how to share the gospel in a simple and clear manner. These things will take time, but it is your responsibility to teach them to him.

All of this presupposes that you are doing these things yourself. When Waldron Scott started me on Scripture memory, he told me, “Here’s something that has been a great help to me.” And he gave me a small packet of verses, the Beginning with Christ pack.

What if he had said, “Here’s something that will probably be of some help to you. Personally, I have never done it myself? How would that have impressed me? Not too well.

Being an example is one of the best ways to teach another person. Paul stated, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:9).

Don Rosenberger was an admiral’s writer at Pearl Harbor during World War II. Kenny Watters was a Christian who worked in the same office with Don. After Kenny had led Don to Christ, Don noticed that Kenny came to the office a half hour early, took his Bible out of his desk, and read it before beginning his day’s work.

Don assumed that this was what Christians did, so he started coming in half an hour early and reading his Bible. Then Don noticed that after work Kenny would go out on a hillside, lie down, and pray. So Don began going to the other side of the hill, lying down, and praying as well.

One evening Kenny took him into the mess hall and showed him some charts on the wall. (The chaplain had allowed Kenny to use the mess hall for this purpose.) There were men’s names on these charts with Xs and numbers on the lines between the names. Kenny explained that these represented the progress each Christian sailor had made in his Bible study and Scripture memory. He then asked if Don wanted his name on the wall with the others.

“You bet!” Don replied.

When Don saw what these other men were doing, he wanted to do it too. He was motivated by their example and what they were doing, for he knew that these things could be done by others as well. They showed him how to get started, and he was off and running to become the Christian leader he later became.

LeRoy Eims and Robert E. Coleman, The Lost Art of Disciple Making (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009).

What a disciple needs most

Josh Hunt — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 19:05:15 GMT

"What were the most important things that others taught you or did for you when you were a fledgling believer?" This is a question I asked several Christians recently. Their answers were remarkably similar and boiled dawn to three main areas.

A love for God’s Word. "I’d been a Christian for many years" explained Jan, "But I never read my Bible. I thought it was enough to listen to the Sunday sermon. Tricia taught me how to have a quiet time, how to read through the Bible in a year, how to do Bible study, and how to memorize Scripture. Suddenly I was taking in more Bible Calories’ than I’d ever consumed before. And they were making me FAT! (Tricia told me that stood for Faithful-Available-Teachable.) I never realized how hungry I was for God’s Word—until someone spread it all out before me like a banquet."

A genuine concern for the person. Karen’s first experience with being discipled was a negative one. "I felt this constant pressure to perform. I knew I’d never live up to my mentor’s expectations—so why try!" She was understandably wary of inviting help from anyone else. Then Betty came along. "Betty didn’t just want to know how many verses I’d memorized or how many people I’d witnessed to. She cared about every little detail of my life. She really liked spending time with me. I knew she truly cared, and so I was much more in responsive to her help."

A practical model. Tim met Christ while in college and immediately connected with a Christian ministry on campus. He listened to people talk about doing dorm evangelism, but he had no idea how to share his faith. He made sure he was always unavailable when it was evangelism time. "Then David approached me. He asked me if I would like to try witnessing to some people in the Student Union that evening. I was too terrified to say anything, so David just sort of swept me off my feet and into the Union."

"I’ll talk, you pray," David told Tim. And that’s how it went for the next few weeks. Tim watched David field questions and respond graciously to rejections. David included Tim more and more in the conversation. Tim learned how to give his testimony and present the gospel—and to do both with confidence—because of David’s modeling.

Every person you disciple will be unique. But all of them will benefit from a discipler who helps them dig riches from the Bible, who truly cares for them, and who provides a practical model.

Discipleship Journal, Issue 102 (November/December 1997) (NavPress, 1997).

Teach from a living stream

Josh Hunt — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 13:14:45 GMT

Bruce Wilkinson has an excellent book every teacher ought to read: The Seven Laws of the Learner. In it he tells the story of a seminary professor of his. He would often ride his bicycle by the home of the seminary professor. Sometimes early in the morning, sometimes late at night, he would drive by this professor’s home. Through the living room window Bruce could see the professor poring over the books.

The interesting thing was this: the professor taught New Testament survey. He had been teaching this class for decades. He knew the material in his sleep. But he kept studying. He kept reading. He kept preparing for every class just as if it were his first.

Bruce asked him why he did this. Why did he spend so much time going over material he clearly already knew? His answer was classic: I want to teach from a living stream.

Everyone knows the water from a living stream is better. Fast-moving water is better than stagnant water. It tastes better and it is better for you.

The same is true of teaching. The teaching that comes from a learning heart is better. Your people want to know what Jesus is teaching you now. Have you talked to Jesus lately? Are you struggling in prayer this week? Are you straining toward the prize this week? Are you learning this week?

I have heard too many Bible study lessons that go like this, “Back in ‘74 I had a situation and God showed me …” This is not to say that we should never share stories from a long time ago. Jesus said it this way

He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” Matthew 13:52 (NIV)

Notice that last line: new treasures as well as old. This is what Effective Bible Teachers do. They share new treasures as well as old. They tell of pivotal moments in their own life when God showed them life-altering truths. These moments will never be repeated and are appropriately recalled often. But Effective Bible Teachers do something more. They share from this week.

• This week’s learning.

• This week’s prayers.

• This week’s struggle.

• This week’s service.

People want to know: has Jesus taught you anything recently?

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

The Power of an object lesson

Josh Hunt — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 12:50:34 GMT

I was privileged to hear Mike Dean preach recently. The big idea of the message was on service. We need to do more than sit and soak up Bible study lessons; we need to be doers of the Word. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve. We too need to serve.

One of the great things about this message was the application. Mike gave lots of examples of different ways we can be involved in service. No matter your interest, your talent, your schedule, there is a way for you to serve.

The entire time Mike was speaking, there was a clear bowl of water in front of him with a large yellow sponge in it. With the bowl of water just sitting there, you couldn’t help but wonder why it was there. Toward the end of the message he used it as an incredible object lesson.

Mike said that God doesn’t want us just to sit and soak. When we sit and soak, we sour. Mike put his hand on the sponge. He dipped into the water. He squeezed it and let it go. He lifted it up and squeezed again. Water poured out.

Mike talked about how we don’t want to sit and soak. He talked about how we all will be used by God. He kept dipping the sponge in the water and pulling out and squeezing it. I’ll never forget that picture.

Object lessons are like that: we never forget them. I remember an object lesson from when I was in the sixth grade. I don’t remember the preacher, but I remember the object lesson. The preacher pulled out a big barrel. He talked about Elijah and the widow at Zarephath—how “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.” 1 Kings 17:14 (NIV)

I listened to that preacher for a whole year. I don’t remember any other sermons he preached. But I remember that one because he used an object lesson. Object lessons stick to the brain.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

What did it mean before it was a Bible word?

Josh Hunt — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 12:48:42 GMT

My day job is writing Bible Study Lessons. I have probably written more Bible Study Lessons than any human, living or dead. I write four lessons a week and have done so for years.

My Bible Study Lessons consist of about 20 questions with answers from well-known authors. If Max Lucado ever mentioned the Text we’re talking about, I will likely find it. I’ll provide a Max Lucado quote for you to use in class.

One of my favorite questions to ask goes like this: what did this word mean before it was a Bible word? Or, what did this word mean before Baptists got hold of it? For example:

What did the word saved mean before it was a Bible word? We think of saved as having our sins forgiven and having a place secured for us in heaven. But often in Scripture the word saved is just an ordinary word. Jesus invited Peter to walk on the water. He did well until he looked around at the waves. Then, he started to sink. “Lord, save me!” he cried. He wasn’t talking about having his sins forgiven in this context. I don’t even think he was thinking of heaven. He was thinking of not drowning. How does this story inform our understanding of what it means to be saved?
The word lost is another great example. When we hear the word lost in church, we think of the theological category of lostness. We think of someone whose sins have not been forgiven. We think of someone who is separated from God. But in Luke 15, Jesus discusses three things that were lost—a lost coin, a lost sheep, and a lost son. One thing Jesus is teaching in these parables is what it feels like to lose something, and what it feels like when what was lost is found. Jesus seems to be making a big point of the emotion. In each case, he emphasizes the joy of finding what was lost. We also see the pain and desperation when something that is valuable to us is lost. One lesson is this: we ought to care about the lost, and think about the lost, and be a little bit obsessed about the lost, in the same way we get obsessed when we lose some money or our keys or a kid. My point is this: great insight can be gained by thinking of the word “lost” in its non-theological sense.

One more.

Redeemed. We love to sing the song, “Since I Have Been Redeemed,” and, “Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It,” but do we ever use the word redeemed in everyday life? When I was a child, we used to redeem green stamps. But I am not sure that helps me to understand what redeemed meant in Bible days. Redeemed has come to be a strictly theological word. But, when it was used in the Bible, it was not a theological word. It was just a normal word. And so again, we need to ask, what did this word mean before it became a Bible word? The greatest picture of this is perhaps Hosea who bought back (redeemed) his wife who left him to live a life of adultery. Now there is a word picture of what it means to be redeemed. We left God. We went after other loves. We got ourselves in a mess. And God bought us back at a great price.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

Finishing the race

Josh Hunt — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 13:19:39 GMT

Why do so many good people do bad things? Why do so many fail to finish the race. Much of it is a matter of habit. Good habits make being good easy. Bad habits make being good impossible.

If you want to start a habit or stop a habit the key is not to try really hard to do this or stop doing that. Trying hard is overrated. Not to say there is not a place for trying hard. But trying hard is like a spare tire. You need a spare tire because every now and then you have a flat. But, if you live your whole life on a spare tire, you are in trouble.

Developing a new habit starts with identifying one habit and working on one habit at a time. The next step is to find a friend to take the journey with you.

The next step is to find a way of escape.

Allow me to misquote a verse. See if you can catch where I got this wrong:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will provide supernatural strength so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

Did you catch it? Here’s the real verse. See if you can find the difference:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

Success is rarely about trying really hard. It is about finding the way of escape.

There is an old story that goes like this. A man walks down the street and falls in a hole. He hates falling in the hole, and resolves tomorrow he will not fall into the hole.

The next day he gets up and goes down the street again. Again, he falls into the hole. “This is awful! I hate this hole! I have got to stop falling in this hole!”

The next day he falls into the hole again. He resolves to try harder.

The next day he walks on the other side of the street. When he gets near the hole he thinks to himself, “I’ll just take a little peek inside.” He falls into the hole.

This goes on for several weeks. Each day he is a little bit more frustrated with himself for falling into the hole. Man, does he hate that hole.

Then, one day, he stumbles on to a solution. After this day he never falls into the hole again. What is the solution? He walks down a different street.

Snickers and apples

If you put a bowl of Snickers bars on the table in front of me, I would eat them. If you put an apple on the table in front of me, I would eat the apple. Eating an apple instead of Snickers is not about trying really hard to not eat Snickers. It is about what you put in the bowl. Find the way of escape.

If you can avoid the temptation, you can avoid the sin. Temptation is not a sin. However, every time we can avoid temptation we will avoid sin.

Josh Hunt, Break a Habit / Make a Habit (Josh Hunt, 2013).

The single most important spiritual discipline

Josh Hunt — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 21:32:30 GMT

Some wag remarked that the worst dust storm in history would happen if all church members who were neglecting their Bibles dusted them off simultaneously.

So even though we honor God’s Word with our lips, we must confess that our hearts—as well as our hands, ears, eyes, and minds—are often far from it. Regardless of how busy we become with all things Christian, we must remember that the most transforming practice available to us is the disciplined intake of Scripture.

Bible intake is not only the most important Spiritual Discipline, it is also the most broad. It actually consists of several subdisciplines. It’s much like a university comprised of many colleges, each specializing in a different discipline, yet all united under the general name of the university.

Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), 28–29.

The Medical and Psychological Benefits of Marriage

Josh Hunt — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 14:08:58 GMT

An excellent summary of the studies done on married people can be found in the book The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially by Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher.1 Here are just a few of the many findings:

Married people are much happier and likely to be less unhappy than any other group of people.
Married people live up to eight years longer than divorced or never-married people.
Married people suffer less from long-term illnesses than those who are unmarried.
Married people are less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse.
Married people have twice the amount of sex single people have and report greater levels of satisfaction in the area of sexual intimacy.

A look at individual studies by social scientists also confirms these conclusions. For example, married men and women report greater satisfaction with family life.2 Married couples report greater sexual satisfaction,3 and married women report higher levels of physical and psychological health.4 Married people experience less depression.5

Kerby Anderson, A Biblical Point of View on Homosexuality (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2008).

Midsized Groups

Josh Hunt — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 15:20:38 GMT

Do you think the apostle Peter was nervous before he preached at Pentecost? How many people do you think he thought would respond to his message? Before you answer, remember, there were no churches, Christian organizations, or church history present when this took place. So what do you think? Twenty-five people? Thirty-five people? A hundred people?

Of course we know that more than three thousand people were saved through that first day of preaching! In other words, the first Christian church was a megachurch from day one. So how did the disciples respond to make sure that everyone was cared for and that the initial explosion of growth did not create a chaotic environment that would hamper the spread of the gospel?

Acts 2:46 tells us one of the keys that allowed the church to go from three thousand to countless millions was tribes: "And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart." In other words, from the beginning, the three thousand new converts were divided into small tribes, which met in homes to study together, break bread, and care for each other. This is why it is important for church leaders to understand a second layer of "tribes" at their church, the small group.

At Lake Pointe Church we tell every new member that it is vital for each person to find a small group or "tribe" in which they can become an active participant. This is first communicated at an orientation that is offered once a month on a Sunday evening. The purpose of this three-hour introduction to our fellowship is to help the new member along a clear path of spiritual formation and assimilation. In addition, we share the purpose of the church and expectations of each individual toward fulfilling our mission.

Why make this an emphasis? Because those who only attend the large church gathering tend to remain spectators. By joining a small or even midsize group (which we call Life Groups), they move toward accountability and as a result, greater spiritual maturity. I often say in those settings, "We are not really a large church, we are a collection of small churches, and there is a sense in which you haven't really found your church until you have found a smaller tribe we call Life Groups."

We happen to be a church that believes in on-site, midsized tribes as well as small home-based groups. Many other great churches only offer small groups in homes to accomplish the same ends and many of them do so effectively. We have chosen to offer weekly, on-site, midsized Life Groups that meet immediately prior to or following the worship services. These groups further subdivide into off-site Growth Groups that meet once or twice per month in homes. We believe on-site Life Groups are most effective for the following reasons:

1. Time: When someone gives their time to attend a church service on one day and then must give up a second time slot on another day for their small group experience, they are less likely to do so. However, if they can attend their Life Group immediately before or after a service, even if they are on the property for 2½ hours, they consider it only one section of time. The majority of your most-committed people will give you two time slots a week, not three. If two slots are already required by a worship service and a "week night" small group experience, it is hard to get them to commit the third time slot to serve in a ministry. Others may come to service and serve but will not commit the third hour to the vital community they need to experience in the Life Group. As a result, most churches with only off-site small groups average at best 30 to 40 percent of their adult membership. Churches with well-managed on-site, midsized groups can see a participation rate as high as 80 percent.

2. Childcare: Even the best efforts to provide home-based childcare, which range from "find your own childcare" to "stick the kids in a back room" to "one couple misses one out of every five gatherings," fall short. On-site programming for children is easier to make safe, efficient, effective, and convenient. It is also my personal belief that some of our church members who attend Life Groups have not yet really bought into the small group concept, but they attend faithfully just to get a break from their kids for a few hours each week.

3. Fear and Convenience: It is much easier to ask a new church member to walk down the hall and try out a Life Group while they are already in the building than it is to ask them to navigate their way to a home in a strange neighborhood. And here is the reality. If you go into a room to visit a Life Group on-site and you get uncomfortable, if you do not enjoy it, or if it just goes too long, you can always pretend to go to the restroom and not return. This is pretty difficult to pull off in a home unless you are planning to climb out of someone's bathroom window! I have found that many new paradigm churches today only offer small home groups and do not offer midsized on-site groups. The common argument is that they cannot afford the building costs associated with on-site midsized groups. While I understand their concern, I believe that if a larger percentage of their people were assimilated through the use of midsized on-site groups, the necessary resources to provide facilities for such groups would exist. However, in the few parts of the country where land is so expensive that it becomes nearly impossible to provide the necessary facilities for on-site groups, I would suggest a modified on-site midsized group strategy. Here, the church could provide one or two midsized rooms with a capacity of approximately 80 to 100. The church could then invite several small groups that usually meet in homes to join together with other small groups for 4 to 5 weeks, utilizing those rooms before or after existing services and providing on-site childcare. Those who had not yet connected to a small group could then be invited to check out the collection of small groups meeting on the campus for that month. A new collection of small groups could then rotate on campus the following month. The small groups rotating on campus could be from a selected geographical region with various age groups, or they could be a collection of a particular age group from various regions.

4. Group Psychology: It is a very large sociological leap for a person to take who is enjoying the anonymity of a large group of several hundreds or even several thousands to be thrust into a small group of 8 to 10 people. We have found that a midsize group of 25 to 80 allows the person to acclimate more slowly toward greater intimacy and accountability. After people develop trusting relationships, they are more willing to commit to an additional periodic time slot and the more intimate experiences in a home-based small group. By the way, there are some people whose personality profiles make it almost impossible to move them to the smaller setting without first transitioning through the midsize experience.

In short, it takes less time and courage, and there are fewer childcare complexities involved, in attending an on-site midsized group than a small off-site group.

Lake Pointe Life Groups

When Lake Pointe began more than thirty years ago, we started two midsized Life Groups for couples. One group was for those who were over forty years of age and one was for couples younger than forty. In addition, we started one men's Life Group and one ladies' Life Group. This served those who preferred to meet and study the Bible separately from their spouse, those whose spouse refused to attend, or those whose spouse was working in our childcare area at that hour. Today we have a total of 156 midsize, on-site Life Groups that meet each week.

Very quickly we found that more of our people moved into our Life Group tribes when they fully understood the five purposes of these groupings and the needs met there that could not be provided in a larger service format. The first unique purpose of a Life Group is interactive Bible study. Obviously a large service format does not allow an abundance of questions and answers, individual application, and then personal encouragement to follow through on biblical insights. Interestingly, this vital interaction is what many people are seeking to avoid by not attending Life Groups.

Some people fear that by attending one of these groups, they will be asked to read aloud, pray aloud, or answer a complex spiritual question about a biblical passage. This is why we guarantee that Life Groups are interactive on the attendees' terms. They can ask any questions they desire and volunteer to give input as they like, but no one will initiate interaction without their prior approval. Life Groups are a safe place to listen and learn on the participants' terms and at their comfort level.

Because interactive Bible study is a part of the Life Group, all of our Life Group teachers are trained to lead Bible study discussions rather than lecture. They are required to serve as an assistant teacher and attend a four-week training course for new leaders before leading a group. Before they can lead their own group, they are also required to fill out a questionnaire that requires them to share their church background, salvation experience, and doctrinal beliefs.

After interning as an assistant, taking the training course, and filling out the questionnaire, they are then interviewed by our board of elders. At that interview they are asked to verbally affirm that they will be faithful in their giving, be loyal to church leadership, and abstain from the appearance of evil. This is in addition to the commitment they are asked to make to support the values of the church and adhere to basic biblical disciplines that should be a part of every fully developing Christian's life.

The process is demanding because, in a lot of ways, as the small group tribe goes, so goes the church. A staff member or lay volunteer then provides continuing coaching to each Life Group leader to foster his or her ongoing development.

Each Life Group has two leaders, the primary teaching leader and the care leader. While the teaching leader is the recognized and primary spokesperson for the group, the care leader is responsible for helping organize members' care and ministry projects as well as facilitating smaller home-based Growth Groups and accountability partnerships.

The second purpose for Life Groups is fellowship. God's Word makes it clear how important it is to have close Christian friends. Ecclesiastes 4:9 says "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts." Life Groups provide the environment in which it is more likely participants will develop lifetime and Christ-honoring relationships. If someone has been a member of Lake Pointe for several years and complains of being unable to develop meaningful friendships, I will ask the person about their Life Group participation. Life Groups are where those deeper relationships are formed.

One of the disappointments that I have as the pastor of a larger church is that I don't have the opportunity to know everyone in the church. I'm not the only one who feels this tension. One of the complaints I hear from time to time about Lake Pointe is that we are "just such a large church." People are even hesitant to join such a large church for fear that, unlike the church they attended before Lake Pointe, "they won't know everyone."

But large numerical growth doesn't have to exclude meaningful relationships. I love baseball and I love going to see the Texas Rangers play. Over the years the massive size of the crowd has never bothered me. A big crowd usually means the team is on a winning streak (or that it is opening day). Why does it not seem to concern me that I do not "know everyone" at the ballpark? Two reasons: First, I know that I am a part of a larger tribe called Rangers fans and that for the most part—except for those pesky Red Sox and Yankee fans living in our city—most of the people seated around me, even if I do not know their names, are cheering and hoping for the same outcome. Second, I always attend the game with a smaller tribe—my wife, Marsha, and another couple, our grandkids, or three or four buddies who are also Rangers fans.

The baseball metaphor illustrates a similar dynamic that happens in a local church. It does not matter how large the church gets, if you are involved in a smaller tribe or Life Group with which you are experiencing ever-deepening friendships. Building healthy small group tribes is an essential fellowship component to every tribal church.

The third critical activity that occurs in these Life Group tribes is care. When someone joins our church family, it is our responsibility to care for that person's spiritual, emotional, and, in some cases, physical needs. But, it is that individual's responsibility to put himself or herself in the place where this kind of care takes place. At Lake Pointe that place is a Life Group. It is the Life Group's care leader whose primary responsibility is to organize the tribe members to care for one another.

I do not know when it happened, but at some time in the history of the church, people began to expect the clergy to do all the ministering. I believe that is why 59 percent of the churches in America have fewer than 100 participants, counting both adults and children.1 That is about the number of people for whom one person can effectively care. According to Ephesians 4:12, it is the job of those in the pastor/teacher role to equip the saints to minister to one another. Which is also to say, it is not only the responsibility of church members to put themselves in a place to be cared for, but also for them to position themselves to care for others. It is amazing to me that there are those who become concerned when they do not get the attention they feel they need, but then have no concern about the unmet needs of their fellow tribesmen.

Whenever there is a death, sickness, or another kind of crisis in a Lake Pointe member's life, we can tell immediately if that person has a meaningful connection to a Life Group. When I or another staff member show up, if that person is an active Life Group member, we find there is very little—if anything—that needs to be added to the ministry already taking place. The love expressed by the Life Group is both more meaningful and helpful because of the knowledge that comes from everyone involved having done life together deeply. If that person has not connected to a Life Group, we find most times that the ministry from our staff is the entire ministry they receive.

One of the ways we have empowered our leaders and helped them to be seen as true ministers is by encouraging the observance of Communion in Life Groups. In addition, many times Life Group leaders will baptize the members or family members of their own Life Group.

The fourth unique benefit from Life Group involvement is meaningful service. All of our Life Groups are commissioned to adopt at least one ministry project for their tribe. Many of our groups have taken on multiple projects, giving their participants a variety of opportunities, including those that are local, national, and international. In other words, Life Group members not only study God's Word together, they also put God's Word into action together. There is a deeper intimacy that comes to a tribe when they serve God together.

When our church first began, the connection between Life Groups and individual ministry involvement was not as strong as it is today. In those early days, if you wanted to serve, you did so in addition to the time spent with your Life Group with those outside of your Life Group. Although some in our congregation still find a place of service outside of their Life Group, today most of our people serve with their Life Group.

We have also found that a greater percentage of our members now serve because of this paradigm shift. They are now motivated by an opportunity to fellowship with their tribe, in addition to the feeling of significance that service brings, and the realization that real needs are met by their involvement.

Finally, the Life Group is a critical part of the pathway to accountability. As pastor, I feel it is primarily my job to motivate those who are attending one of our services to engage with a Life Group. In turn, we expect the leadership in Life Groups to encourage their members to take the next step of participating in monthly home-based groups of 8 to 10 people we call Growth Groups. Fellowship, prayer, and support—rather than Bible study—are the primary activities of these home gatherings. Some Growth Groups have also chosen to do ministry projects together for their monthly gatherings. Over time, it is common for these relationships to grow into lifelong friendships and same-gender accountability partnerships that help our people grow to be more like Christ. Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."

Many of our home-based Growth Groups start out much like a simple supper club. A new Growth Group begins when the Life Group care leader asks those not already connected to a Growth Group if they would like to form a group themselves or have their names put in a hat as new Growth Groups are being formed. It is then perfectly legal, after several months have passed, for an individual or couple to come back to the care leader and say, "I have really enjoyed fellowship with the couples (or singles) you put us with; however, we would like to try another Growth Group now so we can meet more people in our Life Group." That, by the way, is code language for "I do not have anything in common with the yahoos you put me with and I would like to be in a different group." As I said, it is perfectly acceptable for individuals or couples to keep changing groups until they find one with which they have a high degree of affinity. Once this takes place, we pray that they can stay with that group until Jesus returns.

Steve Stroope, Kurt Bruner, and Rick Warren, Tribal Church: Lead Small. Impact Big. (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2012).

How to Grow Spiritually

Josh Hunt — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 22:34:36 GMT

Someone once asked Dallas Willard, “If a person wants to grow spiritually, where should they start? Read the Bible? Pray more? Go to church?” Dallas’s answer was completely disarming —and unexpected. He said, “Do the next right thing you know you ought to do. Now when you try that, you may wind up going to church, because you’re going to need some help. Nothing will drive you into the Kingdom of God like trying to do the next thing that is right . . . because you will need help, and you will get it, because that’s where God is.”[160]

So today, from one moment to the next —as the thought enters your mind —do the next right thing you know you ought to do:

Work with diligence and cheerfulness.
Encourage someone next to you.
Include a playful phrase in an e-mail to brighten somebody’s day.
Notice what the expression on another person’s face is telling you about his or her heart.
Apologize.
When you’re late for a meeting because you didn’t allow enough time to get there, refuse to blame it on the traffic.
Let someone merge in front of you on the freeway.
Be patient with a difficult person.
Don’t blow up at your kids.

Sometimes doing the next right thing seems impossible, even when it’s not. Once, after hearing Dallas Willard give a talk about “doing the next right thing,” a man approached Dallas and said, “I have a rebellious son, and I can’t help blowing up at him.” Dallas told him to simply promise his wife that the next time he blew up at his son, he would contribute $5,000 to his wife’s favorite charity.[161]

Often, “doing the next right thing” will demand a power not currently available to us. Just like with an alcoholic who decides that the “next right thing” is not to take a drink, willpower alone will not get this done. Success will require a new way of life in which we will need to access strength from a Power greater than ourselves.

The beauty of “do the next right thing” is that it often reveals that we’re unable to do the next right thing. That realization drives us to seek God —and we will find him. But first we must be honest about our intentions.

When I lived in Chicago, I decided I wanted to get my body into better shape.

Then I met Doug, a professional trainer and body builder, and we started working out together. It was amazing. I felt like a member of a different and far inferior species. Nancy used to ask, “Can I come and watch you and Doug work out?”

“I can’t make it today,” I’d tell her. “It’s just gonna be Doug.”

“That’d be okay,” she’d assure me.

At one point, I told him, “I’d like to look like you.”

And he asked me, “Are you all in?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You don’t just drift into this,” he explained. “I will lift weights until my muscles ache. I push myself so hard sometimes that I feel like I’m on fire. Some mornings, I hurt so much I can’t bend down to tie my shoes. I monitor every calorie I put in my body. I wake myself up at night to ingest protein when it can best be absorbed. Mostly it takes the courage to face the pain —searing pain. Are you all in?”

Turns out, I wasn’t. I was only partly in. I was okay with not looking all the way like Doug. I have a life. I’m more an admirer than a disciple.

Now, here is our friend Jesus. He’s looking for disciples, people who will surrender their lives —money and reputation and achievements (which we cannot keep) —for a transformed character in a glorious Kingdom that we cannot lose.

It’s not a bad thing to be an admirer of his. But he’s looking for disciples. He promises to be there for us when we do well, and to be there for us when we don’t. Cross his heart. Hope to die.

John Ortberg, I’d like You More If You Were More like Me: Getting Real about Getting Close (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Refresh, 2017).

Supper Club

Josh Hunt — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 14:18:54 GMT

His Sunday school class began a supper club designed to help members get to know one another and to be a ministry to people outside the church.

Hosting one of the dinners was an ideal opportunity for involvement, but he was afraid to offer. I’m living alone now, he thought. I don’t cook that well, I don’t know much about being a host, and it’s been a while since I’ve had people over. With great hesitation, he finally put his name on the list.

As the day approached, he was amazed when several class members called and volunteered to help him get ready. Some made food, some brought chairs, and others even donated festive decorations. The dinner was a success, and everyone felt welcomed and loved.

Hospitality isn’t just for certain homemakers with large homes or a special knack for party throwing. The same command is given to all believers: “Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:9–10 NASB).

It doesn’t matter how experienced or equipped you are. What counts is offering what the Lord has given you. God uses everything for His glory. Your home and belongings become a blessing many times over when you open them up to someone else.

Charles F. Stanley, On Holy Ground (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), 275.

The Study of God

Josh Hunt — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 20:38:39 GMT

IT has been said by some one that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with the solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. We shall be obliged to feel

“Great God, how infinite art thou,

What worthless worms are we!”

But while the subject humbles the mind it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. He may be a naturalist, boasting of his ability to dissect a beetle, anatomize a fly, or arrange insects and animals in classes with well nigh unutterable names; he may be a geologist, able to discourse of the megatherium and the plesiosaurus, and all kinds of extinct animals; he may imagine that his science, whatever it is, ennobles and enlarges his mind. I dare say it does, but after all, the most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatary. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrows? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning. We shall present you with one view of it,—that is the immutability of the glorious Jehovah. “I am,” says my text, “Jehovah,” (for so it should be translated) “I am Jehovah, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

C. H. Spurgeon, “The Immutability of God,” in The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, vol. 1 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1855), 1.

How to Study the Bible for Life Change

Josh Hunt — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 13:40:37 GMT

Jeanne and I were vacationing on the West Coast a number of years ago with our son and my coauthor, Bill, just after he had graduated from college. We had a friend there who owned a plane, and one day he asked if we wanted to fly with him out to Santa Catalina Island, off the coast. We accepted, and the next morning we were zooming down a runway, heading up into the skies over Orange County.

After we leveled off over the Pacific, our friend turned to Bill, who was riding copilot, and shouted over the whine of the engine, “How’d you like to try your hand at flying?”

Always one for adventure, Bill replied, “Sure.” He had never flown a plane in his life—but what difference did that make?

Our friend gave him some brief instruction in the art of flying—sort of a “crash course,” you might say. Then he handed over the controls, and Bill was in command. Things went along uneventfully as long as we flew straight ahead. But after a couple of minutes the pilot shouted, “Why don’t you try a turn.”

Bill banked to the left, and suddenly I felt a bit dizzy. A moment later our friend said, “OK, try the other way,” and the plane banked to the right. Now Jeanne and I both felt dizzy. We were quite relieved to see the pilot eventually rest his hand on the controls and level us off before taking over again.

“Not bad,” he shouted to Bill, who was smiling like a Top Gun. “We only dropped about a thousand feet.”

Obviously learning to fly takes a lot more than just handing the controls to someone and shouting, “Have fun.” It requires skills that take years to develop fully. Apart from that experience, you’re taking your life in your hands.

The study of God’s Word is no different. Learning to do it properly is a process that can’t happen overnight. Yet that’s exactly what we do with new Christ-followers when we tell them to get into the Scriptures, hand them a Bible, and expect them to take it from there. No wonder so many give up in frustration.

In this chapter I want to give an overview of the Bible study process. First, I want to define what method in Bible study involves. Then I’m going to show the big picture of where the method leads and where you’ll end up by following it.

THERE’S METHOD TO THE MADNESS

Let’s begin with a definition. I define method in Bible study with three statements. First of all, Method is “methodicalness.” That is, it involves taking certain steps in a certain order to guarantee a certain result. Not just any steps; not just any order; not just any result.

The result governs everything. What is the product of methodical Bible study? What are you after? All along I’ve been saying that personal Bible study has a very specific aim—namely, life-change.

So, then, how will you get there? What process will lead to that result? I propose a three-step approach that will guarantee life change—three crucial steps carried out in a particular order.

1. Observation

In this step, you ask and answer the question, What do I see? The moment you come to the Scriptures you ask, What are the facts? You assume the role of a biblical detective, looking for clues. No detail is trivial. This leads to the second step.

2. Interpretation

Here you ask and answer the question, What does it mean? Your central quest is for meaning. Unfortunately, too much Bible study begins with interpretation, and furthermore, it usually ends there. But I’m going to show you that it does not begin there. Before you understand, you have to learn to see. Nor does it end there, because the third step is …

3. Application

Here you ask and answer the question, How does it work? Not, Does it work? People say they’re going to make the Bible “relevant.” But if the Bible is not already relevant, nothing you or I do will help. The Bible is relevant because it is revealed. It’s always a return to reality. And for those who read it and heed it, it changes their lives.

IT TAKES FIRSTHAND KNOWLEDGE

So method is methodicalness. But let me add a second statement to the definition: Method is methodicalness, with a view to becoming receptive and reproductive.

Do you want to make an impact on your society? First the Scripture has to make an impact on you. It’s the analogy of the sperm and the egg. Neither the male sperm nor the female egg is capable of reproduction. Only when the sperm impacts and is embraced by the egg is there conception and reproduction.

So it is in the spiritual realm. When God’s Word and a receptive, obedient individual get together, watch out. That’s a combination that can transform society. And that’s what personal Bible study is designed to do—to transform your life, and as a result, transform your world.

A third statement completes our definition: Method is methodicalness, with a view to becoming receptive and reproductive, by means of firsthand acquaintance with the Word.

Once again, there’s nothing to beat prolonged personal exposure to the Bible. It’s vital. Without it, you’ll never be directly involved with what God has to say. You’ll always have to depend on an intermediary. Imagine dealing with your spouse on that basis. How long do you think your marriage would last? The same is true with God. There is no substitute for firsthand exposure to His Word.

BEGIN WITH OBSERVATION

Now that you know where you are going, take a closer look at how you are going to get there, at the process itself. Recall that the first step is Observation. That’s where you ask and answer the question, What do I see? In Observation, you’ll be looking for four things:

1. Terms

A term is more than just a word. It’s a key word that is crucial to what an author has to say because it unlocks meaning. For instance, in the gospel by John, the word believe appears no less than seventy-nine times, always as a verb and never as a noun. Do some investigation, and you’ll discover that John uses believe very purposefully. It’s a term that unlocks his meaning.

The same principle applies to every book in the Bible. Each one is filled with terms. You’ve got to learn to recognize terms and pay close attention to them, because they are the basic building blocks with which you construct meaning.

2. Structure

Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible is not a collection of random sayings and stories that somehow fell together, willy-nilly. Rather, it’s a library of carefully constructed books that display—to those who look for it—two basic kinds of structure.

First, there is grammatical structure. I can almost hear the groans: “Do we have to get back into that? I gave that up in seventh grade.” But if you want to learn how to study Scripture effectively, you must learn to read it with the grammar in mind. What is the subject of the sentence? What is the object? What is the main verb? The more you know about grammar, the more you can get out of a passage.

There is also literary structure. There are questions and answers. There is a climax and resolution. There is cause and effect. There are many other structuring devices. I’ll show you a variety of ways in which the authors have structured their works.

3. Literary form

It’s amazing to me how people ignore genre when they come to the books of the Bible. They treat them all the same.

Yet there’s a vast difference between the Hebrew poetry of the Psalms and the tightly argued epistles of Paul; between the grand, sweeping narrative of Genesis and Exodus, and the simple, poignant stories of the parables. There is allegory and love poetry, satire and apocalyptic, comedy and tragedy, and much more. The Holy Spirit used each of these forms to communicate His message. So if you want to grasp that message, you must read each kind according to its proper “rules.” I’ll show you how to do that in later chapters.

4. Atmosphere

Reading for atmosphere involves picking up the setting and feelings from the biblical text. What was it like to be in the author’s shoes? For instance, Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Sounds good. But where was he? In the Ritz-Carlton? Not exactly. He was in a foul-smelling Roman prison. And life looks very different from behind bars.

You want to transport your senses into the passage. If there’s a sunset, see it. If there’s an odor, smell it. If there’s a cry of anguish, feel it. Are you studying the letter to the Ephesians? Then join the church at Ephesus, and listen to Paul as he goes down on his knees to pray (Ephesians 3:14–21). This is an exercise for the imagination, not just the intellect. So it doesn’t take professional training to recapture the atmosphere of a passage of Scripture.

MOVE ON TO INTERPRETATION

Observation leads to the second step, Interpretation. Here you ask and answer the question, What does it mean? Remember, your central quest is for meaning. I want to suggest three things that will help you get the meaning of a passage of Scripture.

1. Questions

If you want to understand a biblical text, you’ve got to bombard it with questions. The Bible is never embarrassed to be asked questions. That doesn’t mean it will answer all of them. But you still need to ask them to determine if they can be answered. I’m going to give you a series of questions to lob at the text that will help you search for meaning.

2. Answers

Obviously, if you’re going to ask questions, you’ve also got to look for the answers. Where will you find them? In the text. Observation will give you the basic building blocks out of which you will construct the meaning of a passage. The answers to your questions will come directly from your observation process.

That is why I say, the more time you spend in observation, the less time you will need to spend in interpretation, and the more accurate will be your results. The less time you spend in observation, the more time you will need to spend in interpretation, and the less accurate will be your results.

3. Integration

Not only must you ask the text questions, not only must you look for answers, but finally you must put the answers together into a meaningful whole. Otherwise you end up with nothing but baskets of fragments.

One time I was asked to speak at a church. “Preach on anything you want,” they told me. “Except Ephesians.”

That seemed an odd request, until they explained why: “Our preacher has spent three years in Ephesians, and we’re just into the second chapter.”

I went out to lunch with some of these people, and I asked them, “What’s the theme of the book of Ephesians?”

They didn’t have a clue. They had all kinds of little details. But their pastor had never put all the data together into a meaningful whole. Result: despite three years of teaching, his congregation had never discovered the meaning of Ephesians.

Integration is the stage where you reconstruct the meaning of a passage after you’ve taken it apart to inspect the details.

KEEP GOING INTO APPLICATION

Observation and Interpretation lead to the third step in the process, the crucial step of Application. In application you ask and answer the question, How does it work? Again, not does it work, but how does it work? There are two areas to consider.

1. How does it work for me?

That can be a very convicting question. As George, the adult Sunday school teacher, told us in chapter 1, it’s so easy to study the Bible and say, “Oh, wow! That’s just what my class needs. Man, I can hardly wait to get there and tell it to them.” But by taking that approach, it is possible to ignore the more personal question, What does this have to say to me? How would this work in my life? Because if it isn’t working in my life, then what authority do I have to share it with someone else? I have a credibility gap.

2. How does it work for others?

Of course, the Bible does have implications for others. And it is legitimate to ask, How would this transform their life? How would it affect their marriage and family? Their school life, if they are a student? Their occupation, if they are in the work world? How can I effectively communicate biblical truth to others? I’ll point out some ways to make application of the Scriptures to people in your sphere of influence.

ALWAYS KEEP THE BIG PICTURE

That is an overview of where we are going and how we’re going to get there. Every time you come to a portion of God’s Word, approach it in terms of the big picture:

Observation: What do I see?

Interpretation: What does it mean?

Application: How does it work?

Howard G. Hendricks and William D. Hendricks, Living by the Book: The Art and Science of Reading the Bible (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2007), 44–45.

The importance of review

Josh Hunt — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 13:37:59 GMT

Anna felt good about the effect her teaching ministry was having in the lives of the senior high girls. It was the last Sunday of the quarter—the lesson she usually began by saying “Let’s review.” She worked through her list of carefully prepared questions to let the girls tell what they had learned.

The session began with Anna’s own version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” She had a bag full of different prizes that would be awarded, depending on how far each girl went in her list of questions. After reviewing, the class shared cold drinks as each listened to the girls share how they had been able to apply some of the lessons learned in recent weeks. Anna looked at the review as a test of her own teaching effectiveness and as an opportunity to show the girls how much they had learned.

BENEFITS OF A REVIEW

Measuring your students’ progress is one of several benefits associated with the review. Your dreams for your students involve more than just their attending class. Review lets you know what your students are really learning.

You can also use a review to motivate learning. One teacher of primary-aged children routinely began teaching his class by opening a bag of red licorice and chewing on one piece as he taught the story. The children knew that at the end of the story there would be questions—and a long piece of red licorice for every child who could answer the questions. Not only were the children motivated to learn, but also when one child became disruptive, others quieted him, so they could hear the story and get the licorice.

Review also helps you evaluate how well you are teaching. We all need periodic evaluation. In fact, as a teacher, someday you will be evaluated by God (see Jas. 3:1–2).

Review can help you in two ways. First, you can identify the strengths of your teaching, upon which you can build (see 1 Thess. 5:21). Second, you can identify problem areas that need to be addressed as you seek to become a better teacher.

CONTENT OF A REVIEW

When you review, begin by asking questions related to basic knowledge and comprehension. Part of what you do each week in Sunday School is to communicate the contents of the Bible. How well are your students learning the Bible? Include a few questions each week about previous lessons to see if the contents of the Bible are being learned.

When it comes to Sunday School, simply growing in knowledge is not enough (see 1 Cor. 13:2). You also want to review your students’ attitudes, values and character. As you look at your class over a period of several months, what changes do you see in the attitude and character of various class members? This is not something you can determine by using a list of true-or-false questions. Spend time with your students outside of class to talk about changes in their lives—a great way to review.

A REVIEW OF A LESSON IS NOT AN EVALUATION OF WHAT YOUR STUDENTS HAVE LEARNED AS MUCH AS IT IS AN EVALUATION OF HOW WELL YOU HAVE TAUGHT.

You also want to review choices, conduct and habits. Your goal in teaching is to achieve behavioral change. As your students learn the Bible, the Holy Spirit can use your lessons to change each student to be more like Jesus. While Anna listened to her high school girls talk about decisions they were making in school, she could see how her lessons were being applied in their lives. Personal conversation is the best type of review.

When testing your teaching, take care to choose your questions wisely. Your choices should be based on the following criteria:

what you want them to learn
age level (i.e., their competence)
what changes you expect in their life

Look at these three factors carefully.

SOURCES FOR REVIEW

You may want to begin your review by looking at a statistics review. As a Sunday School teacher, you may keep attendance and record other information about your students in a roll book. Unfortunately, these records are often ignored after the data have been collected. A review may reveal such things as attendance patterns, punctuality, lesson preparation and outreach. You could keep track of your own special emphasis, such as a memory verse contest or bringing new members.

Informal feedback is a second source of review. Sometimes, others will notice behavioral changes in the lives of your students and share their observations with you. This provides you with an indication of discernible change taking place in those students. Sometimes this feedback may come from students thanking you for helping them through a specific issue raised in the lesson.

Questions are the most common form of review. When you ask questions, your students may not even realize you are evaluating them. Also try beginning a class session with the words “Let’s review” followed by several questions about the previous week’s lesson.

Some students do not test well. You may have some who are learning, but if put on the spot in front of others, they just can’t remember. To get around this, you may want to build your review into a game. As your students focus on playing the game, answering a question becomes secondary.

Written tests can also be used to review. An adult Sunday School class might review by using a personality-profile test. Some teachers use a spiritual-gift inventory to help class members identify their spiritual gifts as a review for lessons on giftedness.

You can also review through projects. The more involved your students become in the class, the better they will learn the important lessons you are trying to teach.

When you review, be careful about forming conclusions on the basis of a single question. Everyone has a bad day, and there could be various reasons why a student couldn’t answer one or more questions. Look for a pattern of results over several kinds of review before making hard conclusions about your teaching or how well your students are learning.

FREQUENCY OF REVIEW

So how often should you review? That’s a tough question only you can answer. Generally speaking, the more often you review, the less stressful the process becomes. Some teachers do a bit of review every week. Others set aside one Sunday every two or three months to review.

Evaluating your teaching is a lot like maintaining your lawn. You cut the grass as often as it needs cutting. You test your teaching as often as it needs testing. Periodic testing of your teaching ministry will be an important part of your personal growth plan as a teacher.

Elmer L. Towns, What Every Sunday School Teacher Should Know (Ventura, CA: Regal; Gospel Light, 2001), 134–140.

Nuts and bolts of church growth

Josh Hunt — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 13:11:17 GMT

The foreman wrote a big “9” in chalk on the shop floor. “What is that?” the second crew asked each other as they punched their cards and stepped onto the concrete shop floor. The foreman smiled, but did not answer. He smiled the smile that says, “You’ll know soon enough.” That question was the buzz that night. The buzz got louder as the truth began to circulate. Someone talked to a worker from the day crew. “That nine is how many widgets the first crew got out the door.” The next morning there was a line through the “9” and next to it, a big, white “10”.

Whatever gets measured, gets done. One of the best ways of rewarding is simply to notice, to pay attention, to acknowledge. Counting is not about ego; it is about caring. As Rick Warren says, “We count people because people count.”

Jesus taught us that a shepherd who had one hundred sheep and lost one would leave the ninety-nine to go after the one. Question: how would the shepherd know if he had one hundred sheep, or only ninety nine? Maybe he just happen to notice that Sally Sheep was missing. Or, maybe he counted. The simplest way would be to count. Counting is not an impersonal expression of bureaucracy or greed. It is an expression of caring.

Proverbs 27:23 Says it plainly: Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds. A good start on knowing the condition of your flock is counting.

One of the most caring things you can do is to measure the church’s indicators of health and growth and report these things consistently to the people.

It is one of the first things your doctor does, isn’t it? He takes your temperature, your blood pressure, your weight. He measures these things against normal standards of health. In other words, he benchmarks them. And right away he can get a general feel for your health. It is not the complete picture; more analysis will be needed for that. But, there is no use in doing the detail work until the broad strokes are painted.

Part of the role of leadership is measuring and displaying the right stuff. We need to be careful not to display too much. Reams of computer printouts never motivated anyone. A 9 on shop floor does. Leadership must distill the myriad of things the business is about down to a handful of things that are easily understood, measured and communicated. These are the essentials that matter.

Measuring makes life fun. Measuring turns life into a game, in the best sense of the word. What would a game be without measurements? Without a score board there would be no game.

I love to write. Every night before I go to bed, I have my computer count the number of words in this book so far. I have a carefully constructed chart of each day’s progress. Here is what it looks like so far. This is what makes writing fun–to feel that you are making progress. I do this on all my books.

Churches measure lots of things: dollars, worship attendance, Sunday School attendance, baptisms, new members, and so on. This is good for background analysis, like all the background statistics in a football game. All those extra numbers make the real numbers more interesting. The real numbers are the ones on the scoreboard. The background statistics normally support the real numbers. Occasionally a team will be way behind in time of possession but ahead in the score. This is rare.

The thing that makes a sport fun is the simplicity of the score keeping instrument. The game is won or lost on one, easy-to-understand scoreboard.

Imagine a football game where a team walked off saying, “We may have not have had as many yards rushing, but we killed them in the air.” While the other team patted themselves on the back by saying, “Our percentage of red-zone conversions to touch downs was excellent. In addition, we had more first downs, and more interceptions. We were clearly the stronger team today.” No. What makes football fun is that one team can say, “We won, 14 - 10!” The simplicity of the score keeping system is what makes the game fun. Everyone understands it. It is easy to display. It makes the game a game. Coaches and interested fans can plunge the depths of other supporting statistics, as they do. Creators of games must keep it simple to make it fun. Churches, too, need a simple, easy-to-understand way of keeping score. This is what makes church work fun. Score keeping puts zest into almost anything. It works on the shop floor and it will work in church. The reason many people don’t find church work all that fun is the scoreboard is hidden in a closet, or, they have the wrong scoreboard.

Some would object that this is serious business. It is not about having fun. I agree. The Bible says to be sober minded. We ought to be serious about those things that are serious. And I am serious about having fun. It ought to be fun to come to church. People like to come to church where people like to come to church. It ought to be fun to do the work of being obedient to the Great Commission. It is fun for me to preach. It is fun to me to grow a class. It is fun to me to lead music. Growing a church ought to be fun. We ought to say with the Psalmist, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’” (Psalms 122:1)

A lot of things make going to church fun. Good preaching is more fun to listen to than bad preaching. It is fun to be warmly greeted. Children have fun in a well appointed nursery with fun loving teachers. It is a lot more fun to go to a church where people get along than to go to a church where people are fighting. It is also fun to go to a church where people know how to keep score.

Most churches have a simple score keeping device, but it is a wrong one. The score most people watch is Sunday School attendance. If we had 100 we feel good. If we have 90, we don’t feel so good. If we have 110, we feel great. If we have 75, we feel awful. This is the wrong thing to emphasize.

The reason it is wrong is that you can feel good about the score most of the time and still not be growing. To put it more bluntly, you can feel good about the score and still not be obedient to the Great Commission. A score keeping device that makes us feel good when we are being disobedient is a wrong score keeping device. The score keeping device should reward growth, not measure relative position to a static number. This system encourages a church to stay on plateau. Perhaps one of the reasons we have so many churches on plateau is that the measuring system encourages it.

Some churches keep score with worship attendance. This has become especially trendy since worship attendance is often higher than Sunday School attendance. We feel better about the score because it is a bigger number. This is not about making us feel good. It is about tracking obedience to the Great Commission. If we believe disciples are made in small groups, this is a step backward. Jesus made disciples in a group of 12. I believe this is how disciples are made. I don’t think keeping score by Sunday School attendance is right. Keeping score by worship attendance is worse.

Let’s get honest. Some people keep score with money. This is not as bad as it sounds. Jesus said your heart and money go together. You could make a theological case for the idea that the larger the offering, the greater effect on people’s heart. Still, I don’t think this is the best way to keep score. It is surely to cause offense to outsiders. The score keeping device may also have a tendency to discolor our hearts. It is a short walk from this score keeping device to the belief that all we are after is money.

Another way to keep score is to measure baptisms. This sounds good. If we believe that people are to be baptized soon after they come to faith, then the act of baptism could give us a pretty good picture of how many people we are moving toward discipleship. In theory this makes sense. In reality it does not. The reality is many people who are baptized have not just been converted. They were baptized when they were 6, born again when they were 12, and baptized again after a revival at 18. What are we counting here? Many people are converted but are never baptized as believers because they feel it would denigrate the baptism they received at birth. In the jungles of Africa, number of baptisms is probably a reasonably accurate picture of the disciplemaking system, but here in America, it has some problems.

I do not believe any of the score keeping methods mentioned thus far are the best way to measure progress toward making disciples. Let me mention two ideas that I think are better.

One idea is to have people make a commitment, on an annual basis, to live the disciple’s life. You may define this in any number of ways. I have defined a disciple elsewhere as follows:

D - Disciplined in his daily devotional life. A disciple’s life is a disciplined life. There is no discipline as important as daily exposure to the word and prayer.

I - Intimate relationships. Growing disciples are involved in several deep relationships that hold them accountable in Christian discipleship.

S - Small group. Small groups are important for fellowship, outreach, and teaching.

C - Corporate worship. Corporate worship is a vital part of the process of creating a mature disciple.

I - Intimate family life. A disciple is a minister. His first ministry is to serve his family. One of the most important jobs of every Sunday School teacher is to produce stronger families.

P - Passion for God. This is a somewhat intangible quality. However, much of what it means to be a disciple is a matter of the heart.

L - Lay ministry. A disciple is involved in ministry in the area of his or her giftedness.

E - Evangelistic concern. Not everyone has the gift of evangelism. However, everyone should be ready, willing and able to share their faith. The heart of the disciple beats for the lost. They should be interested, open and looking for evangelistic opportunities.

S - Sacrificial giving. The disciple’s life is a giving life. This means giving of time and money. More than that, it means giving as an attitude of life.

You may want to define discipleship differently. What I want to suggest is that you do define it. Have people sign up to commit to live that life and keep score. This gives a pretty good overall perspective on how many disciples you are making. By tracking the number of disciples who commit each year and measuring the percentage growth each year, you will have a pretty good handle on your progress.

A more practical way of measuring success is based on the assumption that if people are in a small group, they are in the process of becoming a disciple. There are obviously exceptions to this. Many who attend Sunday School never become disciples. (I will suggest some additional supportive measurements for leadership to monitor in order to offset this reality.) Still, I believe that it is more likely that people who are attending Sunday School are moving forward in the process of becoming disciples than those who do not attend Sunday School. I believe attending Sunday School is good and worthy of being measured carefully. But it is not attendance in Sunday School that we should measure.

I believe Sunday School is a better measurement than worship attendance because I believe disciples are made in small groups. In large group worship, we are in danger of inoculating people against the gospel rather than giving them the real thing. But even if I were to keep score with worship, I wouldn’t do it on the basis of attendance. It lends itself to psychologically rewarding the plateau in the same way that keeping score with Sunday School attendance does.

I believe the best score keeping device to monitor on a week by week, month by month, year by year basis is growth in Sunday School attendance. Not Sunday School attendance measured as a flat number, but growth in Sunday School attendance, calculated as a percentage. If a church had 100 last year in Sunday School on this Sunday and they had 110 this year, this should not be reported as an attendance of 110. It should be reported as a 10% growth. This is not so important week to week, because of the fluctuations of attendance experienced by churches. Percentage growth on a month by month basis begins to be a more accurate picture of progress toward doubling every five years or less. If you want to double your church every five years or less, measure carefully the percentage growth in Sunday School attendance. The scoreboard should look like this:

●10% growth

●15% decline

●3% decline, or

●15% growth

If you try this approach, one thing you will notice immediately is that it is depressing. On average, most churches are on plateau and would report a 0% increase. This is good. We want people to be depressed by the lack of growth. This is far better than looking at a score board that says “100" and feeling smug that we had a good Sunday. I am just as happy with a child who cleans up his room because I made a game out of it as I am with a child who does it out of sheer obedience. I think God will be will pleased with us if we are obedient to the Great Commission, even if our motive was aided by a well-constructed game.

In most churches, I remind you, we do have a game. That is, we do have a score keeping device. Everyone knows if we won today or not. If we were above 100 we won. If we were below 100 we lost. If we hit 100 exactly we tied. Everyone understands the game. This is the sort of game that leads to a plateau. I suggest we change the game.

There is a good reason why we do not change. It is depressing. We ought to be happy that it is depressing. It ought to be depressing to be disobedient to God. When a team realizes they are behind, they work extra hard to catch up. This is what we want them to do. This is what they should do.

If you would double your church every five years or less, you need to constantly monitor the weekly, monthly and year-to-date percentage growth. You need to constantly keep this before the people. It should be bread and butter stuff for active members of the church to understand where you are in terms of percentage growth. You want people to say, “I am not sure what attendance was, but I do know we are up about 15% over last year.”

Fifteen percent growth is the magic number. Fifteen percent growth is what it takes to double every five years or less. In order to achieve this, monitor it and report it constantly in a myriad of creative ways. Make graphs and charts. I used to paraphrase the Great Commission by saying, “Go, therefore, and make graphs and charts of all nations.”

If you have to, get a big piece of chalk and write the percentage growth on the floor.

For staff eyes only

One other statistic ought to be carefully monitored by the staff and leadership of the church. It is what I call the “Velcro” factor. It answers the question, “How many of our visitors are sticking?” With “Wow!” services and programs and giving Friday nights to Jesus, you can keep this above 55%. In order to double every five years or less, keep the velcro factor above 55%. In addition, if 2% of the people attending your worship services are visitors, then you will easily get on target to double every five years or less. Let me give you an example of a church of 100.

Attendance	100
Percent of Visitors	2%
Number of Visitors Per Week	2
Number of Visitors Per Year	104
Velcro Factor	55%
Number of New Members Per Year	57.2
Ratio of Membership to Attendance	50%
Number of New Members Attending	29
New Attendance	129
Attrition	-10%
Expected Attendance	116
Percentage Growth	16%
Percent Growth Needed to Double in Five Years	15%

The research I have done indicates that in most cases, the reason for a church’s failure to double every five years or less is not in the percent of visitors. It is in the velcro factor. People are visiting and not joining. Suppose this same church has a velcro factor of 20%, which is about average for many of the churches I have researched. Here is the same church, same number of visitors. Same attendance to membership ratio. Same everything except the velcro factor. Notice how dramatically this affects the bottom line.

Attendance	100
Percent of Visitors	2%
Number of Visitors Per Week	2
Number of Visitors Per Year	104
Velcro Factor	20%
Number of New Members Per Year	20.8
Ratio of Membership to Attendance	50%
Number of New Members Attending	10
New Attendance	110
Attrition	-10%
Expected Attendance	99
Percentage Growth	-1%
Percent Growth Needed to Double in Five Years	15%

The velcro factor is the difference between doubling every five years or less and not doing so.

Let me offer another example. I served as Interim Pastor for Scotsdale Baptist Church in El Paso, Texas for nine months. When I came to the church, they had been in a five year decline of about 25 per year. They went from 400 in attendance to about 275 in attendance in 5 years. The velcro factor measured ten percent. Ten percent of their visitors were joining. I taught the principles in this book and Double Your Class. I encouraged the people to give Friday Nights to Jesus and to invite every member and every visitor to every fellowship every month. We went from a 10% velcro factor to a 90% velcro factor. There were actually some months where we had more people joining than we had visiting. Growth moved from 10% decline to 5% growth. In that particular setting, we needed something else to get them on target to doubling every five years or less.

One More Measurement

The second measurement that I would ask the leadership to keep up with is the magnet factor. The magnet factor measures how many new people you are able to attract. It is calculated as a percentage of total attendance. If a church of 100 has a family of 4 visit one Sunday, they have a 4% magnet factor that week. If they have none the next week, the average magnet factor drops to 2%. This needs to be about 2%. Notice how much difference this makes on the bottom line. Once again, consider the same chart with a church of 100. Look what happens when they see 1%, 2%, and 3% magnet factor.

Attendance	100	100	100
Percent of Visitors	1%	2%	3%
Number of Visitors Per Week	1	2	3
Number of Visitors Per Year	52	104	156
Velcro Factor	55%	55%	55%
Number of New Members Per Year	28.6	57.2	85.8
Ratio of Membership to Attendance	50%	50%	50%
Number of New Members Attending	14	29	43
New Attendance	114	129	143
Attrition	-10%	-10%	-10%
Expected Attendance	103	116	129
Percentage Growth	3%	16%	29%
Percent Growth Needed to Double in Five Years	15%	15%	15%

The situation in the first column of numbers is roughly the situation we had at Scotsdale. We were having a very high velcro factor, but sill minimal growth. This was because the total number of visitors was less than 1%. The reason for this was twofold. First, the location of the church was terrible. Although it is easy to find it if you know where it is, you have to being going there to get there. Comparatively few people ever drive by Scotsdale Baptist Church. It is one of those situations where they could not afford to buy the land with the better location. By the way, nothing is more costly than cheap land.

If you calculate what this costs the church, in terms of number of visitors and number joining and number attending, the costs are enormous. You could probably make a case for the fact that the increased visibility would be free. since it would be paid for with the money of people who will not now go to the church since they never new about it. One of the most expensive things a church can buy is cheap land.

The other reason Scotsdale had such a low percentage of visitors is because they had been in steady decline for so long. New people know new people and naturally invite them to church. When a church is experiencing little or no growth, it will take a while to build momentum. Growth begets growth. When a church begins to attracts newcomers to the church, these newcomers will, in turn, invite others.

This is something people fail to calculate when considering the benefits of advertising. The first wave of visitors produced by the advertising is just that: the first wave. If those that are brought through advertising are satisfied by what they find, you can be sure they will bring others with them.

By the way, if you are considering moving to a new ministry position, one of the easiest ways to predict the growth potential is by discovering the ratio of visitors to members attending. If they have a high magnet factor and a low velcro factor, it is a very easy situation to turn around.

When you ask these questions, make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Counting the total number of unenrolled attenders in Sunday School is not the point. When I speak of visitors, I am speaking of the names of new people that are viable prospects for involvement in the life of the church. Note:

●Out-of-town guests don’t count.

●A family of 4 counts as 4 regardless of age of the children, since this whole thing is based on attendance.

●A family of 4 that fills out a visitors card 4 weeks in a row only counts as 4.

●A family of 4 that does not fill out a visitors card counts as zero since you have no opportunity to follow them up. Ideas for getting visitors to fill out cards is discussed below.

●A family that attends your Christmas musical but is an active member of another church in town does not count since they are not legitimate prospects for your church.

I would encourage you to keep up with these things as best you can. On the other hand, don’t lose a lot of sleep over the fact that you are not absolutely positively sure how to categorize people. These things tend to work themselves out.

A major obstacle is getting the names of all the people who visit. The first thing I want to say about this is don’t work at it too hard. You want to give people some space to remain anonymous for a while. Some churches use the phrase when they greet guests, “We are not going to ask you to say anything, sign anything or give anything.” This is a more extreme example of what I would say, but it does demonstrate sensitivity to people’s desire for anonymity.

People who keep coming to church will usually want to be identified at some point. They want to start getting your newsletter and find out more about the church. The key thing is to let them know that the visitors cards are available to fill out anytime they want. They may not want to fill out anything the first week. Maybe they will wait till the third week or the third month. Just keep inviting them to “let us know who you are.” Offer them the benefit of receiving your newsletter and staying informed about the many ministries your church offers.

You might want to explain to people what will and will not happen to their cards. If you are going to do an in-house visit, tell them. If you are not, tell them that. We simply told guests that we would like to send them some information through the mail about the various programs the church had to offer. We also called visitors so we told them that. We flat out told them they would not have someone banging on their door. We felt like if they were going to want and expect a visit, we were better off telling them that none would be forthcoming. On the other hand, we knew that many were leery of being visited. We thought we would come closer to getting their cards if they knew we were not going to visit them. Once again, keep score as best you can, but don’t get paranoid. God is the ultimate score keeper anyway. -- Josh Hunt, You Can Double Your Church in Five Years or Less

Hell is where many people want to be

Josh Hunt — Thu, 27 May 2021 23:35:36 GMT

Hell. It is a forbidden topic of conversation, except in very conservative religious circles. We squirm when it comes up, and we try to change the subject. We avoid churches that talk about it, and we skim over passages in the Bible that mention it. It is about as taboo a subject as incest.

Still, I am curious about hell. Like most people, I have heard all the conventional descriptions — steaming sulfur, raging fire, horrible screams, little red devils that wield pitch forks and taunt the damned. But that is not my interest here. I am more curious about how people land there. I used to think that God sends people there. I haven’t changed my mind on that either, but I also think people choose to go there because they would find heaven an intolerable place to be. If heaven is the place where God is, they wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it.

C. S. Lewis put me on to this idea. In his novel The Great Divorce, he tells the story of a group of people living in hell who take a bus tour of heaven. As they discover, at any point along the way they can choose to leave the tour group and stay in heaven. They are thus given a second chance. It is an extraordinary opportunity. Surprisingly, most of the tourists despise heaven and want to flee back to hell. It is too bright in heaven, too colorful, too solid, and too pure for them. It is so real that it hurts, like sunlight stinging the eyes after one leaves a dark movie theater. What makes heaven horrible to them is that God is there. They want to return to the shadows, as far away from God as possible.

Lewis shows in the novel that the primary difference between hell and heaven is not the temperature or smell or noise or pain. The real difference has to do with who is at the center. God is at the center of heaven. People who go to heaven, therefore, must be willing to live forever in the presence of someone who is infinitely superior to them and who will force them, by the sheer power of his presence, to conform to his greatness. Upon entering heaven, people will have to change. It is impossible not to change when living in the presence of God.

The self is at the center of hell. People in hell can live as egoistically and selfishly as they want, totally absorbed by themselves. As strange as it might sound, they want to be in hell. Hell is the only place where people can play God without any obstacles or competition. As a character in The Great Divorce says, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it.”1 Lewis actually borrowed this idea from Dante, who said that the door of hell is locked from the inside, not from the outside. Hell is where many people want to be.

Jerry L. Sittser, When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer: Insights to Keep You Praying with Greater Faith and Deeper Hope (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009).

Habits and Discipleship

Josh Hunt — Thu, 27 May 2021 15:08:34 GMT

Most of life is on autopilot. Your life is largely about habits you have made. We don’t make decisions about most of the things we do. We develop a habit, and the habit determines our life. As the old saying goes, “Choose your rut carefully; you are going to be in it for the next 25 miles.” Choose your habits carefully; they are going to determine the quality of your life. Let’s look at a couple of examples.

Your marriage is mostly about habits. Ever watch the show King of Queens? Here is a couple that has gotten in the habit of picking at each other. They complain and they argue and fight and they pick—all out of habit. Do you want a marriage like that?

They don’t get up each day and say to themselves, “I think I’m going to pick a fight today.” They certainly don’t say to themselves, “I think I’d rather have a miserable marriage rather than a happy marriage. To reach that goal, I think I’ll complain and argue and criticize all day long.”

They have actually done research on this. You can complain some. You can criticize some. You can correct some. However, the number of complements and praises and ‘attaboys’ need to outnumber the criticisms by a factor of about five to one. If they don’t, your marriage is headed to the toilet.1

Your health is largely about habits. You are in the habit of exercising or not, eating too much or not, and resting too much or not. If you are in the habit of eating a big bowl of ice cream every night and you don’t exercise, you are probably overweight. You are a little depressed about the way you look. You don’t have a lot of energy. All this is because of the habits you have formed.

You don’t get up and make choices about these things every day. You don’t think about whether or not you’re going to exercise. Your habit determines your behavior. You don’t get up and think about whether you eat more calories than you consume or not. You just do what the habit dictates.

Your money is where it is because of habits you have made. Money is an area where it is especially easy to make habits.

We are in the habit of setting aside a certain amount of money every Thursday. We have instructed our bank that every Thursday we want a certain amount transferred from our checking account into a savings account. This makes saving automatic. We don’t have to think about it. We don’t have to stress about it. We don’t have to decide each week to do it. It is just a habit.

About half of Americans are in the habit of spending more money than they make.2 They don’t make the conscious choice to go a little further in debt each year, it is just a habit. Do this for a few years and you will discover that before long you are in a pretty deep hole. One more.

Your walk with God is largely about habits. The book of Hebrews speaks of people who don’t go to church much. The writer of Hebrews says that we are not to neglect meeting together, “as is the habit of some.” Neglecting to meet together is simply habit, as are many of our spiritual disciplines. We either get into the habit of reading our Bibles every day, or I’ll bet you didn’t read your Bible this morning. You probably never even thought about it. If you did read your Bible this morning, you probably didn’t think too much about that either. It is just a habit. A habit that will either draw you closer to God, or push you further and further away.

Changing habits

What if you could change your habits so that they lead you in the direction that you actually want to go? What if you could put success on autopilot? What if you could put it on autopilot to exercise every day, read the Bible every day, eat no more calories than you burn, spend no more money than you make, and any of 100 other things you would like to do to lead you to the life you’ve only imagined.

That is what this book is about.

In this book, we will look at what the Bible says, along with what the latest scientific research reveals about habits. We are going to look at some fascinating stories of people who started habits and maintain them over the long haul.

What we have learned is that success is rarely about trying really hard to do something. It is about learning the skill of starting a habit—which does involve some trying hard for a time. But, it also involves a lot of other skills as well.

For example, did you know that people who eat on smaller plates, generally speaking, eat fewer calories than people who eat on large plates? Did you know that habits are contagious? We tend to do what the people in our group do. There has been a lot of research done in recent years about habits—how to form them and how to break them. We will be looking at this research, as well as what the Bible says about habits.

The Bible and Habits

As important as habits are, you might be surprised to discover how seldom the word habit appears in the Bible. Looking at the NIV, the English word habit appears only five times. Here they are:

If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull must be stoned and the owner also must be put to death. Exodus 21:29 (NIV)
However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and the dead animal will be his. Exodus 21:36 (NIV)
The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” “No,” he said. Numbers 22:30 (NIV)
Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. 1 Timothy 5:13 (NIV)
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

The first two deal with the same thing. If your bull hurts someone, you are not responsible. Not unless the bull has been in the habit of doing this. Then, you are responsible. The habit of the bull makes the difference of whether or not you are punished.

The next one is from one of the most humorous stories in the Bible. It is the place where Balaam’s donkey talks to him. Balaam corrects the donkey and the donkey speaks back to him, asking the rhetorical question, “Have I been in the habit of doing this?” You gotta love the Bible! Great story.

The first New Testament instance of the word habit had to do with the church’s benevolence program. The church cared for widows, but was very careful about who did and did not get on the list. Specifically, Paul instructs Timothy not put young widows on the list. The reason had to do with their habits. Paul says that they were in the habit of being idle and being busybodies. Because of her habits, they should be kept off the list.

The last one is a classic, and one we referred to earlier. It has to do with habit of meeting with the church or not. This verse teaches that we should form the habit of encouraging one another daily. By the way, notice the habit is not to sit in straight rows and watch the same event happen on the same stage. The habit is to encourage one another. I encourage you; you encourage me. It is a habit. We do it every day.

Why we fail to make or break habits

Ever wonder why so many of us make resolutions each New Year that we fail to keep? Approximately 45 percent of us make New Year’s resolutions, but only 8 percent succeed.3

In a way, we will spend this whole book answering that question. But, part of the answer comes from one letter: the letter “s” in resolutions. We fail to keep resolutions in part because we have so many of them.

If you want to break a habit or make a habit, you do well to work on one thing at a time. Work on exercise, or getting on a budget, or complaining less than you do, or having a quiet time. Don’t work on more than one.

Amazing things happen when you successfully develop a single habit. Again, they’ve done research on this. People who develop the habit of exercising daily tend to stay on a budget. They tend to drink less and smoke less. It seems that success in one area spills over into other areas as well.4

However, working on several areas simultaneously does not work. There is a verse somewhere that says, “from one degree of glory to another.”5 We tend to focus on the word glory. I’d like to invite you to focus on the word one. It is a reminder that we will do well to work on one thing at a time. Paul said, “this one thing I do,” not, “these 10 things I dabble in.” (Philippians 3:13)

So, here is your assignment. Pick one thing, and only one thing that you would like to make a habit. Conversely. You could pick a habit you want to break. But just pick one. Be very specific. I am working on a project with my church and got a little feedback this last weekend. One man said he wanted to memorize more Scripture. More is not a goal. I invited him to think in terms of setting a goal along the lines of, “memorizing one verse a week and retaining it for at least three months.” This kind of specificity sticks to the brain and leads to success. My goal is to exercise every day. One lady in our church said her goal was to straighten out her husband. Good luck with that.

Once you have success developing one habit, it will be easier for you to believe that you can develop any habit. You can exercise, have a daily quiet time, stay on a budget, quit smoking, and do anything else God puts on your heart to do. We really can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13) It seems, we just can’t do them all at once. One habit of the time, one day at a time. As the old saying goes, “Yard by yard life is hard, inch by inch it’s a cinch.”

I’m going to go ride my new bike now. That is my habit that I am working on as I write. I want to exercise every day. This is day 20. They say it takes about 66 days to form a habit—and one day to break one.

I buried a man recently who is 10 years younger than me. He died of a sudden heart attack. It was a wake-up call for me, and I realized that life is fragile. I am not immune from the same human frailties that affect all men. I work as a writer and it is a sedentary lifestyle. I need to exercise every day.

Let’s ride.

Josh Hunt, Break a Habit / Make a Habit (Josh Hunt, 2013).

Extra Grace Required People

Josh Hunt — Sat, 22 May 2021 14:26:52 GMT

Almost every group will have one or more of what I call “EGRs.” EGR stands for: Extra Grace Required. These are well-meaning but high-demanding people who can derail a group discussion if not dealt with in a healthy, biblical way.

The Dominator

Your group may have at least one member who has a tendency to dominate the conversation. They have been a Christian for a while, and it’s difficult for them to let others express their thoughts first. Here are a few ideas you can try with a dominator:

Sit next to him or her during the discussion time. There is something about that proximity to the facilitator that can help quiet a dominator.
Don’t make eye contact first with the person when you ask a question to the group.
Intentionally ask another group member a question directly before offering it to the group.
Meet with him or her after the group time to ask for help in giving less seasoned Christians in the group the opportunity to express their thoughts first.

The Dodger

Opposite of the dominator, the dodger is the person in the group who never enters the conversation. They never make eye contact and seem disengaged with group life. Here are a few things you can do to engage the dodgers in your group:

Don’t force someone to talk in the group before they are ready to. Some people just need time to feel comfortable with the group before they can open up.
Give everyone in the group the opportunity to share their story in five minutes or fewer. You need to give them at least a week’s notice before sharing.
Ask for her opinion on a question that is not too intrusive or difficult. Icebreaker questions like, “What superhero did you want to be growing up?” are ideal for getting everyone into the conversation and comfortable using their voices.
Arrange for coffee or a chat outside the group time. Many people are more comfortable opening up one-on-one rather than in a large group.

The Debater

You will hit topics in your group that will be controversial to some. In fact, if you are committed to studying the whole Bible, that will definitely be the case. When that happens, you may have people in your group who want to debate either side of the issue. Some debate is healthy, and leaders must learn to differentiate between primary gospel issues and secondary issues. On primary issues—for example, the full humanity and divinity of Christ, the reality of Christ as the only way of salvation, and the necessity of sharing the gospel with the world—God’s truth must ultimately be agreed upon. On less important matters—for example, debates about finer doctrinal points like the definition of predestination or views on the end times—it’s okay to leave some disagreement. Ultimately, the goal of your group is discipleship, not mere theological training. Here are a few things you can do to keep that goal in sight:

Know what God is telling us in the passage of Scripture being discussed. This will involve preparation.
Study the passage in context with the group. This will shed more light on the issue than just a few verses.
Refer to a study Bible like the CSB Study Bible. Study Bibles can help explain difficult passages.
Never be afraid to end a debate with, “Let me check with a pastor this week and report back to the group on this question.” It’s okay to not know the answer in the moment.

The Drainer

A drainer is someone who always seems to drain the life out of the group. They are the constant Debbie Downer. No matter what the topic of discussion is that week, they turn it into a conversation about them and their current struggles. A drainer will make other group members hesitant to open up about their own personal lives. Here are a few things you can do to help manage the drainer in your group:

Meet with the person outside the group time to bring the issue to their attention. They may not realize the problem and will be more aware of their comments in future meetings.
If the prayer time is normally done through verbal requests, change it up by asking group members to write their requests down and email them to the group later. This will help eliminate one opportunity for a drainer to take over.
The level of the person’s needs may require professional care that your group is not equipped to offer. If this is the case, connect with a church leader to help facilitate next steps for help.

With all of these examples, use Paul’s advice in Ephesians as your guide to the response.

And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. (Eph. 4:32)

However, that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be healthy boundaries in place. Shepherds have a sheep pen where only the sheep may gather. Jesus gave us this picture in John 10:

“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.” (vv. 1–2)

There are times when our families must come first. And there will be times when a toxic member of the group may need to step out of the group to receive professional counseling before returning. Hurting people hurt people, and one person can destroy a group if not dealt with in a biblical and honest manner. If this is the case, it’s always best to bring a pastor or church staff member into the situation as soon as possible. The process laid out in Matthew 18:15–17 should be followed in a small group just like in a church.

“If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established. If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.”

A group member should only be asked to leave the group after all attempts have been made to restore him to health and fellowship.

Chris Surratt, Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2019).

D Groups

Josh Hunt — Sat, 22 May 2021 14:20:36 GMT

One of the most extraordinary things about God’s creation is that all living organisms are made from the same stuff: DNA. DNA is the set of instructions that calls all of the shots while something is growing and living out its life. It determines what kind of organism something is, how tall it will be, what color it is, whether or not it has hair, and every other variation that makes each living thing different.

Disciple making is an organic process, too, with a specific goal: intentionally equipping believers with the Word of God through accountable relationships empowered by the Holy Spirit in order to replicate faithful followers of Christ. The individual vehicles for this process are called Discipleship Groups, or D-Groups.

Even though two D-Groups never look the exact same, there are still markers that identify them as D-Groups. Furthermore, there are signals that tell us when D-Groups are healthy. If our groups launch with the same fundamental DNA, it doesn’t matter what their context, age range, gender, or stage of life is, they will be healthy and set up for success. Just as with humans, they can look different but all share similar DNA.

In his book Transforming Discipleship, Greg Ogden wrote, “When we open our hearts in transparent trust to each other around the truth of God’s Word in the spirit of mutual accountability, we are in the Holy Spirit’s hothouse of transformation.” Here, he lays out three of the most important aspects of what makes a healthy D-Group: transparent trust, the truth of God’s Word, and mutual accountability. As we examine some of the fundamental aspects of a D-Group, keep these three things in mind, as they are the tools that will sharpen you and those in your groups.

I. HOW TO START A D-GROUP

The first and most important step in forming a D-Group is prayer. Jesus modeled this for us in Luke 6:12–13: “During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. When daylight came, he summoned his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles.”

Jesus’s own first step in selecting the disciples was prayer. How much more should we pray about it?

After you pray for God to reveal people to invite into a discipleship relationship, approach them and invite them into your D-Group. Covenant with them to be committed, accountable, and transparent with one another as you walk together. These are the people in whom you will be investing your life for the next twelve to eighteen months.

II. HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR D-GROUP

Here is an example of a standard D-Group meeting.

Open with prayer. We practice discipleship to become more like Jesus, so it should be natural that we begin by praying.

Next, have a time of intentional conversations. These conversations will be about the highs and lows of the week—what struggles you faced, what victories you won—and a time of sharing celebrations and praises. Always be quick to talk about where you see God working in your life.

Following the intentional conversations is a good time to dig into the Word. An excellent way to do this is by quoting the Scripture memory verses you have been working through. Hold each other accountable to memorize—knowing that your brothers or sisters will be asking you to quote the verses that will keep you focused during the week.

Next, share what you have learned from the Word that week. Some do this by sharing HEAR Journals (See Sample HEAR Journal) or by sharing passages that convicted them that week. The goal of studying the Bible is to apply what it says to our lives. Knowledge without application is useless information. When approaching this time, it is helpful to ask questions like, “What are you hearing from God, and what are you doing about it?” Here are three simple questions to teach your D-Group to help them apply God’s Word personally:

A. Is there a promise to claim?

B. Is there an action or attitude to avoid?

C. Is there a principle to apply?

Remember that effective discipleship must contain both authentic relationships and systematic biblical training. Though living a life worth emulating is important, simply living a model life is not enough; you must ensure that those you disciple understand the biblical basis for the steps of faith they see you taking. This only comes through systematic biblical training.

As you close your group sessions, make sure to spend a few minutes holding each other accountable in your personal lives. Perhaps there are sins you are struggling with or temptations you are fighting. The trust that comes from accountable relationships makes sharing sins and temptations both natural and helpful.

III. DAILY DISCIPLINES OF A DISCIPLE

As you go about your week, it’s important to encourage those in your groups to practice these four basic daily disciplines of a disciple of Christ.

A. Pray continuously.

B. Read and journal daily.

C. Memorize Scripture weekly.

D. Rely on the Spirit consistently.

Finally, it is crucial to plant the seed of multiplication into every D-Group that you lead. You are investing in them so that they can turn around and invest in others. As each new group is faithful to keep the same DNA, the disciple-making process will continue from generation to generation the same way it started—with a Jewish rabbi who was the Son of God and his twelve disciples who changed the world by doing exactly as he had done with them.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A D-GROUP

As with anything we wish to do with excellence, D-Groups should be measured to determine how effective they are. As you will find, the success of a D-Group is not measured like the success of a baseball team or a Fortune-500 company. To help you gauge how effective your D-Group is, we look to the MARCS of a disciple: Missional, Accountable, Reproducible, Communal, and Scriptural (refer to related articles). In addition to these MARCS, there are a few characteristics each group should have:

I. ENCOURAGEMENT

As a leader, your job is to encourage your group as you journey together. A little bit of encouragement goes a long way. A few ways you can be intentional in your encouragement is to recognize godly attributes or wise choices being made by those you disciple. When breakthroughs occur or sin is overcome, encourage those people publicly. Additionally, every few months, recap what you have accomplished together (i.e., how many verses have you memorized, what kinds of barriers you have overcome as a group, etc.). As a leader, you want to build confidence in the people you disciple. Celebrate your victories!

II. TRANSPARENCY

Challenge your group participants to be open and transparent. You will be living life together, which cannot be done if all of the participants aren’t willing to be open and honest with each other. It is good for us to share our lives in order to learn from one another. Sharing testimonies in the group is a wonderful way to develop a transparent atmosphere.

III. CONFIDENTIALITY

Remember that what is shared in the group stays in the group. Confidentiality is crucial if you want to develop authentic and deep relationships, especially ones in which personal and difficult life experiences can be shared. Remember to respect the people in your group by keeping what they tell you confidential.

IV. COMMITMENT

The level of commitment needs to be established up front. Every person’s individual commitment level will affect the entire group. Have each participant sign a covenant. By doing so, they are committing to you as their leader and the others in the group. If a person becomes lazy in their commitment, have a conversation about it to see if any changes can be made in personal prioritization. Authentic relationships are committed ones.

V. LEADERSHIP

Leadership is crucial in a D-Group. You learn more as you lead, and that takes preparation and discipline. You are modeling before your group so that they can, in turn, replicate and make disciples. Never ask them to do something you aren’t doing yourself. Teach them how to journal by journaling. Share with them how to memorize Scripture by memorizing Scripture. Help them manage their time well by demonstrating good time management yourself. Show them how to dig deeper into God’s Word. Point them to helpful resources, websites, commentaries, and edifying books. Remember—you are preparing them to lead a group of their own at the end of your journey together.

FRUIT AND FRUSTRATIONS OF A D-GROUP

I. FRUIT OF A D-GROUP

You will see incredible fruit born from your pursuit of Christ during the twelve to eighteen months that your D-Group meets. Because it is such an intentional time, the spiritual growth that you experience both individually and as a group will be rapid. Along the way, you will begin to notice a few things in yourself and in those you are pouring into, such as:

A. Spiritual Growth and Maturity

Growing in understanding of God’s Word and discussing God’s ongoing work in one’s life are indicators of someone’s current progress with the Lord. Over time, as we learn the truth of God’s living and active Word, we also learn how to apply it to our everyday lives. As we apply it, we begin making wiser decisions, developing more accurate discernment, and measuring the words that we speak.

B. Unity

Meeting together for discipleship not only enhances unity with the people in your D-Group, but also the church as a whole. One thing that brings people together is what they hold in common. In a discipleship group where you are journeying through the Bible and sharing your lives with one another, a closer bond will be formed over time. If personal struggles arise, your D-Group will hold you accountable to resolve or reconcile those issues.

C. Service

One of the fruits of a closer relationship with others is using your gifts and talents to serve in communities and churches. D-Group members have built-in service partners—people who can go together, serve, and model Christ-likeness.

D. Replication

Every participant should approach their D-Group with the expectation to replicate it. Your time being discipled is not just for your benefit, it is preparation for you to invest in others in the future. You are learning to be a leader who leads others on their spiritual journey. What a joy!

II. FRUSTRATIONS OF A D-GROUP

In a close D-Group relationship, there will be frustrations, as well. If discussed at the start, some of these can be avoided.

A. Attendance

Establish your expectations for attendance early to avoid frustration during the course of your meetings together. If you set the expectations at the beginning, your participants will understand the importance of their commitment. Because attendance is crucial in what your D-Group seeks to accomplish, a lazy, uncommitted participant may be asked to leave, depending on the circumstances surrounding their constant absences.

B. Lack of Transparency

Just as it is important that D-Group participants show up, they must be willing to participate in the spiritual disciplines that discipleship instills. You must be willing to come alongside each other and be open to what God is leading and teaching you to do. If a person consistently shows up but never shares, it can become frustrating for everyone else. To avoid this frustration, establish your expectation for participation early. In the event someone is struggling in this area, meet with them one-on-one rather than addressing it in public. If you find your group members struggling to open up to one another, an excellent way to establish an atmosphere of transparency is by sharing individual testimonies.

C. Not Completing the Work

D-Groups meet together to pray, read and memorize Scripture, and grow into a more fully-devoted follower of Christ. Nothing is more frustrating for the group as a whole than someone constantly showing up unprepared. If you have addressed this with the person individually and it still continues, you may have to ask them to leave the group. The D-Group functions as a unit, which means you will grow as a group or you will be hindered as a group. As a leader, you want to do your best to ensure that the morale isn’t lowered due to one person’s laziness.

At the beginning of your time together, set the expectations. Sign a covenant together so that each person states his or her commitment up front. If you do this, it will help cultivate fruit and avoid frustrations listed above. In the event you are forced to address some of these frustrations (or others that will surely come up), you can pull out the covenant you signed and lovingly remind them of their commitment. Be grace-filled in all situations, but do not forsake accountability; your group will grow immensely because of it.

Holman Bible Publishers, CSB Disciple’s Study Bible: Notes (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 2044–2048.

What ‘Babylon’ stands for in Scripture

Josh Hunt — Thu, 20 May 2021 19:03:39 GMT

She is a city whose name resounds throughout Scripture. In fact, out of the sixty-six books in the Bible, Babylon is mentioned in no less than twenty of them—plus one more, Lamentations, which is all about what Babylon does but somehow manages not to mention her name. Babylon runs like a thread through the entire biblical narrative; she is found in every major division of the Bible and she loomed large all through Israel’s story. Almost from the very beginning, she has been present as the beating heart of godless rebellion. The first mention of her is in Genesis 10:10, but her story really begins in Genesis 11 with the Tower of Babel (Babylon). The scheme of humanity is to build a tower that will reach up to heaven and be on a level with the gods, in the hope of making a name for themselves that will stand for ever. God looks down; he sees the terrible potential of godless mankind, and he passes judgement. The languages are divided and the people are scattered, and the half-built tower remains as their memorial.

After that not much is heard of Babylon for quite a while. But then during the monarchy Babylon emerges again, first as a distant threat and then as an imminent menace. In Judah, King Hezekiah hears of the new power that is rising in the east. Foolishly, he entertains visitors from there and shows them round, and Isaiah tells him that the time is coming when all the wealth of Jerusalem will be carried off to Babylon, along with his own descendants, and God’s people will be exiled. And so it happens. They are led off across the desert and marched in through the great Ishtar Gate, which is covered with pictures of Babylon’s gods, into the city that is dominated by the temple of Marduk, the city whose very name recalls the first time when it shook its fist in the face of God.

There in exile, God’s people have to learn what it means to live for him in Babylon. A man named Daniel leads the way and shows that it is possible to serve God within the godless city, to rise to become a leader in Babylon while retaining his integrity.1 It is Daniel who is there when God declares his judgement on the city at King Belshazzar’s feast, where a mysterious hand appears, writing on the wall words that spell Babylon’s doom. Daniel has the doubtful privilege of telling the king what the words mean. That very night, in one hour, the doom has arrived.

Back in Judah, even before the exile, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah are proclaiming that the godless city will be judged. You can read what they say in Isaiah 21:9 and Jeremiah 51:6–9. The words should sound familiar if you have read Revelation 18. These are prophecies of Babylon’s destruction, written at a time when the city is still alive and well. There are countless other references in the prophets to Babylon’s overthrow, and many of them, like these two, are echoed powerfully in Revelation 18. Jeremiah calls for a great escape, and in the end the escape comes. A remnant returns from exile and the nation is rebuilt.

But the restored Jewish nation retains such a powerful sense of what Babylon means that when Peter writes his first letter, 600 years later, he can write, ‘She who is in Babylon … sends you her greetings’ (1 Peter 5:13), without any need to explain that he is referring to the church in Rome, the Babylon of his own day. The heart of godless rebellion has shifted from the city that stood on the River Euphrates to the one that stands on the Tiber, where the evil emperors Nero and Domitian have their throne.

This city in Revelation 18 is not the literal, earthly city of Babylon. That should be obvious. How could it be, when the earthly city had long been destroyed and all that was left was ruins and a poor village? That literal Babylon had stood hundreds of miles inland, so it would have been tricky, to say the least, for the ships and the sailors we read about here to trade directly with her! Nor is this Babylon just a code-word for Rome, as some have suggested—that doesn’t fit either. Yes, the Rome of John’s day is here, and so is the Babylon that Daniel knew. And she is also Sodom and Egypt, as chapter 11 told us. And in a sense she is also twenty-first century London or New York, for this Babylon is no one earthly city. She is every city and town that has stood in rebellion against our God. She is the real Babylon, of which the one whose ruins you can see today near Baghdad was no more than a pale copy. She is the Babylon who sits on the back of the beast, the realm of Satan. She is the world we have to live in.

This chapter is where her long story is finally brought to a conclusion. In this chapter we hear from three angels. The first one declares Babylon’s doom (18:1–3). The second one describes the reactions to her downfall (18:4–20). The third gives us a dramatic demonstration of what her fall will mean (18:21–24).

Steve Wilmshurst, The Final Word: The Book of Revelation Simply Explained, Welwyn Commentary Series (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2008), 219–222.

Grab, Gather, and Grow

Josh Hunt — Wed, 19 May 2021 20:00:11 GMT

Let’s break down the process into three simple steps. The simplicity of the process is actually a key to the success of the whole strategy!

As you communicate to the general congregation, here are the three essentials you want them to know and do:

(1) Grab a resource.

(2) Gather a few friends.

(3) Grow together through the upcoming series.

Keep it that simple. People are more likely to buy into new ways of doing things when the process is understandable and clear.

Grab

Invite your attendees to grab a free DVD and printed resource to guide a small group. This process typically begins two weeks before the launch of a new message series and continues through the first week or two of that message series. The lead pastor invites everyone in the congregation to take the resource, as a gift, in exchange for being willing to gather a few friends and grow through this series. The materials work best when designed as a supplement to the weekend message.

By having materials readily available after a worship service (or other gathering), you lower the bar for leadership, allowing everyone to participate as a host. This will exponentially expand the pool of people you may be able to reach during the gather-and-grow stage.

In larger congregations with media staff, if time and resources allow, you may want to create these video-based teaching materials in-house. However, this step is not necessary. For example, as a smaller congregation, when preparing to purchase land, we used John Ortberg’s study If You Want to Walk on Water as our small-group resource. We coupled it with weekend messages about faith and generosity. It worked really well because it fit the challenging context in the life of our faith community.

It is possible to adapt various short-term video-based studies to fit the G3 process. Other video studies we have used in a church-wide series include The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkerson; The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren; and Life’s Healing Choices by John Baker.

Materials are now being developed, at a much-reduced cost to the participating congregation, so that it is affordable for churches of all sizes to purchase community group studies in bulk quantities. To implement the G3 process, the resources should be provided so that community groups can multiply at an exponential rate. For example, Abingdon Press (our publisher) is aiming to distribute video-based studies at a discounted cost under five dollars for each video disk (and under ten dollars for each discounted participant/leader guide), which is supplied by the church to each community group during the “grab the resource” step. By planning ahead and coupling the weekend message, the G3 process will work with most biblical video-based curriculum or small-group studies.

Gather

Immediately after grabbing a resource, hosts are encouraged to reach out and invite churched and especially nonchurched friends, neighbors, and coworkers to join them for the study. Encourage hosts to meet in homes, offices, and even restaurants and parks. The intent is to move the setting outside of the church walls and into neutral settings. A familiar setting may help those far from God to be more comfortable. During this time, those who have grabbed a resource need to be encouraged to reach out to as many people as they comfortably can, so they are able to fill their groups and experience a positive group launch.

Grow

This begins as soon as the group assembles. In the G3 system, the traditional small-group emphasis of fellowship and discipleship is expanded to include evangelism, ministry, and worship. By intentionally having groups develop balance as they live into the Great Commission and Great Commandment, the result will be healthier groups. And healthy things grow.

Jennifer Cowart and Jim Cowart, Grab, Gather, Grow: Multiply Community Groups in Your Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2016).

What are stongholds?

Josh Hunt — Wed, 19 May 2021 18:26:13 GMT

We all have strongholds in our lives. The apostle Paul used the term to describe a mind-set or attitude. “The weapons of our warfare are . . . mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5, emphasis mine). A stronghold is a conviction, outlook, or belief that attempts to interfere with truth.

Does a stronghold have a strong hold on you?

God could never forgive me (the stronghold of guilt).
I could never forgive that person (the stronghold of resentment).
I don’t deserve to be loved (the stronghold of rejection).
I’ll never recover (the stronghold of defeat).
I must be good, or God will reject me (the stronghold of performance).
I’m only as good as I look (the stronghold of appearance).
My value equals my possessions (the stronghold of materialism).

But we don’t have to live in the shadow of these joy-sucking strongholds. Our weapons are from God and have “divine power to demolish strongholds” (v. 4 NIV).

Isn’t that what we want? We long to see our strongholds demolished, turned into rubble once and for all, forever and ever, ka-boom! How does this happen?

By keeping God in the center. -- Glory Days / Max Lucado, God Is with You Every Day (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2015).

Balanced groups

Josh Hunt — Wed, 19 May 2021 14:20:08 GMT

Most small groups do at least two things well—fellowship and Bible study. However, at their best, they can be so much more!

Group life is a great way to live out the Great Commandment and Great Commission in community. As Rick Warren points out in the Purpose Driven Church Strategy, the five purposes for Christian life together are worship, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, and ministry. A key component to the overall health and success of G3 is balancing these five areas. This is so important to the church family that we have implemented community groups through a launch resource, with the phrase Living the Five, which means living intentionally into each of these purposes.

All groups are encouraged in every gathering to incorporate these five habits:

Evangelism—inviting new people to join the group
Fellowship—caring for one another emotionally, spiritually, and physically
Ministry—taking on a mission project either in the church or in the community
Worship—praying and possibly even singing together
Discipleship—studying God’s word and applying it to life together

The benefits to this balance are numerous. For instance, our need for membership care from staff and pastors has diminished greatly because the people are caring for each other. This frees the staff to spend more time equipping laypeople for ministry and preparing for the weekend services. By having more than three hundred groups actively seeking ways to engage in ministry opportunities in our church and community during each study, we are able, as the body of Christ, to do so much more than we could through a single church-wide emphasis.

One of our community groups—a small group of women—meets weekly to prepare backpacks for children who do not have enough food each weekend. As part of their weekly gathering, they stuff seventy-two packs for at-risk children in our area. Another community group prepares and distributes hygiene kits for the homeless. These projects are completely autonomous. The groups handle everything themselves, including coordination and funding. At Christmas, for the past few years, we have gathered together with our community group hosts to hear their outreach stories. It is overwhelming to hear of projects, which range from malaria vaccines to tutoring, being planned and done by these community groups!

The emphasis on inviting those far from God to join the groups also helps the church reach out with the good news. Through the G3 process, community groups attract many people who have not yet come to corporate worship. In other words, they have not attended church yet, but they are meeting weekly in homes with their friends to learn more. This is great! And it helps our people live out the Great Commission.

The Approach to Community

As you approach the G3 system, consider expanding your thinking about what group life can look like. Instead of thinking about Bible study, cell group, or small group, we encourage you to use the label community group. The word community implies that the group is open to everyone in your area, the entire community. In our culture the church may not always seem open to everyone even though we may mean for it to be open. For people who don’t attend your church, they may not know if they are really welcome to come in your doors or participate in your groups.

The use of the word community has been so beneficial to changing our church culture, in fact, that we now use it in most of our church advertising. For example, invitational cards and billboards may read: “You’re invited to a Community Christmas Celebration.” For people far from God, it gives them permission to belong.

The term community also opens up our groups to a wider audience. Recently, during our membership class, we met a woman who had never been to church before. Yet, there she was, in a two-hour course about what it means to be a member of the family of God and part of a congregation. Curious, right? She explained that she had been attending a community group at a neighbor’s home and found it to be life changing. When she was told about the membership class, she wanted to hear more about the church. After meeting us, she said, “Who knows? Maybe next week I’ll even come to hear you preach.”

Some people aren’t ready to come through the doors for worship. But they may be open to going over to their neighbor’s home one night a week for snacks and a video-based lesson. And if that is a positive experience, it might be their first step toward a relationship with Christ.

While Jen was shopping recently, she met a delightful woman who stopped and said, “Hey, you’re the woman that leads my community group.”

So she replied, “Oh, do you come to Harvest?” The woman replied, “Oh no. I don’t go to church, but I do go to my neighbor’s house for Bible study. You’re that woman on the screen, right?” Jen introduced herself, listened to a little of her story, and then told her that when and if she got ready to try out a service, Jen would be one of the people ready to greet her.

By simply adding the word community, a great deal is communicated. The outside-in point of view lets those who have doubts and questions know that “yes, you are invited.”

The Release of Control

It’s a difficult lesson to learn, but great leaders know that you can structure for control or growth, but you simply cannot have both. This has been one of the harder but more meaningful lessons for us to learn over the years. As you will see, as we get into the process of G3, anyone (really, anyone) is allowed to grab a resource and gather friends for the community groups.

Because the biblical teaching is delivered by a skilled biblical communicator through a DVD resource, you don’t have to worry about the quality of the teaching. The people who take the materials from the table are not teachers.

This is crucial to the G3 system!

The hosts don’t lead the actual study; the DVD video leads the study. The hosts are friends and neighbors who get together with people they know to do life together and explore God’s word. By lowering the bar in terms of their preparation and expertise, more people are able to engage.

This may be a struggle for you because as a leader, if you are like us, you may have gotten stuck on quality control. Many churches require a great deal of training before activating people into the role of a host. This seems like the right thing to do, unless it is limiting your effectiveness in advancing the purposes of God’s kingdom. If we aren’t careful we can develop a culture in which only a few people are “qualified” to do ministry. Has that happened in your church? Do only a few people lead Sunday school or ministry teams? In our day and time, with access to so much technology, we can harness mature teaching and put it into the hands of new seekers and less-mature believers.

Remember who followed Jesus? Primarily, it was ordinary people. Jesus trusted them with the message of the gospel. The G3 system follows that example and allows you to put good materials into the hands of your people, some of whom may even be far from God.

But, to be honest, when we first started the G3 system, we were nervous about loosening control. You see, we know some of our folk. We love them! But some of them are sketchy. Do you know the term sketchy? It means questionable. Our anxiety centered on what would happen if we put materials into Mr. Sketchy’s hands. Well, let us tell you what happened. Mr. Sketchy invited his sketchy buddies, and they got together and studied the Bible! In some cases, for the very first time. That’s a good thing, friends.

We can structure our churches and ministries for control or growth, but you simply cannot have both.

In our situation, we were stuck at 72 adult groups. But by trying the G3 system, in one week we went from 72 to 226 groups active in our community. We immediately found that people were willing to be in a group. They were interested. They weren’t too busy. They just needed a system that worked for them where they were.

Remember: don’t say but; keep thinking so. Consider the possibilities before you get stuck on your obstacles. By controlling the quality of the prepared material, we opened up the potential of who could be hosts in our area. We don’t call these people teachers; they are simply hosts. They are inviters, and their network of invitation is far greater than ours is without them.

One young adult who grabbed materials came up to us and said, “You know I’m an unwed mom, and I’ve always been too shy to show up at a group. I didn’t know what people would say about me and the mistakes I’ve made. Would it be okay if I grabbed one of the resources and got together with some friends, and we did this together?” Yes, absolutely. So now there are eight young women meeting regularly to seek God and study his word, aiming to live life in a new way.

Again, friends, that’s a good thing!

When people are given responsibility and begin to build relationships, their pronouns begin to change. They begin to see the ministry of the church as theirs, not just yours. They begin to think about what they can do, instead of what you need to do. This is a powerful shift.

By allowing anyone (really, anyone) who is willing to grab a resource and gather a few friends to take the materials, we had to rethink our ideas of how to do ministry and who can be involved. But we’ve found that by providing solid biblical materials, we are not giving an endorsement to any questionable behaviors people may have. We are simply saying, “Here; try this. We think it will help you and the people you invite.”

We also know that by loosening the constraints of who our inviters are, we are more likely to reach people far from God. To use the fisherman metaphor, the net gets cast into much deeper waters than just what the highly qualified church folk may be able to reach on the surface.

You may be like us and need to stop here and reread this section, perhaps several times. Most of us have structured our ministry with high control. This need often comes from a good and well-meaning heart, but it limits our ability to reach people who need God. Again, you can structure for growth or for control, but you cannot have both.

The Power of Synergy

One of the keys to the success of the G3 system is to tie the community group materials to what is taught on the weekend. In other words, the community group materials and the message from the sermon are closely related. By creating additional material and creative questions for dialogue, you get several benefits:

(1) It is easier for people to interact because they have already been introduced to the topic through the weekend sermon. Therefore, they are more likely to contribute to conversation.

(2) It develops synergy within the community by giving your congregation a common theme to talk about. For instance, when they hear that a series is coming up about family, they know that both the weekend and the weekday groups will be on this topic. It sparks conversation in the community.

(3) It becomes easier for your church to advertise what’s coming next. The congregation knows that when we have a G3 series, the community group materials and the message will be linked. It becomes easy for them to invite their friends because they can cast vision based on the advertising we put into their hands.

(4) It is much easier to cast vision from the platform or pulpit and communicate the topic to our church and into the community by tying the group materials to the weekend message.

(5) It drives people from community groups to the weekend worship experience. Many times we only think about how we can drive people from the weekend service into groups. However, the G3 system can also drive people to the weekend worship experience from their community group. Since they have interest in the study, they are more likely to show up for worship to hear more on the topic.

As we go through the G3 process you will see that selecting sermon topics and group materials that complement each other will help the process run smoothly.

Jennifer Cowart and Jim Cowart, Grab, Gather, Grow: Multiply Community Groups in Your Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2016).

THANKS FOR CHRIST’S VICTORY

Josh Hunt — Tue, 18 May 2021 19:49:13 GMT

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 2 CORINTHIANS 2:14

Ancient Roman generals, returning to Rome from a victory in a distant land, would parade down the main streets of Rome with the spoils of battle—including a throng of captives from the conquered territory. These dejected captives were solid evidence to the Roman public of the great victory the general was celebrating. In this prayer of thanksgiving, Paul uses this image of a triumphal procession to thank Christ for defeating the evil forces of this world. Interestingly enough in this prayer, Paul identifies believers as Christ’s captives. We were once part of Satan’s army; but Jesus has taken us captive. As such, our transformed lives clearly proclaim Christ’s great victory. But unlike the captives of Roman conquerors, we aren’t destined to be sold into demeaning servitude. Instead, Christ has freed us from our old evil master to become his adopted children. So our captivity is really a release into the joy of Christ’s service. Liberated by Christ, we become a multimedia testimony to his power: a witness, Paul suggests, of sound, sight, and savor!

Thank God, today, that you’re included in Christ’s victory parade.

Livingstone Corporation, Zondervan, Niv, Once-a-Day: Devotional for Women, Ebook (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012).

Grab, Gather, and Grow

Josh Hunt — Tue, 18 May 2021 19:39:28 GMT

Welcome to G3, which is short for Grab, Gather, and Grow. These three verbs are steps to help mobilize your church for tremendous growth. This system will help you achieve not only healthy numeric growth but also growth in discipleship, growth in ministry and mission activity, as well as growth in spiritual relationships. In this book and the accompanying video, you will discover a proven leadership strategy to maximize your results in connecting people in your congregation, community, and beyond through small groups.

For years we have heard prominent Christian leaders say that it is possible to see more people involved in group life during the week than in attendance in worship on the weekend. In fact, they would even go so far as to say that 100 percent participation in groups is not the goal. Instead, the goal is to see upwards of 110 percent of the weekend attendance actively involved in group life. What? Are you kidding? It preaches well at a training event, but is it really possible? Could it just be seminar rhetoric? You know what seminar rhetoric is, right? It is the things presenters tell you are possible during a training seminar, but the idea of it happening in your local setting seems unattainable. Well, if you’ve ever experienced seminar rhetoric, then you can understand our surprise when we realized that, after adopting a new strategy for group life, we did indeed have more people involved in groups some weeks than we had in worship on the weekend. (And we had good crowds on the weekend!)

Many churches are stuck in patterns that are not yielding the best results. We realized this was true in our setting several years ago, so we hired a coach, Brett Eastman from Life Together ministries, to help us move forward in the area of small group involvement. Through that consultation, we began developing a strategy that has led to tremendous growth spiritually and relationally. This is the strategy we want to share with you through this book. It’s called Grab, Gather, and Grow. Feel free to tweak this process, and make it work in your situation! As Christian leaders, our responsibility is not only to feed our sheep but also to equip them and create systems of health and growth so that they, too, can feed sheep. Ideally, these systems need little maintenance once established and can allow for years of growth in many areas. In the early church, we read in Acts:

A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. All the believers were united and shared everything. They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved. (Acts 2:43-47 CEB)

The early church had a system! There was a system for corporate worship in the temple and a system for ministry, fellowship, study, and mission in homes. G3 is a similar system.

This is a how-to book. You already know the theology motivating it from scripture:

Go into the whole world and make disciples . . . (Mark 16:15, paraphrased)
Love each other . . . (John 13:34 CEB)
Carry each other’s burdens . . . (Gal 6:2 CEB)
A three-ply cord doesn’t easily snap . . . (Eccl 4:12 CEB)
As iron sharpens iron, so friends sharpen each [other] . . . (Prov 27:17 CEB)
Don’t stop meeting together with other believers . . . (Heb 10:25 CEB)
Love your neighbor as yourself . . . (Mark 12:31 CEB)

These scriptures, and so many more, point to the need for us to be in community with each other. They stress the strength that comes from doing life together with a shared purpose. But our world, our churches, and our people are already so very busy. Within the church, we usually attend too many meetings, accomplish too little ministry, and often feel too much stress. In fact, in the bustle of life, many of the people in our churches and community find themselves desperately lonely. So what do we do? We build a system to help people connect to each other, to Christ, and into meaningful ministry. Grab, Gather, and Grow can help you do this!

In our situation, two weeks after beginning G3, we were able to assimilate more people into groups meeting in homes, businesses, and restaurants than we had in weekend worship. Even more surprising and exciting is these small groups are bearing fruit. Over the past year we have seen a 350 percent increase in the number of groups offered in our church family. This represents more than a thousand additional people now engaged with each other on a weekly basis to study God’s word, invite the lost, engage in missions, take care of each other, and worship together.

How? This result is accomplished by giving our people an easy-to-use, video-driven resource provided through our church, encouraging them to gather a few friends from the community, and having them commit to growing together in a small group setting. The video teaching on the DVD is done by a skilled communicator, which allows people who may have been previously intimidated by “teaching” to step into leadership. The gathering is done by the one who grabs the resource, and the growth occurs through the sweet process of inviting God into our lives within these group settings.

In some ways, by allowing all church members to grab a resource, the qualification bar for leadership is lowered. The average church attendee is able to step into a leadership role and reach out to his or her circle of friends and family outside the church family. This is a part of the secret sauce for G3. By equipping the people of God with high-quality materials and then encouraging them to reach out to those they know outside the church walls, we have been able to reach many more people with the love and message of Christ.

Many of our peers, with varying demographics—geography, style of worship, and size—experience similar results. For example, our friend Jeff, a pastor in Ohio, implemented a version of the G3 process with great results. Five months after introducing this strategy, his congregation moved from 180 people involved in eighteen groups to more than 500 people involved in forty-seven groups, and they are still growing.

After just two series, David, a pastor in Texas, experienced a similar outcome. His church added fifty groups. These are both relatively large churches. However, the system works in all locations and is effective with varying demographics. A smaller church trying this approach added seven groups. It sounds small in comparison until you realize this doubled their attendance. Don’t be overwhelmed by the numbers. Scale the process to your situation.

Think exponentially and not incrementally!

We are excited to share this process with you because we believe that it will work for you no matter the size or location of your congregation. And as it works, you will ultimately be able to reach more people with the love and message of Christ. In fact, as you unleash the power of encouraging everyone to reach out to those in their spheres of influence, the stories that emerge will amaze you.

With more than three hundred groups now meeting in and beyond our church community, we hear stories almost daily about what God is doing among our people. Many of these stories are about people who never attended a Bible study before. But by grabbing a resource and gathering their friends, they are now growing together in Christ.

In another example, we received a note from a participant, Tamera, who shared with us that simply by grabbing a resource and using it with friends from her work setting, she made an impact on a very unique population. Tamera works with adults who have special needs, including several who are nonverbal. After viewing a resource on love, she invited small groups of her clients into her home and did the study with them.

This group, like so many others, is one we would never have envisioned. But by loosening the constraints of who is qualified to lead and by empowering our attendees to invite, we are seeing tremendous growth both within the community and in who is being reached.

As we dig into the strategy of G3, we pray that the Holy Spirit will begin to open your eyes, as the Spirit opened our eyes and Tamera’s eyes, to all the possibilities in front of you!

Jennifer Cowart and Jim Cowart, Grab, Gather, Grow: Multiply Community Groups in Your Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2016).

THE HOSPITABLE GOD

Josh Hunt — Tue, 18 May 2021 19:02:53 GMT

I (Dustin) recently sat with a group of church leaders to discuss what’s working and not working in the local church in terms of mission and reaching local communities. As I talked about biblical hospitality and the vital role it plays in mission, one pastor looked at me and said, “I just don’t think it works. I’m not sure how much it really matters.” To which another leader added, “Is hospitality really that big of a deal?”

I was stunned. And in case you’re thinking the same thing: for the record, yes, it works, and yes, it is a big deal.

Clearly the New Testament commands believers to practice hospitality:

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (Rom. 12:13)
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Heb. 13:2)
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:9)

These are obviously important (as commands tend to be) and we will discuss them later, but we’d also like to zoom out and show that hospitality is a big deal to God throughout the Bible. It may seem strange to think of it this way, but the entire Bible is a story about God’s hospitality.

In the first chapters of Genesis we see God’s hospitality on display in full, creative force. He creates the heavens and the earth, and by doing so fashions the perfect home for Adam and Eve. He provides everything they need to thrive in created joy.

Pick up the story in Genesis 1:28–30 and pay attention to the repetition:

God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” (emphasis added)

The word every or everything appears repeatedly in these verses. Genesis 1 reads like the most gracious host in the world is welcoming you into His castle, and He says, “Look! It’s all yours. Everything! I’ve made it all meticulously for you.” It’s like a parent who beams with delight as the children open gifts on Christmas morning.

Then in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve betrayed God by willfully rebelling against His authority, and in so doing, they neglected the gracious hospitality He offered. Yet God responded with grace by seeking them out. They did not die on the day they sinned, as God’s earlier command seemed to imply (Gen. 2:16–17). Instead God sewed clothes for them to cover their nakedness and shame, and He foreshadowed how He not only would provide for them through working the ground, but promised a Redeemer to come who would crush the enemy who seduced them into sin (Gen. 3:15).1

In this story, the biblical writer introduced a central tension that plays throughout all of Scripture: how is God going to continue to be hospitable to humanity if He is also holy and cannot dwell with evil? Even though Adam and Eve are put outside the garden of Eden because of their heinous challenge to their Creator and His holiness, God initiated a way that He could continue to be hospitable to His now-fallen creation.

In Genesis 12, God told Abraham (then called Abram) that God was going to form a special people from his descendants, a people who would be God’s and put Him on display throughout the earth: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (v. 2). Then He continued: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (v. 3). This pronouncement shows that God’s purpose for picking Abraham’s family to represent Him was so that He could use them to be hospitable to every other nation.

This choice of a people is ironic in many ways, because this “great nation,” Israel, was known to be the smallest and most alienated of all nations—the runt of the litter, if you will. Yet God lavished His mercy and love on them for a purpose that extended far beyond them.

The entire Old Testament is the story of God’s hospitality to a special people, the Israelites. He invited them into relationship with Him and taught them what community with the God of creation looks like. Even though they continually sinned and turned to false gods, just as Adam and Eve had, time and time again God pursued them, putting out the welcome mat when they finally decided to return to Him.

This story culminates in the ultimate act of hospitality: God sent His Son through the lineage of Israel to make a way once and for all for repentant men, women, and children to be reconnected to God. In Christ, God satisfied His own demand for holiness; He substituted His holiness for our wickedness and His death for ours, so that He could invite us back into relationship with Him and continue to care for us (Rom. 5:6–11).

Jesus left the comfort of His home in heaven to live a hard-working carpenter’s life, become a traveling, homeless evangelist, and then be crucified by the very people He had come to save. And as the Son of God rose to life on the third day after His crucifixion, the door of His tomb rolled open a way for men, women, and children to finally be in right relationship with the Father whom our first parents declared independence from in the garden. God did this so that ultimately we can live with Him forever in harmony in His eternal home.

The apostle John received a vision of this coming, heavenly home:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:1–4)

The Bible begins with God making a home for humanity to dwell with Him in a garden and the Bible ends with God making a home for believers to dwell with Him in a city. These beautiful bookends to Scripture mean that not only did God do what He set out to do in the beginning, but somehow through all the mess of humanity, He actually made a home to share with us that is much bigger and better than the first one.

The story of creation ends with a vibrant city, coming down from the clouds in great spectacle, resting on the new heavens and new earth that God remakes out of the debris of the first one. God makes a home for us to dwell with Him, and we will be His people and He will be our God (Jer. 32:38; Ezek. 37:27; Rev. 21:3). God finished what He started in the garden, and this last grand act of hospitality is made possible only by His continual hospitality. His grace is made evident through His hospitality toward sinners like us.

Throughout the saga of history, God consistently initiates relationship. He is a gracious host, constantly welcoming in wayward sinners who deserve His wrath—a people whose only hope is that He would show them undeserved hospitality.

If ever there has been a stranger in need, someone completely excluded and hopeless, fully dependent on the grace of another—that is us. We were out in the cold, victims of our own folly, freezing to death from the coldness in our own hearts. And all throughout history, God opens the door, rescues us, and welcomes us back into relationship through sheer, inexplicable grace.

For those of us in Christ, we have been grafted into the same rescue mission. According to 2 Corinthians 5:18, God has given us “the ministry of reconciliation,” proclaiming the good news that He’s made a way for our sins to be forgiven, for traitors to sit at His table again. He invites us into the welcoming mission that He has proclaimed since the beginning of time.

THE GOSPEL WITH FLESH ON

Any time we practice hospitality, we put human flesh on this gospel story. The apostle Paul made this idea clear when he wrote, “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7).

Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.

This hospitality applies both to other believers and those who are far from Jesus. We welcome other believers into our lives as Christ has welcomed us, and as we do so, God uses the relationships that are created to model the heart of a hospitable God and draw us closer to Him.

As we welcome other believers into our lives and homes, we create a beautiful model for what life under God looks like. We become a living, breathing demonstration of the gospel and look like salt and light as Jesus said we would (Matt. 5:13–16).

We also welcome into our lives and homes those who are far from Jesus, because this is one of the most effective ways we can put the gospel on display for them. By doing so, we physically communicate the entire story of God to them: that our sin caused the sense of estrangement and disconnection we all feel (toward God and other people), but God loves us so much that He made a way for us to return to Him.

When we invite into our homes and lives those who are far from God, essentially we say to them, God loves you and He hasn’t given up on you. We present that message with our actions before we even get a chance to share the gospel with our words. If we are truly God’s ambassadors, as Paul called us in 2 Corinthians 5:20,2 then when we open our doors to a non-Christian, it is as if God Himself is opening His door. When Christians practice this simple action repeatedly, it changes the world.

Hospitality is not some stuffy, outdated practice. It is clearly a biblical idea of utmost importance, because it is the primary way we tell the astounding story that God hasn’t given up on us. Any time we practice hospitality we follow in the steps of our lavishly hospitable God. Here’s the potentially scary part: because of our role in representing God to the world, when we don’t walk in hospitality, we do not tell the truth about God. When we are cold, separated, and distant from those around us, we communicate that God is cold, separated, and distant. When we are warm, loving, and gracious, we put the gospel on display. This type of hospitality, which testifies to the character of our God, has always been a hallmark of God’s people.

Dustin Willis, Brandon Clements, and J. D. Greear, The Simplest Way to Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2017).

C.S. Lewis's "Act as If" Principle

Josh Hunt — Tue, 18 May 2021 14:07:55 GMT

I said in an earlier chapter that there were four ‘Cardinal’ virtues and three ‘Theological’ virtues. The three Theological ones are Faith, Hope, and Charity. Faith is going to be dealt with in the last two chapters. Charity was partly dealt with in Chapter 7, but there I concentrated on that part of Charity which is called Forgiveness. I now want to add a little more.

First, as to the meaning of the word. ‘Charity’ now means simply what used to be called ‘alms’—that is, giving to the poor. Originally it had a much wider meaning. (You can see how it got the modern sense. If a man has ‘charity’, giving to the poor is one of the most obvious things he does, and so people came to talk as if that were the whole of charity. In the same way, ‘rhyme’ is the most obvious thing about poetry, and so people come to mean by ‘poetry’ simply rhyme and nothing more.) Charity means ‘Love, in the Christian sense’. But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.

I pointed out in the chapter on Forgiveness that our love for ourselves does not mean that we like ourselves. It means that we wish our own good. In the same way Christian Love (or Charity) for our neighbours is quite a different thing from liking or affection. We ‘like’ or are ‘fond of’ some people, and not of others. It is important to understand that this natural ‘liking’ is neither a sin nor a virtue, any more than your likes and dislikes in food are a sin or a virtue. It is just a fact. But, of course, what we do about it is either sinful or virtuous.

Natural liking or affection for people makes it easier to be ‘charitable’ towards them. It is, therefore, normally a duty to encourage our affections—to ‘like’ people as much as we can (just as it is often our duty to encourage our liking for exercise or wholesome food)—not because this liking is itself the virtue of charity, but because it is a help to it. On the other hand, it is also necessary to keep a very sharp look-out for fear our liking for some one person makes us uncharitable, or even unfair, to someone else. There are even cases where our liking conflicts with our charity towards the person we like. For example, a doting mother may be tempted by natural affection to ‘spoil’ her child; that is, to gratify her own affectionate impulses at the expense of the child’s real happiness later on.

But though natural likings should normally be encouraged, it would be quite wrong to think that the way to become charitable is to sit trying to manufacture affectionate feelings. Some people are ‘cold’ by temperament; that may be a misfortune for them, but it is no more a sin than having a bad digestion is a sin; and it does not cut them out from the chance, or excuse them from the duty, of learning charity. The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less. There is, indeed, one exception. If you do him a good turn, not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show him what a fine forgiving chap you are, and to put him in your debt, and then sit down to wait for his ‘gratitude’, you will probably be disappointed. (People are not fools: they have a very quick eye for anything like showing off, or patronage.) But whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less.

Consequently, though Christian charity sounds a very cold thing to people whose heads are full of sentimentality, and though it is quite distinct from affection, yet it leads to affection. The difference between a Christian and a worldly man is not that the worldly man has only affections or ‘likings’ and the Christian has only ‘charity’. The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he ‘likes’ them: the Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on—including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning.

This same spiritual law works terribly in the opposite direction. The Germans, perhaps, at first ill-treated the Jews because they hated them: afterwards they hated them much more because they had ill-treated them. The more cruel you are, the more you will hate; and the more you hate, the more cruel you will become—and so on in a vicious circle for ever.

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.

Some writers use the word charity to describe not only Christian love between human beings, but also God’s love for man and man’s love for God. About the second of these two, people are often worried. They are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? The answer is the same as before. Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, ‘If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?’ When you have found the answer, go and do it.

On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him. Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ He will give us feelings of love if He pleases. We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right. But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperOne, 2001), 129–133.

Cultural currents that flow against practicing our faith

Josh Hunt — Mon, 17 May 2021 14:41:42 GMT

In 2005 the late novelist David Foster Wallace gave an iconic commencement speech to the graduating class of Kenyon College. Often referred to as “This Is Water,” his speech is about the difficulty of staying attuned to others in the day in and day out drudgery of normal adult life, and he opened the speech with the following illustration:

There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What … is water?”1

When it comes to pursuing biblical hospitality as a way of life, we immediately happen upon a major obstacle: almost everything in our culture is set up to hinder us from pursuing it. Much like those two young fish, we are so pulled by the drudgery of our everyday lives that we fail to stay attuned to God’s call on us to be missional. Our default is to swim along with the current of our culture, not giving a single thought about the water that surrounds our every move and pushes us in the opposite direction of intentional mission.

We know what you may be thinking: No! Not my home. You can’t have my home! We get it. The invisible cultural currents shape our view of our home in ways we don’t even realize. So let’s take a look at some of the currents and how they hinder our efforts at practicing hospitality.

CURRENT #1: ISOLATION

Turn your television to the HGTV channel and you are likely to find one of the dozens of shows where a real estate agent helps a prospective renter or buyer find the house of their dreams.2

We both have spent many hours watching HGTV (and let’s be honest, we’ll probably spend many more). The thing about a channel like HGTV is that it can actually teach you what people believe about the homes they live in, what they value most, and how they approach the spaces they inhabit. In this way, it’s an amazing tool to understand our culture and the ways we are most likely to think about our own homes, even as Christians.

If you’ve spent any time watching HGTV, consider some of the most common phrases you hear there. Words like oasis, privacy, and retreat come to mind.

Anytime a salesman, whether a television producer going after ratings or a real estate agent pursuing a commission, tries to sell something, they go after what they think the consumer wants. And we want our homes to isolate us from the world.

Even for those located in a bustling high-rise, we want our actual living space to be private. Our homes get us away from others (or at least the vast majority of others). Garages, privacy fences, building security guards, and key codes—all of those reinforce our desire for isolation. There is, of course, nothing wrong with appropriate isolation and wanting your own defined space. When taken to the extreme, however, a desire for isolation is at odds with the biblical values of community, hospitality, and neighborliness.

Think about this: what if you could see a bird’s-eye view of your neighborhood—if you could see your neighborhood as God sees it? Odds are you would see lots of people who may not admit it, but who desperately long for connection and community. Yet they spend most of their rare free time cordoned off in their respective homes, doors shut and locked tight, as they scroll through social media apps or watch other people live on screens. This scratches their itch for connection and community, but leaves those desires profoundly unfulfilled. Isn’t that sadly ironic?

I (Brandon) have never seen this more clearly than I did last year after my family and I moved into a new neighborhood. We invited all our closest neighbors over for dessert in order to meet them, and two of my neighbors approached each other and introduced themselves. They lived two doors down from each other. I heard one of them say to the other, “It’s nice to finally meet you. It’s sad that we’ve both been here fifteen years and we’ve never met.”

Though we hosted the dessert get-together, I admit that meeting neighbors like that is not natural for me. I am an introvert to the nth degree. So is my wife, Kristi. We both get energy from alone time—from peace and quiet and good books and stillness (at least before we had kids). At parties (when I am forced to go), I find a quiet corner with fewer people. I identify with this isolation current, the my-home-is-my-refuge sentiment, because in many ways, for me, it is. I love my home, I love the people in it, and I love the way God uses it to refuel and refresh me.

Half of all people identify as introverts,3 so if you are one, we realize you may be thinking, Yeah, but I really can’t practice—I don’t want to practice—hospitality because I’m an introvert. It would be too draining. Please do not read this book thinking the message is, Force yourself to be an extrovert because of the gospel! Please don’t let your personality type be a barrier to living out a God-ordained calling that is actually tailor-made to suit your personality type. I understand that introverts get the rap that they don’t like people, but that’s not true. We just like people in smaller, quieter doses than our extroverted compatriots do. I have found that inviting one person (or a couple of people) to my house where we enjoy quality time together, have good conversation, and experience a volume level that never gets too stressful is actually totally my speed (and completely fits the bill of hospitality!).

CURRENT #2: RELAXATION

We think a primary purpose of our homes is for them to be temples of relaxation. They are the one place that is ours—where we can kick back, veg out, and unwind. This may or may not be explicitly stated, but the default stance in our culture is that a home’s primary purpose is to rest, relax, and recharge, so anything that seems to threaten your home’s ability to be a sanctuary for you may not be a welcome prospect. We believe our homes have a unique ability to restore our sanity and help us recoup after a stressful day or week, and we’ll do almost anything to protect that sense of refuge.

The first home that my wife, Renie (pronounced “Rainy”), and I (Dustin) purchased was a 1950s, small, Craftsman-style, red brick home, which needed work. By no means was this house the ideal place to practice hospitality. The floor plan was the opposite of open. And when measuring its pluses and minuses during the buying process, the last thing on my mind was to look at it through a hospitality lens. As a matter of fact, one of the positives I liked most about this house was the privacy of the backyard. Not only was it secluded, it had its own natural canopy made by God Himself—huge oak trees surrounded the yard. The idea of the backyard becoming my own personal oasis was a primary selling point for me. My grand strategy was to buy a hammock, and I already had the two trees picked out to hang it from.

This thought process seemed easy to justify because that season of life and ministry was very stressful. We were in a city where we knew hardly anyone, planting a church we were pretty sure no one was going to attend, and I was getting paid a cool $12K a year. So having a domain that would serve exclusively as a place to relax was at the top of my priorities list. Wanting to come home after a hard day and not be bothered by anyone was not something I simply wanted, it’s something I felt I deserved. Hospitality was not even on my radar, but that hammock definitely was. Fortunately, God showed me a way to both relax and practice hospitality, which I’ll tell you about in a later chapter.

Our homes should be places where we relax and unwind. They are a grace gift from God, meant to rejuvenate and restore our bodies and souls through rest and Sabbath. As with any desire we make too ultimate, however, if we place personal relaxation and refuge at the forefront of our home’s purpose, we lose God-given opportunities to practice gospel-driven intentionality.

CURRENT #3: ENTERTAINMENT

Our desire for isolation and relaxation often fuels our addiction to entertainment. There is, of course, nothing inherently wrong with entertainment. There is nothing inherently wrong with passing time in an enjoyable way—watching Netflix, playing a game, or looking at Facebook on our iPhone. We can participate in all of these things from a place of spiritual fullness, and we can use them in redeeming ways.

Increasingly alarming studies show, however, just how much time we as a culture spend entertaining ourselves, primarily through technology and screen time. One recent Nielsen study states that the average American watches more than five hours of television a day.4 That average is quite a lot when you remember that the average person sleeps for around eight hours and works for at least eight hours per day (and that figure only counts television, not the approximately two hours per day the participants in the same study spent with apps on smartphones or tablets).5

The time we spend with screens seems to be rapidly filling the little free time we have, as well as much of the time we spend in our homes. There is even a new term called “show hole,” meant to describe the feeling that comes after you binge-watch a TV show.

Show hole: When you finally finish binge-watching all the episodes of a favorite TV series on Netflix/Hulu/Amazon, as the credits to the final episode roll, that empty feeling that wraps around your soul because you don’t know now what to do with your life. Like a good friend just left you forever.

“I think I cried three different times during the finale and now I have a show hole where my heart used to be.”6

This is, of course, a humorous way to describe the addictive tendencies of entertainment and the “hole” it can’t quite fill in us. Ask anyone who has binge-watched a TV show and they are likely to smile knowingly at the concept described here (and we certainly would be part of that “anyone who has binge-watched a TV show”).

The truth is, entertainment has taken a prominent role in our modern lives. The center of many homes is the living room, and much of the “living” done there is actually watching productions of other humans living on screens. Our devices usher us into another realm, and we gladly take them up on the offer. For the Christian it is necessary to look critically at this trend, because if screens take up too much of our time and energy, that will lead us to further isolation and we will forsake any sense of mission for our homes. (We will further discuss the relationship between technology and hospitality in chapter 5.)

CURRENT #4: BUSYNESS

The final cultural factor that hinders us from practicing biblical hospitality is busyness. Most people are so busy and frantic that they do not have a vision for how a lifestyle of sharing life with others in their homes could possibly fit into their schedules.

Our time is already filled to capacity with work, school, kids’ activities, clubs, hobbies, and other commitments. We run through life at a frantic pace and then finally get home, lock the dead bolt, and isolate ourselves, hoping to gain the strength we need to face the next day.

This addiction to busyness often keeps us from enjoying life the way we were designed to enjoy it, and it keeps us from practicing hospitality as a way of life. We cannot haphazardly live out hospitality. We must pursue it intentionally, and frankly, it needs to be calendared. Having people in my (Dustin’s) home for a meal or game night or to watch a big game tends to happen only if my wife and I put it on the calendar. I spend a lot of time traveling for work, we have two kids who love extracurricular activities, and we live in a city that is driven by busyness. Renie and I constantly deal with the tension that lives in the space between our hectic schedules and our conviction to slow down and enjoy people. We have to remind ourselves that busyness is not a medal of valor to be displayed.

A NEW WAY TO THINK

The harsh reality is that because of these factors, you won’t accidentally fall or stumble into changing the world through biblical hospitality. In many ways, your culture has you set up to fail, because the dominant values and ways of thinking about your home is at odds with how the gospel causes you to view your home. The water you and I swim in is polluted with things that make hospitality difficult.

Pursuing biblical hospitality as a way of life will take a very intentional shift in your life and mentality. It will happen only by offering the entire way you view your home to God and letting Him turn it upside down in the best way possible. You’ll have to learn to think of your home primarily from a Christian perspective and let that mindset uproot the ways your culture has taught you to view your home.

This will take stepping back and seeing the cultural waters you swim in. Then you will likely need to drastically reorder your rhythms and priorities. If you do nothing, you will continue to think the same way you always have and do the same things you’ve always done. Maybe a simple movement against the current becomes a way of life that leads to seeing lives and neighborhoods transformed. Imagine hundreds, thousands of believers swimming against the current.

Rebelling against the cultural norms and turning your home into a weapon for the gospel is not only completely possible, it’s a thrilling and meaningful thing to give your life to. It may just be the simplest way to change the world.

Dustin Willis, Brandon Clements, and J. D. Greear, The Simplest Way to Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2017).

The Simplest Way to Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life

Josh Hunt — Mon, 17 May 2021 14:09:57 GMT

Every Christian wants to change the world.

But it’s Tuesday. And so far, you’ve done nothing but get out of bed, make coffee, and sit at your desk for another day of drudgery. That dream job where you do nothing but incredible, extraordinarily meaningful things all day long has not become a reality. In fact, it is starting to feel like a pipe dream, like some cruel joke marketers play on idealistic college kids. You’d like to find the people peddling that idea and punch them, but you’re much too busy and tired to do such a thing, because after all, it’s Tuesday and you have to go to work.

After work you’ll commute home, reheat leftovers for dinner, and hope that your DVR didn’t mess up the recording of your favorite show. This has become your way of life—a nightly ritual of sorts, a thing to look forward to in those moments during the day when you want to throw something or take a long after-lunch nap. All you want is to be home—nestled in with your comforts, at peace with the world.

Whether you are single, married, in college, or chasing 2.5 screaming kids around—home has become a retreat for you. Your home feels like one of the only places where no one is bossing you around or telling you what to do (at least after your kids go to bed, are we right, parents?). Your front door might as well be an armed fortress, because no one who doesn’t live there is getting through to disturb the little bit of peace and quiet you’ve found.

There’s work you, there’s hobby you, there’s friend you, and then there’s home you. And you’d love for the world to understand that they shouldn’t mess with home you.

Your home, as much as possible, has morphed into exactly what you think it should be: a refuge from the rat race called life, which you never realized would be so crazy. A retreat, a place to zone out and unplug. After all, don’t you deserve that? Don’t you deserve a little mind-numbing television marathon and vegging after this Tuesday? It’s just what the doctor ordered (assuming you are the doctor, of course).

Before you know it, years pass. The fortress called your home, your personal refuge, hasn’t seen a friend walk in, much less a neighbor or a stranger, in you can’t remember when. Sure, occasionally you open your home to others when you host events like the Thanksgiving get-together or the youth group movie night. But those times are more the exception than the rule.

You aren’t alone. Many Christians have bought into the cultural view that our homes are our personal and private fortresses. In our combined twenty-plus years of pastoring, we have observed that the way a typical Christian thinks about their home isn’t all that different from how a typical non-Christian thinks: It’s the place I eat, sleep, relax, and entertain myself—by myself.

This has led to a divorce between the way we view our homes and the way we view our mission as Christians. We may rightly understand that we are to make disciples as a part of the Great Commission, which Jesus gave us in Matthew 28,1 but that all feels very separate from what we do at our houses. We think of mission as something that happens outside the four walls of our homes—that, if anything, our homes are even a retreat from any Christian mission that we may be involved in (other than training our children to love Jesus, of course).

In doing so, however, we waste a powerful and God-ordained means of changing the world.

Many Christians have a growing cynicism about any possible role they could play in what God is doing to reconcile all things to Himself (see Col. 1:20). They think, Change the world? Me? Really? I can barely get my five-year-old to brush her teeth. It’s all I can do to get myself ready and out the door in the mornings. The world’s problems are so big—what could I possibly do to make a difference?

For many whose lives feel ordinary, being a part of God’s mission to reverse the curse on creation and introduce those who are far from God to a real and close relationship with Him feels unattainable, impractical, and overwhelming. We’ve given up on the hope that we can actually change the world, because when would we even do so? There isn’t much time left between waking up, rushing to work, eating meals, and preparing for the next day.

But what if we told you that you could actually change the world, right from your own home?

If you desire to join God’s mission but have no clue what that looks like in a normal life, we have good news for you. You already have access to the ultimate game-changing secret weapon that will transform the entire way you think about your life as part of God’s mission.

The secret weapon for gospel advancement is hospitality, and you can practice it whether you live in a house, an apartment, a dorm, or a high-rise.

It takes only your willingness to open your home and life to others. Many Christians believe that in order to be part of God’s mission, they have to do something drastic. (And God may call you to that. By the way, if He does, say yes.) But the reality is you can be an integral part of God’s mission from right where you are, without leaving the home you sleep in each night.

Why is hospitality essential? Phil Vischer, the successful creator of VeggieTales, sums it up well through his unique perspective on the need for Christians to open their ordinary lives and homes to those around them:

I am growing increasingly convinced that if every one of these kids burning with passion to write a hit Christian song or make that hit Christian movie or start that hit Christian ministry to change the world would instead focus their passion on walking with God on a daily basis, the world would change…. Because the world learns about God not by watching Christian movies, but by watching Christians.2

We love this quote because it hits a countercultural, but hard-hitting, truth: the world could use more ordinary Christians opening their ordinary lives so others can see what life in light of the gospel looks like. And what better place to watch Christians than in their homes?

It doesn’t seem that hard, does it? But too often we miss opportunities to practice hospitality.

If you were to break your life into very rough thirds, you could say that you’ll spend about a third of your life sleeping, somewhere close to a third working (or going to school), and the other precious third doing whatever you choose. For many of us, a great deal of that last third winds up being spent in our homes—eating, relaxing, enjoying hobbies, and entertaining ourselves. So if you divorce God’s mission from your home and see your home essentially as a refuge from mission, you’ve just knocked out two-thirds of your life from any kind of missional possibility.

Brandon and I (Dustin) had the privilege of starting and pastoring a church together for almost seven years, and during that time we witnessed Christians build a culture of mission where hospitality served as one of the primary pillars. We saw firsthand that no matter who it is—from the college student to the young family to the empty nesters approaching retirement—joining God’s mission can be as straight-forward as opening your door and inviting others inside.

ORDINARY DOES NOT EQUAL INSIGNIFICANT

I (Brandon) don’t remember what day it was, but I think it was a Thursday. A meaningless-feeling Thursday.

I walked out of my house to grab the mail from the mailbox, and I saw a neighbor in his thirties I hadn’t met yet who was walking his dog. I was tempted to do what I—and so many others—normally do: quickly wave or nod, or somehow acknowledge that I saw him crossing my path, but make it quick enough that we both could go about our business without distraction.

I’ve done that move many times. But on this Thursday a “nudge” prompted me to try something different. I changed course and walked directly toward the neighbor. “Hey!” I said, smiling. “I don’t think I’ve met you yet. What’s your name?”

He told me his name, Stuart, and we struck up a brief conversation. You know, the normal stuff. “How long have you lived here? Do you have kids? Is that your dog that’s always loose and roaming the neighborhood?”

I knew what was coming: “What do you do for a living?” Stuart asked.

I hesitated. I could have blurted out, “I’m a pastor,” but that answer tends to shut down conversation. I’ve learned that when I meet people I try to delay letting them know that information (it typically helps to build my reputation as a normal human before dropping that bomb). But as he waited for my response, I decided to go ahead and ’fess up. He nodded and then his dog dragged him away from our chat. I didn’t think much of it, other than that he’d be a good person to continue building a relationship with and that he was someone my wife and I should have in our home to share a meal.

The next time I saw Stuart in our neighborhood, I noticed he had a serious look on his face.

“I have a question for you,” he told me. “When you came out of your house that day and beelined toward me, why did you decide to talk to me? No one does that.”

I was taken aback by his question. “We’re new to the neighborhood and I’m just trying to meet our neighbors.”

“Oh, okay,” he said. “It was just weird, especially with you being a pastor and all. I was having a bad day and I was grumpy, but then you came up and we had this really good conversation.” He went on to tell me about some relationship trouble he was having, and how his therapist had recently asked him if he thought getting involved in a faith community might help him with some of his issues. “I don’t know what I believe about God and I don’t know anything about Mary or Martha or Lucas or any of those characters, but it was just really weird. I thought maybe God sent you to talk to me that day.”

I smiled. “Well, I don’t know Stuart, I was just trying to meet you. But I do believe God works that way, so maybe He did.”

I left that conversation with Stuart that day encouraged at what depth of relationship God had opened so quickly. (That doesn’t happen every day, trust me!) But I also was disturbed by this thought: how many relationships and opportunities right here at my home have I missed out on because I just smiled and waved?

No matter who we are, walking to our mailbox from our house or apartment feels like the most ordinary, insignificant thing we could possibly do. Nothing that could happen on a trip to the mailbox could be part of what God’s doing to change the world, right?

That logic gets applied to all the routine parts of our lives. We spend most of our ordinary days with our level of intentionality hovering around zero. The majority of our existence (especially the great percentage we spend in our homes) just feels so very … ordinary. We cook, we clean, we rest, we walk to the mailbox with tunnel vision. And quietly, unknowingly, we come to believe that if something is ordinary, it must be insignificant. We think,

How could my house be part of anything meaningful? It’s just where I eat, sleep, and relax.
How could a simple meal have any lasting value? I eat three of them a day, after all.
How could the ordinary parts of my life be significant in any way? They feel so small.

I (Dustin) have been amazed by how the simple act of rolling my grill to my front yard (not the backyard) and grilling burgers has effectively allowed me to meet neighbors, hear their stories, share our lives, and point to truth. I’ve never printed flyers or sent out mailers. I’ve simply heated the charcoal and watched people show up. One of the most ordinary things we do every day is eat a meal at our homes. We do this small act with intentionality and usually with other people, and we simply watch the Holy Spirit bring about the significance.

Too many of us mistakenly think that in order for something to be significant, it has to be big, different, drastic, or extraordinary. It has to be something that doesn’t happen on a Thursday, because Thursday is just Thursday. Nothing could be meaningful about an ordinary day in our ordinary life …

Those deeply held beliefs, however, quickly fall apart when viewed through the lens of God’s kingdom. Consider author Skye Jethani’s argument:

We’ve fallen into the conventional thinking that a big mission demands big tactics, but we forget that in the economy of God’s kingdom, big does not beget big. It’s precisely the opposite. The overwhelming message of Jesus’ life and teaching is that small begets big. Consider, God’s plan to redeem creation (big) is achieved through his incarnation as an impoverished baby (small). Jesus feeds thousands on a hillside (big) with just a few fish and loaves (small). Christ seeks to make disciples of all nations (big) and he starts with a handful of fishermen (small). Even Goliath (big) is defeated by David with a few stones (small).

This pattern is also repeated in Jesus’ parables about the nature of his kingdom. He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

All of this affirms the counter-intuitive nature of God’s kingdom.3

Jesus said that in His kingdom, the “smallest of all seeds” will leave a lasting impact much larger than expected (see Matt. 13:31–32). In the same way, the “smallest” things in our lives—ordinary days and meals and homes—can have a much larger impact than you’d ever imagine when harnessed with gospel intentionality.

If we are ever going to join all our lives to God’s mission to change the world, we need to reclaim all of our ordinary pieces as a part of that gospel mission. We will have to reject the notion that something has to be big or unusual to be significant. We will have to view the ordinariness of our lives as significant and allow God to use our homes as a seed to be planted and grown, not something to be discarded or devalued.

If ordinary doesn’t equal insignificant, then even a walk to the mailbox or grilling burgers matters. Everything about your everyday, ordinary, small-feeling life matters.

Your meals matter.

Your hobbies matter.

Your work matters.

Your home … it matters.

A WEAPON FOR THE GOSPEL

Thinking about our homes in this way is a wonderfully freeing concept. As it turns out, we have a more fulfilling and rewarding purpose for our homes than using them exclusively for our benefit and comfort. Instead of thinking of them only as a personal refuge, they can be opened as spiritual hospitals for the hurting around us. Instead of being an oasis of self-interest, they can be transformed into a weapon for the gospel—a four-walled tool to wield in God’s cosmic battle against evil and sin. As we do this, we become the type of counterculture that puts God’s generosity on display.

My (Dustin’s) friend Landon, who is a local photographer, actually moved into a new home with the purpose of being a missionary to his neighborhood. (Fun fact: Landon’s home is pictured on the cover of this book.) Part of his goal was to build relationships with other neighbors and to start a crime-watch Facebook group for the neighborhood. This was so successful—along with his and his wife’s efforts at hosting others in their home—that they actually became known as the go-to people when anyone had a problem. We joked that he was the neighborhood’s unofficial pastor. That joke came to light clearly when a few years ago someone was killed in a tragic accident in that neighborhood, and in such a devastating moment, the community rallied to have a memorial service for the man. Guess who they asked to lead the memorial? Their unofficial neighborhood pastor, Landon.

Another night, while Landon was walking through the neighborhood after dark, he noticed that a teenage boy was breaking into a vacant house. When he saw how young the boy was, instead of calling the police, he approached the boy to talk to him about what he was doing.

After confronting him, Landon walked him home instead of turning him in. When he got to his house and talked to his mother, he learned that she was a single mom and some of the older kids had become a negative influence on her son. So Landon, led by the Holy Spirit’s prompting, said, “I would love to hang out with your son and try to be a good influence for him. He can come to my house any time he wants.” Through tears, the mother graciously accepted his offer.

The story gets better, but let’s pause to think about something. If someone views their home exclusively as a refuge for their own comfort and relaxation, there is no way their response to finding a neighborhood kid breaking into a house would be the same as Landon’s response. To think like that, you need an altogether different view of your home as primarily a weapon for the gospel before it is anything else. Standard cultural values will never cause you to invite a thief into your home, but the Holy Spirit very well may do just that.

Over time, Landon built a relationship with the boy, TJ, and eventually he met other neighborhood kids who were TJ’s friends. Landon started playing kickball with them on Sunday afternoons. Then he got his small group from church involved and every week they all played kickball and loved these kids who, in many cases, were fatherless. After kickball each week Landon and his wife, Jordan, invited the kids to their house to eat ice cream or cake and spend quality time asking about their lives.

About a year after he met them, Landon and Jordan borrowed a van to pick up all the kids and take them to his church’s student ministry. Not long after that, they all attended a youth camp where Landon led four of the neighborhood boys (including TJ) to put their faith in Christ.

Landon’s example is one of the most beautiful ways to use our homes as a weapon for the gospel. And Landon is still pouring into those kids to this day.

At that same camp, one day TJ walked up to Landon and said, “Do you remember the first time we met?” Landon responded that yes, he did indeed remember. Then TJ pointed at a group of ten kids from the neighborhood who were also there and said, “I’m really glad I met you that night. None of this would have happened if we wouldn’t have met.”

That story, as good as it is, may feel unrelatable to you. You may not live next to disadvantaged youth liable to break into vacant homes. But then again, if you don’t know your neighbors, how would you know if you do or not? The point remains the same, however: things similar to that do not happen if we view our homes solely as a refuge for ourselves. If that was the case for Landon, then that night when he was out walking late, he would have called the police to report his boy’s crime and that would have been the end of the story.

BIBLICAL HOSPITALITY IS …

Landon listened to the Holy Spirit’s nudge and opened his home and life to the possibility of TJ experiencing Christ’s love and forgiveness. That’s biblical hospitality in the truest sense. Biblical hospitality is the polar opposite of cultural trends to separate and isolate. It rejects the notion that life is best spent fulfilling our own self-centered desires, cordoned off from others in the private fortresses we call homes. Biblical hospitality chooses to engage rather than unplug, open rather than close, initiate rather than sit idly.

At its core, the practice of biblical hospitality is obeying the command in Romans 15:7 to “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.” It’s receiving others into our lives—into relationship and, yes, even into our homes. It welcomes Christians as a way to walk in the truth that we’ve been made family through the gospel, and it welcomes non-Christians in an attempt to model and extend the gracious invitation we’ve received from God in Christ. Leveraging our personal refuges for this mission of welcoming others may feel like a great cost (more on that in the next chapter), but it is a cost that is repaid with an abundance of superior joys. Loneliness is traded for community, comfort is surrendered for an eternal purpose, and detached apathy is left behind for a mission meaningful enough to give your life to.

If we walk in this biblical hospitality and view our homes foremost as a gospel weapon, offering our homes for the Holy Spirit to use as He sees fit, then there’s no telling what could happen. It may not transpire fast and it may not be some glamorous story that goes into a book, but God will do what He promised: He will build His church and draw people to Himself through our ordinary faithfulness to leverage our homes for His mission. It’s just that simple.

Dustin Willis, Brandon Clements, and J. D. Greear, The Simplest Way to Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2017).

The epidemic of loneliness

Josh Hunt — Mon, 17 May 2021 13:54:04 GMT

Loneliness.

It’s a heavy word. One that everyone feels but no one wants to admit.

Something in us longs for the connection we have when we sit at a meal with those we love. There we experience abundant food, authentic relationships, laughter, and tears. We are fully known and fully loved. We wish that we could spend all of life around that table, but often we feel that we just can’t get there. We want community, yet we struggle with loneliness.

As a pastor, I’ve heard countless heartbreaking stories of people wallowing in loneliness. My friend Jay, for instance, spent ten years living in New York City. He was surrounded by people yet, by his own admission, he was the loneliest he’d ever been. He told me, “Proximity with twenty-five million people does not equal community.”

Or take Nicki who grew up in a big family. Each Sunday they plastered on smiles as they entered the church building, but Monday through Saturday, Nicki lived in a horrific prison that her parents called a home. One of the first things Nicky shared with me was that she had been lonely as long as she could remember.

Or there’s the married couple who attended a church I pastored. One evening I listened as they poured out their struggles, seemingly unable to zero in on the cause of their frustrations. These two people, whom most would refer to as the life of the party, confessed that they each struggled with intense isolation.

Loneliness can challenge church leaders as well. On countless nights during a season of incredible church growth, I felt as though no one really knew or even cared about me. Each week I’d preach three services in a row to capacity crowds, and then get in my car and aimlessly drive around, wondering why I felt so alone. I was connected to thousands of people, yet I struggled with an overwhelming sense of separation.

Isolation has no prejudice. It will seek you out regardless of whether you live in a small town or the big city, earn millions or barely make minimum wage, rarely attend church or are a pastor. It attacks all people at all times.

MORE SOCIAL THAN SOCIAL MEDIA

We live in the most connected time in world history, yet as a society we are as isolated as we have ever been. Two hundred and twenty-two million US adults can connect with the world from any location with the touch of a button. Cellphones make it possible to talk to someone without being present, and we can text without ever hearing a person’s voice. We are constantly linked through Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram (and whatever else some Ivy League student creates next week).

Technology has made communication so easy that we are addicted to convenience. Sadly even with all this amazing technology, it is more difficult than ever for us to build genuine relationships. In a Newsweek interview, John T. Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, stated: “Social-networking sites like Facebook may provide people with a false sense of connection that ultimately increases loneliness in people who feel alone. These sites should serve as a supplement, but not replacement for, face-to-face interaction.”1

These advances—while not bad in and of themselves—have the potential to lead us into more isolated lonesomeness, especially when we replace authentic, vulnerable, face-to-face relationships with more-controlled, less-genuine social media ones.

Recently I overheard someone in a coffee shop sharing weight loss ideas. “Every time you feel the urge to eat, crunch ice instead,” the man told his companion. He explained that the sensation of chewing and consuming the ice would help soothe the urge to want to eat. “It’s a way to trick your body.”

That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, I thought. Dumb or not, sure enough, a couple days later I found myself trying it. (Just getting back to my fighting weight, you know.) I discovered that while ice is good for cooling a drink, in the end it doesn’t supply the sustainable nourishment that my body needs. And chewing ice certainly doesn’t fulfill noshing on something more satisfying and lasting. It works only for a brief moment.

Likewise, social media tricks our society into believing that it can give us what we need. But really it fails to be a sustainable means of community. We think we are growing strong bonds of friendship, while we spend inordinate amounts of time reading posts and updates from others who make us aware that everybody else has a cooler life than we do. We may think it will satisfy our loneliness, but the reality is that it only manages to deepen it.

HOW LONELY ARE WE, REALLY?

Any person can make “friends” through social media, but when was the last time you had a conversation with someone who genuinely cared for you and meaningfully spoke into your life? Far too many Americans offer an alarming answer to that question. Recent studies from Duke University and the US Census suggest that our society is in the midst of the most dramatic and progressive slide toward disconnection in history. Consider these disturbing statistics:

27.2 million people live alone.
More people say they feel alone than at any other time.
25 percent say they have no one they can turn to as a confidant.
More people link their depression to loneliness.
The number of “socially isolated” Americans has doubled since 1985.2

Not only are more people physically living alone, they are becoming emotional lone rangers. Since they have no one to turn to, they seek the individualistic dreams that ultimately cripple human flourishing and societal progress. Rick Warren summed it up well: “Isolation exists because we have a culture that feeds individualism. The fruit of rampant individualism in our culture is massive loneliness.”3

Instead of sitting on the porch and talking with neighbors and friends as it was in the “good ole days,” often we now enter our homes as the garage door closes behind us, and surrounded by our privacy fence, we eat dinner alone and then vicariously live out community by watching television “reality” shows (as our neighbors do the same).

Yet even in our chosen solitude, we have insatiable need for connection. Give us two seconds of down time and we reach for our phone to scan Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram feeds.

You can even see our desire for community through our television viewing choices. Some of the highest-rated shows over the past thirty years include Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends, and Parks & Rec. Each show represents what the 1980s’ classic Cheers communicates in its theme song: “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name” or as Friends references, “I’ll be there for you.”

Those are not empty lyrics but rather an outcry from culture. We are part of a civilization that starves for unpretentious relationships with others who genuinely care and can share in life’s common struggles. These shows are not reality. Life is not one continuous dance in a fountain with our closest friends. Nonetheless these shows strike a felt need. People want real community. We yearn to be part of a community that discovers and clings to identity, worth, and value.

It’s as if watching these sitcoms gives us a taste of what it would be like to have genuine relationships with people who not only know our name but who know us and are willing to struggle with us.

A BETTER ANSWER

Despite our inherent longing, many of us feel that sense of belonging is somehow unattainable. We desire it, but we resist it at the same time. We fear being transparent with others. What if we get hurt? Rejected? Betrayed? Ignored? Neglected?

The answer the world might give to this conundrum is simply for us to find people we like and trust, then try to work on our issues (whatever that means). It’s a self-improvement, pull yourself up from your bootstraps mentality.

Christians have a profoundly different answer to this longing, which we find in the good news of Jesus Christ. We know that God Himself placed within us this yearning for community—a God-given appetite for honest connection with others. The idyllic garden of Eden with its unbroken relationships haunts us because that’s what we were designed for (see Gen. 2:18; Rom. 5:10). But as our self-centered sin entered the picture, that perfection was lost—traded for the brokenness and despair we feel from being disconnected from God and one another (see Gen. 3).

Yet God did not leave us there. He created a history-sweeping work to redeem us, to restore the wholeness of Eden. That redeeming work happens through the church—the people whom, through Christ’s death and resurrection, God has rescued from their own folly (see Eph. 2:1–10). He has taken a bunch of traitors and adopted us into His family, welcoming us to His table (see Gal. 4:4–7; Rev. 19:6–9). God has made us a community with a deeper foundation and a brighter future than anything the world has to offer.

During the time I struggled with loneliness, it was through community that the pockets of emptiness began to fill. Many argue that Jesus is all we need. While I agree that Jesus alone is all we need for salvation, I find throughout the Bible that the Christian life is designed to be lived with other believers. From the outset God told us, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18). Moreover, in all the letters the apostle Paul wrote, he specifically gave communal instruction for how to live the Christian life: love one another, serve one another, confess your sins to one another, etc.

When I battled loneliness, restoration didn’t magically and immediately occur, and it didn’t happen on its own. I had to be honest with others and then be willing to listen and soak in their words of blunt truth and timely encouragement.

God’s Word speaks in a direct, relevant, and timely way to the tension that resides between people’s desire for relationships and their inability to sustain those relationships. As the church we are called not only to seek the lost, we are called to bring hope and help to relationships, to minister to people’s loneliness. To do that, we must contend for a community defined by the Scriptures, rather than fall into the counterfeit pattern of individualism that is so prevalent in the world (and that too often sneaks into our churches).

Throughout Scripture we see the power and importance of community. In John 17:20–23, for instance, Jesus prayed for the unity of the believers, while in John 13:35, He said the world would know that the disciples were His by how they loved one another.

Even Jesus’ instruction for evangelism and mission were all given to a community of tight-knit believers—not simply to individuals (see Matt. 28:19; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). These types of communities bring hope to a lonely and isolated society. In fact, our entire lives are meant to be lived in community on mission (see Eph. 2:1–22).

Often when I speak of community, I find that people believe they are already walking in healthy community. But as I ask them to dig deeper, I find that they have a set time and place (often on Sunday) when they meet together, but they are not by any means digging beyond the surface into the matters of the heart.

Community is an incredible gift God has given us to experience, but because of our tendency toward individualism, the real thing is often far from our reach. With God’s gracious pursuit and some intentionality, however, we can recover it in all its fullness.

AN UNNECESSARY DIVIDE

For many churches, the idea of community usually takes the form of a small group. Many of these small groups follow a specific type of structure, whether cell groups, Sunday school classes, life groups, or some other clever name they’ve brainstormed to emphasize Christian community. Alongside these community-focused groups, churches have also concluded that they are designed to engage in missions (at least I hope they have).

Though missions and groups are assumed staples within the church, the depth of community often varies. These strategies have often, inadvertently, created a divide between the mission to reach those outside the church and the mission to connect individuals in the church to one another. Most churches are good at one or the other.

Some churches pride themselves in being a loving church, meaning that they care well for one another. Often these churches struggle to reach out to new people because they might mess up the fellowship that the body cherishes. Other churches pride themselves in reaching out to those who are far from God. Often these churches struggle to connect new Christians to genuine relationships where they can grow in Christlikeness.

Church researchers Tim Chester and Steve Timmis have discovered that

Western culture has become very compartmentalized. We want to spend more time in evangelism, but because this can happen only at the expense of something else, it never happens. Rethinking evangelism as relationship rather than event radically changes this.… Our identity as human beings is found in community. Our identity as Christians is found in Christ’s new community. And mission takes place through communities of light.… Christian community is a vital part of a Christian’s mission. Mission takes place as people see our love for one another.

Do mission and community have to be separated? No. We must aggressively fight against the false idea that community happens over in one area while mission and evangelism take place separately within their own space or program. When this duality exists, the church’s effectiveness is diminished severely because it compartmentalizes our lives as believers.

How do we pursue community and mission? It’s more closely connected than you may realize. As people live on mission with others, they discover community. And as people live in true community, they will seek mission. Community and mission are not in competition with each other—they are inseparable. You don’t have to choose one or the other.

If you have ever been on a mission trip then you know what I’m talking about. You return from the trip having never felt closer to a group of people or more inspired to be involved in God’s work. For many churches, mission trips are the only place that Christian community and intentional mission intersect. Why is the environment created through mission trips not the culture that daily permeates our churches?

Eliminating the duality that exists in missions and community and melding these ideas together will help spread the gospel to a lonely world. Not only do gospel communities act as a beacon of light but they also become a place of healing for the soul.

MISSION THROUGH COMMUNITY

Gospel communities alone do not bring about identity and worth, but they display the One who does. God has reconciled believers to Himself. Gospel community is a means to exhibit the gospel’s light to a dark and hurting society (see Matt. 5:14–16).

“The most persuasive argument for the Christian faith is the Christian community,” notes Todd Engstrom, executive pastor at Austin Stone Community Church. “The majority of conversions throughout church history have come not through argumentation, but through belonging to a meaningful community before belief is ever required.”5

What would it look like if our communities were united by this hope-filled gospel, actively loving and caring for one another as they live out mission together? Acts 2:46–47 gives us an indication: “Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Communities centered on the gospel fly in the face of isolation and yet convey the grace-filled inclusion that we so desperately desire. These communities bring with them the answer the world is hungry for. It is a community that invites others to feast at the Lord’s table.

Picture it: a community for the hurting, the lonely, the has-beens, the have-nots, the accomplished, the rebellious, the self-righteous. Picture God taking this ragtag group and forming them together for the greatest mission we could ever join. This is His track record from Genesis to now.

Community is more than a Sunday and mission is more than a trip. Discovering and building this idea may seem overwhelming, but through the Holy Spirit’s work, it is possible. Through gospel community, we can eradicate the epidemic of individualism and loneliness. I have experienced it and have watched as God has done this in thousands of others’ lives.

Dustin Willis, Brandon Clements, and J. D. Greear, The Simplest Way to Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2017).

Gods Devil

Josh Hunt — Sat, 15 May 2021 01:26:26 GMT

This book is a modest attempt to put the devil in his place. When Lucifer (whose name means “light bearer”) rolled the dice, gambling that he could do better by being God’s enemy rather than God’s friend, he set in motion a moral catastrophe that would reverberate throughout the universe. You and I have been deeply affected by his decision made in the ages long ago.

What may not be widely known is that Lucifer was already defeated the moment he sinned. He was defeated strategically, since as one of God’s creatures he would be forced to depend upon God for his continued existence. Any power he would exercise would always be subject to God’s will and decree. Thus moment by moment he would suffer the humiliation of knowing that he could never be the ultimate cause of his existence and power.

To clarify, I don’t mean to simply say that for every move he would make, God would make a countermove. That was true of course; but the situation for Satan would be more ominous. As will be shown in the chapters of this book, he cannot even now make his own first move without God’s express will and consent!

Let us boldly affirm that whatever mischief Satan is allowed to do, it is always appointed by God for the ultimate service of and benefit to the saints. William Gurnall, after encouraging believers to hold fast to the assurance that God is watching Satan’s every move and will not let him have the final victory, writes, “When God says ‘Stay!’ [Satan] must stand like a dog by the table while the saints feast on God’s comfort. He does not dare to snatch even a tidbit, for the Master’s eye is always upon him.”1 And so it is; our Master’s eye is ever upon him. After his first act of disobedience, his failure and doom were sealed.

Though he could never have predicted it, at the cross Lucifer would be defeated spiritually, for there Christ was guaranteeing that at least a part of fallen humanity would be purchased out from the kingdom of darkness to share in the kingdom of light. The fact that creatures who had fallen into Satan’s trap would eventually be exalted above the angelic realm he once led was more than he could bear. But bear it he must.

Finally, when he is thrown into the lake of fire, he will be defeated eternally in that he will be forever cast away from the divine presence. There in shameful agony he will unendingly contemplate his foolishness in standing against God. His humiliation will be public, painful, and endless. Even as you read these words, he is a hapless player in the drama that he himself set in motion. And there is nothing he can do to change the outcome.

In medieval times, the devil was often pictured as a long-tailed, cloven-hoofed jester with two horns and a red suit. He looked the part of a clown; he often was pictured as a loser in the conflicts of the ages. Cartoons depicted him as a buffoon whose very presence was an affront to humanity.

Let us not think that the people of the Middle Ages actually believed that the devil looked idiotic. They knew, even as we do, that he was actually an evil spirit who was both powerful and fearsome. The purpose of the caricatures was to strike at his most vulnerable point, namely his pride.

They wanted to convey that the devil was a fool to mount opposition to God. Though he is a being of immense intelligence, he was decidedly unwise to rebel against his Creator. The medievals made him out to look stupid because, despite his power and staggering knowledge, he was stupid indeed. They knew that the devil was both real and powerful; they also knew that he was misguided and defeated. Thus Luther insisted that when the devil persists, we should jeer and flout him, “for he cannot bear scorn.”

The medievals might be faulted for paying too much attention to the devil and often mixing biblical truth with legends and superstitions. But we must commend them for their vigorous belief in the existence of the Prince of Darkness. Our age, in contrast, must be faulted for giving him only scant recognition, or even worse, for giving him the kind of recognition he craves.

It has been said that those who are “born again” take the devil seriously.2 We who believe in the trustworthiness of the Bible are not guilty of disbelieving in his objective existence. We, above all, should take the devil seriously. Very seriously.

But our sincerity does not guarantee that our conception of the devil is accurate, even with the aid of evangelical books and messages that explore the reality of spiritual warfare. Yes, I believe that we are much better equipped to stand against our enemy because of the writings of those who have warned us of his schemes and reminded us of our resources to fight against him. As a young pastor, I was introduced to spiritual warfare by those who knew more about our enemy than I.

However, along with much helpful advice, some distortions have crept into our thinking that could play into the devil’s hands. Though they do not expressly state it, some writers imply that Satan can act independently of God; they speak as if God becomes involved in what the devil does only when we ask Him to. Because Satan is the “god of this world,” they think this means that he can be free to make his own decisions, inflicting havoc wherever and whenever he wishes.

I respectfully disagree.

Of course, all evangelicals concur that the devil will eventually be defeated; but for now, some teach he is free to do pretty much whatever he pleases in the world. The Satan of many of the so-called deliverance ministries is one who calls his own shots and wields his power, limited only by the broad parameters God has laid out for him. Satan, according to this theology, sets his own agenda and is free to harass us without much interference from the Almighty.

We need to be reminded of Luther’s words that even “the devil is God’s devil.” We have forgotten that only when we know who God is can we know who the devil is. Blessed are those who are convinced that the prince of this world has become the slave of the Prince of Peace.

History has examples of those who wrote about the devil without a careful study of the Scriptures. These writers have, for good or for ill, shaped much of our thinking about Satan. Let us remind ourselves of a few who were most influential.

Erwin W. Lutzer and R. C. Sproul Jr., God’s Devil: The Incredible Story of How Satan's Rebellion Serves God's Purposes (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2015).

Woe is me!

Josh Hunt — Fri, 14 May 2021 20:35:57 GMT

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5, NIV)

The doors of the temple were not the only things that were shaking. The thing that quaked the most in the building was the body of Isaiah. When he saw the living God, the reigning monarch of the universe displayed before his eyes in all of His holiness, Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me!”

The cry of Isaiah sounds strange to the modern ear. It is rare that we hear people today use the word woe. Since this word is old-fashioned and archaic, some modern translators have preferred to substitute another word in its place. That is a serious mistake. The word woe is a crucial biblical word that we cannot afford to ignore. It has a special meaning.

When we think of woes we think of the troubles encountered in melodramas set in the old-time nickelodians. “The Perils of Pauline” showed the heroine wringing her hands in anguish as the heartless landlord came to foreclose on her mortgage. Or we think of Mighty Mouse flying from his cloud to streak to the rescue of his girlfriend, who is being tied to the railroad tracks by Oilcan Harry. She cries, “Woe is me!” Or we think of the favorite expression of the distraught Kingfish in “The Amos and Andy Show” who said, “Woe is me, Andy, what is I gonna do?”

The term woe has gone the way of other worn-out exclamations like alas or alack or forsooth. The only language that has kept the expression in current usage is Yiddish. The modern Jew still declares his frustrations by exclaiming “Oy vay!” which is a shortened version of the full expression oy vay ist mer. Oy vay is Yiddish for “Oh woe,” an abbreviation for the full expression, “Oh woe is me!”

The full force of Isaiah’s exclamation must be seen against the background of a special form of speech found in the Bible. When prophets announced their messages, the most frequent form the divine utterances took was the oracle. The oracles were announcements from God that could be good news, or bad news. The positive oracles were prefaced by the word blessed. When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, He used the form of the oracle, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” “Blessed are those who mourn,” “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst.” His audience understood that He was using the formula of the prophet, the oracle that brought good tidings.

Jesus also used the negative form of the oracle. When He spoke out in angry denunciation of the Pharisees, He pronounced the judgment of God upon their heads by saying to them, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He said this so often that it began to sound like litany. On the lips of a prophet the word woe is an announcement of doom. In the Bible, cities are doomed, nations are doomed, individuals are doomed—all by uttering the oracle of woe.

Isaiah’s use of woe was extraordinary. When he saw the Lord, he pronounced the judgment of God upon himself. “Woe to me!” he cried, calling down the curse of God, the utter anathema of judgment and doom upon his own head. It was one thing for a prophet to curse another person in the name of God; it was quite another for a prophet to put that curse upon himself.

Immediately following the curse of doom, Isaiah cried, “I am ruined.” I prefer the older translation which read, “For I am undone.” We can readily see why more modern translations have made the change from undone to ruined. Nobody speaks today about being undone. But the word is more vivid in what it conveys than the word ruined.

To be undone means to come apart at the seams, to be unraveled. What Isaiah was expressing is what modern psychologists describe as the experience of personal disintegration. To disintegrate means exactly what the word suggests, dis integrate. To integrate something is to put pieces together in a unified whole. When schools are integrated, children from two different races are placed together to form one student body. The word integrity comes from this root, suggesting a person whose life is whole or wholesome. In modern slang we say, “He’s got it all together.”

If ever there was a man of integrity it was Isaiah Ben Amoz. He was a whole man, a together type of a fellow. He was considered by his contemporaries as the most righteous man in the nation. He was respected as a paragon of virtue. Then he caught one sudden glimpse of a holy God. In that single moment all of his self-esteem was shattered. In a brief second he was exposed, made naked beneath the gaze of the absolute standard of holiness. As long as Isaiah could compare himself to other mortals, he was able to sustain a lofty opinion of his own character. The instant he measured himself by the ultimate standard, he was destroyed—morally and spiritually annihilated. He was undone. He came apart. His sense of integrity collapsed.

The sudden realization of ruin was linked to Isaiah’s mouth. He cried, “I am a man of unclean lips.” Strange. We might have expected him to say, “I am a man of unclean habits,” or “I am a man of unclean thoughts.” Instead he called attention immediately to his mouth. In effect he said, “I have a dirty mouth.” Why this focus on his mouth?

Perhaps a clue to Isaiah’s utterance may be found in the words of Jesus when He said, “It’s not what goes into a man’s mouth that defiles a man, it’s what comes out of his mouth that defiles him.” Or we could look to the discourse on the tongue written by St. James, the Lord’s brother:

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. (James 3:6–12, NIV)

The tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. This was the realization of Isaiah. He recognized that he was not alone in his dilemma. He understood that the whole nation was infected with dirty mouths: “I live among a people of unclean lips.” In the flash of the moment Isaiah had a new and radical understanding of sin. He saw that it was pervasive, in himself and in everyone else.

We are fortunate in one respect: God does not appear to us in the way He appeared to Isaiah. Who could stand it? God normally reveals our sinfulness to us a bit at a time. We experience a gradual recognition of our own corruption. God showed Isaiah his corruption all at once. No wonder that he was ruined.

Isaiah explained it this way: “My eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5, NIV). He saw the holiness of God. For the first time in his life Isaiah really understood who God was. At the same instant, for the first time Isaiah really understood who Isaiah was.

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:6–7, NIV)

Isaiah was groveling on the floor. Every nerve fiber in his body was trembling. He was looking for a place to hide, praying that somehow the earth would cover him or the roof of the temple would fall upon him, anything to get him out from under the holy gaze of God. But there was nowhere to hide. He was naked and alone before God. He had no Eve to comfort him, no fig leaves to conceal him. His was pure moral anguish, the kind that rips out the heart of a man and tears his soul to pieces. Guilt, guilt, guilt. Relentless guilt screamed from his every pore.

The holy God is also a God of grace. He refused to allow his servant to continue on his belly without comfort. He took immediate steps to cleanse the man and restore his soul. He commanded one of the seraphim to jump into action. The angelic creature moved swiftly, flying to the altar with tongs. From the burning fire the seraph took a glowing coal, too hot to touch for even an angel, and flew to Isaiah.

The seraph pressed the white-hot coal to the lips of the prophet and seared them. The lips are one of the most sensitive parts of human flesh, the meeting point of the kiss. Here Isaiah felt the holy flame burning his mouth. The acrid smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils, but that sensation was dulled by the excruciating pain of the heat. This was a severe mercy, a painful act of cleansing. Isaiah’s wound was being cauterized, the dirt in his mouth was being burned away. He was refined by holy fire.

In this divine act of cleansing Isaiah experienced a forgiveness that went beyond the purification of his lips. He was cleansed throughout, forgiven to the core, but not without the awful pain of repentance. He went beyond cheap grace and the easy utterance, “I’m sorry.” He was in mourning for his sin, overcome with moral grief, and God sent an angel to heal him. His sin was taken away. His dignity remained intact. His guilt was removed, but his humanity was not insulted. The conviction of sin he felt was constructive. His was no cruel and unusual punishment. A second of burning flesh on the lips brought a healing that would extend to eternity. In a moment, the disintegrated prophet was whole again. His mouth was purged. He was clean.

R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993), 40–48.

Not one stone

Josh Hunt — Mon, 10 May 2021 22:25:59 GMT

The catastrophic fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 forever changed the face of Judaism—and the fate of Christians in the Holy Land.

Jesus predicted it 37 years before it happened. Herod Agrippa II and his sister Bernice, who heard Paul’s testimony at Caesarea (Acts 26), tried hard to prevent it, as did the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (our main source of first-century information). But the fall of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple in A.D. 70 happened nevertheless, and it was a catastrophe with almost unparalleled consequences for Jews, Christians, and, indeed, all of subsequent history. It compelled a whole new vector for synagogue (not Temple) Judaism, it submerged the Jewish homeland for the next 19 centuries under foreign domination, it helped foster the split between church and synagogue, and it set the stage for rampant prophetic speculation about the End Times that continues to the present day. Few episodes in history have had that sort of impact.

The Jewish rebellion in A.D. 66 that ignited the war with Rome was by no means inevitable. Judaism was a legal religion in the Roman Empire, and Nero’s own empress, Poppaea, was very interested in it. Contrary to biblical novels and movies, far worse things could happen to you in the ancient world than to be conquered by Rome. The Romans hung out the traffic lights in their sprawling empire, curbing piracy at sea and brigandage by land, thus providing security in the Mediterranean world. The apostle Paul’s missionary journeys would have been impossible without the Pax Romana, the “Roman peace” that ordered society. As for the “horrors” of Roman taxation, I would much rather have paid the tribute to Rome as a citizen of Jerusalem than American income tax!

Still, Rome did have wayward governors who were not always disciplined, even if there was an extortion court set up for this purpose at Rome. Governors of Judea had a particularly difficult role, because according to Deuteronomy 17:15 it was heresy for any Gentile to govern God’s people: “You must not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother.” Nevertheless, the governors Rome sent to Judea in the first century were able enough, including Pontius Pilate, who could never have had a ten-year tenure there had he been the villain so familiar in sermons and novels.

Gessius Florus, however, Rome’s last governor before the Jewish rebellion, made Pilate look like a paragon of virtue by comparison. Emperor Nero, perhaps distracted in the aftermath of the Great Fire of Rome, had not done a good job of screening overseas governors, and this wretch slipped through. Venal, corrupt, and brutal, Florus hoped that a Jewish rebellion would somehow cover his own crimes in Judea, and so he fomented discontent among his subjects wherever possible. Even the first-century Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus commented, “Jewish patience persisted until Gessius Florus became procurator” (History 5.10).

Justifiably outraged, Jerusalemites rose in revolt, even though Jews who had visited Rome warned that war would end in disaster because of Rome’s overpowering resources. Zealots in Jerusalem—the “fourth party” after the Scribes, Pharisees, and Essenes, according to Josephus—carried the day, and the Jews won some surprising early victories against the Romans.

Until, that is, Commander Vespasian landed in Galilee with three legions. After that, it was a steady Roman advance southward into Judea, with Jewish strongholds falling one after another along the way. In fact, Vespasian was at the walls of Jerusalem when news reached him of the turmoil in Rome following Nero’s death. Soon Rome’s eastern legions declared Vespasian the new emperor. Before hurrying off to Rome in 69 to don imperial purple, he transferred command of the Jewish war to his own son Titus (also future emperor), who would complete the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.

The Burning of the Temple

With careful strategy and maximum resources, Titus finished the job in a matter of months, despite fierce Jewish resistance. Spurning all overtures for peace, the Zealots inside Jerusalem fought amongst themselves as much as against the Romans, while Titus surrounded the city with a siege wall and simply waited. The starvation inside Jerusalem was severe because many of the Judeans from the countryside had taken refuge there. It got so bad, Josephus wrote in The Jewish War (6.194ff.), that dove dung went for premium prices, and one poor woman even ate part of her own baby!

The best of friends wrestled with each other for even the shadow of food. Others, mouths agape from hunger like mad dogs, staggered along, beating on the doors like drunken men.… They put their teeth into everything, swallowing things even the filthiest animals would not touch. Finally they devoured even belts and shoes or gnawed at the leather they stripped from their shields.

After furious fighting inside Jerusalem, the Temple Mount finally fell to the Romans. According to Josephus, Titus had ordered that the Temple itself be spared (though some historians doubt this), but one of the Roman troops hurled a burning firebrand through a window of the Temple and it went up in flames anyway. The date, August 30 in the year 70, was the very day on which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the Temple in 586 B.C. What was left was torn down by the victors, almost in literal fulfillment of Jesus’ famous statement, “Not one stone here will be left upon another” (Matthew 24:2). This was the catastrophic end of Temple Judaism.

Might it have been the end of Judaism itself? Possibly. The Romans, however, permitted a Jewish sage named Jochanan ben-Zakkai to be smuggled out of the Temple Mount in a casket. He virtually re-founded Judaism in a rabbinical school established at Jamnia near the Mediterranean. The previous central authority of the Temple was now transformed into the regional authority of the synagogue—a tradition that has remained to the present day. Also in Jamnia, the Jewish rabbis established the canon of 39 books in their Hebrew Bible—the Christian Old Testament—in the year 93.

The Bar-Kokhba Revolt

Josephus, our major source for all this information, does not name a single Christian victim in connection with great Jewish War. Why not? With immense luck—or blessing—the earliest Christians largely escaped all this horror for two reasons: (1) Only four years before the war’s outbreak, James the Just of Jerusalem (the first Christian bishop according to both Acts 15 and Eusebius) was stoned to death by the Sanhedrin, which must certainly have led the struggling Jewish-Christian community to think about leaving. (2) Eusebius, the “father of church history,” also tells us that Christians were warned by an oracle to flee the city some time before war’s outbreak. In fact, they evacuated to Pella and other cities north of Jerusalem, and so escaped the Roman siege and conquest.

After the war, some Christians returned to Jerusalem, where they must have kept a low profile since Zealotry and the yeast of Messianism among the Jews led to one last tragic uprising in A.D. 132 under a rebel named Shimon Bar-Kosebah. Rabbi Akiba, the leading Jewish sage at the time, put Bar-Kosebah on a white horse, led him through the streets of Jerusalem, and cried, “The Messiah has come! The Messiah has come!” He also changed his name to “Bar-Kokhba,” which means “Son of a Star” (showing us that the gospel writer Matthew did not invent the idea that the Star of Bethlehem was a messianic symbol for Jews).

When the Zealots learned that Hadrian, the Roman emperor at the time, planned to build a new temple to Jupiter on the ruins of the old Jewish Temple, they rose up in revolt. Hadrian had a very difficult time conquering these rebels, some of whom hid out in caves on the western coast of the Dead Sea, where letters written by Bar-Kokhba have been discovered. Some 580,000 Jews perished, and the Romans also suffered great losses until they finally conquered the rebels. Furious at this renewed Jewish uprising and without a shred of patience left, they dismantled Jerusalem and rebuilt the city as “Aelia Capitolina” in honor of Aelius, Hadrian’s family name.

All Jews were expelled from the city, and only Gentiles were allowed to live there. (This exile was moderated later when first Jewish Christians and then also Jews slowly returned to the city.) The Roman province of Judea now became Syria Palaestina—further diminishing Judaism in favor of the Philistines who had battled Saul and David a millennium earlier. It remained “Palestine” up through the British mandate in the 20th century and among Arabs to this day.

In the second and third centuries, Aelia Capitolina (a.k.a. destroyed Jerusalem) showed barely a glint of its former glory. It was not a ghost town, but it was sequestered to the boondocks of the Roman Empire.

Church and Synagogue

An equal-opportunity desecrator, Hadrian attacked Christianity when he raised a shrine to Aphrodite adjacent to his new temple at the site of Golgotha, where Christians had held liturgical observances until they fled the city in A.D. 66. But in trying to desecrate the site, he merely helped identify it for later generations.

It is no surprise to learn from Aristo of Pella, an early Christian historian whose works are not extant, that the Jerusalem church after the Bar-Kokhba revolt was now composed almost entirely of Gentiles. In his Church History (5.12), Eusebius lists 12 Gentile bishops of Jerusalem following Mark, the first.

Early on, Christians in Jerusalem recognized the importance of the sites where biblical events took place. The early Christian apologist Justin Martyr (c. 100–c.165) was born of pagan parents in Nablus, Samaria, and after his conversion to Christianity knew the cave or grotto where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Melito, bishop of Sardis, visited there in the 160s. The mightiest mind in early Christendom, Origen of Alexandria, spent the last part of his life (230–254) in Caesarea and regularly visited the sacred sites, including Bethlehem.

Slowly, Jews were allowed to return to their Holy City. But other centers of Judaism across the Mediterranean world, such as neighboring Alexandria in Egypt, Ephesus in Asia Minor, Athens, and even Rome, could now compete through their synagogues for the authority once held by the Jerusalem Temple. Those Jewish Christians who had not abandoned the Temple (such as those described in Acts) now had to look elsewhere for cohesion and authority. The split between Jews and Christians only widened in the future.

Both sides were responsible for this cleft. The first persecution of the church was by Jewish authorities in Jerusalem, and even the most cursory reading of Acts reveals the grief that Paul regularly received from synagogues along his mission journeys. Later, in some cities across the Mediterranean, Jews reported Christians to Roman authorities who had been lax in persecuting them. For their part, Christians attributed the destruction of Jerusalem to God’s retribution against the Jews for having crucified Christ. Church and synagogue have gone their separate ways ever since. One can only conjecture as to what might have happened to Jews, Christians, and all of subsequent history had Jerusalem not fallen and the Temple endured.

Paul L. Maier is professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University and editor/translator of books by Josephus and Eusebius.

Paul L. Maier, “Not One Stone Left upon Another,” Christian History Magazine-Issue 97: The Holy Land (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 2008).

Unanswered Prayer

Josh Hunt — Fri, 07 May 2021 16:18:50 GMT

What about the problem of unanswered prayer? This is a theological/ counseling problem that is of interest and significance to both areas of thought.

Sometimes the Bible speaks about God not hearing prayer and of persons imploring Him, “Hear my prayers” or “give ear to my prayer” as though He might not.21 From this language some counselees have inferred that God (literally) doesn’t hear some prayers. If that were true, of course, that would be one reason why He didn’t always answer every prayer.

But the word “hear” (and similar expressions) in such contexts must not be interpreted literally, as though it referred to the actual process of auditory perception. All things—including all prayers, audible or silent—are known to God. No prayer—not even the prayer of the heathen offered to idols—escapes His purview. That, then cannot be the sense in which passages indicating God does not hear some prayer must be interpreted.

The word “hear” is used not only to refer to the actual physical process of receiving and translating sound waves into sounds and speech, but also in the sense of heeding (or, as we often put it, “paying attention to” what one hears). It refers also to listening favorably to a request, and (indeed) to granting the request.22 In Psalm 66:19, the Hebrew keshev means to “listen to heedfully,” or “pay attention to.”

All of those passages in which God is asked to “hear” or to “give ear to” a request, or in which He is said to “hear” one prayer (but not another) must be construed to mean answering or not answering a prayer.23 When it is said that God did not hear a prayer, it means that He did not heed it (or look favorably upon it). Every sense that denies His omniscience or power must be rejected.

In counseling (as elementary as it may seem) you will discover that these theological truths often are not apprehended by counselees. Even the idea that God (literally) hears all prayers may be news for some. Language used in idiomatic ways too often is construed literally by counselees. Bad theological training, or the failure to take good training, accounts (in part) for any number of problems counselors face; this area of prayer is no exception to that rule. The counselor has a responsibility not only to be careful about his own interpretation of the Scriptures,24 but also to see to it that he conveys no false understanding by his own use of language. Sometimes a detailed explanation of a passage (or perhaps at other times two or three sentences will do) is necessary to make it clear that God (literally) never fails to hear any prayers, but that He doesn’t heed them all.

The Scriptures plainly teach, as I have noted, that God doesn’t “hear” (heed or grant) counselees requests under certain circumstances. What are these? The counselor will be asked; he must know.

The Bible doesn’t specifically outline every concrete situation that might be imagined. Rather, general, guiding principles, applicable to all possible situations, are given. I shall mention some of the principles most frequently encountered in counseling.

1. God doesn’t hear hypocritical prayer. When inwardly a counselee determines something other than what his lips speak, he prays hypocritically (cf. Ps. 66:18). In this verse, “regarding iniquity” in the “heart” is equivalent to saying one thing with the lips, but thinking another instead. It is praying with the fingers crossed! The heart is the inner person. Delitzsch translates, “If I had aimed at evil in my heart.” He says that raäh (to see), plus the accusative, means “to aim at,” “to have in one’s eye,” or “to design to do something. ”25 The hypocrite is one who says one thing but inwardly is aiming at something different. God will not hear such hypocritical prayer.

Since this is true, it is quite proper (when a counselee complains about God not answering prayer) to ask (as one of several possible probes) : “Did you really want that to happen?” or “Was that what you wanted in your heart when you prayed?” Counselors, when they ask in love, will find such questions quite productive. Not only will they tend to put down complaints (not the purpose of the question; merely a by-product), but often they will uncover important data that otherwise might not surface. Underline this point and use it often in counseling.

2. God doesn’t hear unbelieving prayer. I am not saying that in His mercy and goodness God will not determine to do for us what we doubt He will do; there are times when He does (cf. Acts 12:1–16). But, as James put it, a doubter “shouldn’t suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.”26 Here, James speaks of the request for wisdom that God promises to give unreservedly to those who ask (without chiding them for asking). It is something every counselee needs, without exception. But He warns in broader terms (“shouldn’t suppose that he will receive anything…”) that apply across the board, that doubters will not be heeded. Indeed, the warning is first stated positively (“But let him ask in faith”) then negatively (“without doubting”).

In giving this warning, James is but echoing Jesus’ words when He said, “Everything that you ask for in prayer you will receive if you believe” (Matt. 21:22). Indeed, He went further:

…whoever… doesn’t doubt in his heart but believes that what he is saying will happen, he will have it. So then, I tell you, in everything that you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and you will (Mark 11:23,24).

Again it is apparent from Christ’s words that prayer is not a magical open sesame. Prayer is not a matter of uttering the proper formula or ritual; rather, it involves inner faith and sincerity to validate the words spoken. Once again, the counselee must be led to see that his heart condition in prayer is uppermost.

That means that the counselor may with equal concern ask questions of the person complaining about God’s failure to answer his prayer: “Did you really believe that God would do it if He wanted to?” or, “Did you really expect what you prayed for?”

3. God doesn’t hear resentful prayer. In conjunction with his warning about doubt, and the need for faith (Mark 11:23, 24), Jesus went on to say,

And when you stand praying, if you have something against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in the heavens also may forgive you your trespasses (vs. 25).

Thus, it seems plain, a suppliant may not expect God to give him what he refuses to give to another.27Bitterness, resentment, hard feelings (and the like) surely form a serious barrier to the throne of grace. And as every biblical counselor knows, resentment is one of the most common problems that counselees struggle with. Often resentment is one strong link in a chain of complicating problems. When an original problem goes unresolved for a time, resentment often grows as a complicating factor. It, in turn (as the passage indicates), leads to further difficulties.

While forgiveness must not be granted to those who do not seek it repentantly (“if he repents, forgive him”—Luke 17:3), the one who “has something against anyone” may not continue to hold it against him in his heart. Before God, in prayer, he is to forgive him (i.e., he must tell God that he will hold it against him no longer). He may not brood on it. But this forgiving in prayer (in his own heart before God) does not preclude his responsibility to pursue the matter with the offender .28 He does this

(1) for Christ’s sake,

(2) for the sake of the peace of the church,

(3) for the sake of the offender and

(4) for the purpose of reconciliation.

The one who has relieved his own mind and heart of the burden of the offense in prayer growing out of a truly forgiving attitude, will have little difficulty granting forgiveness to his brother when it is sought. And, in the meantime, he will avoid the destructive results of resentment.

Again, then, the astute counselor will ask a counselee who wonders why his prayers remain unheard if he is bearing resentment or grudges against another in his heart.

4. God doesn’t hear pharisaical prayer. At least two faults, typical of the Pharisee, are observed in the New Testament:

(a) The Pharisee often prayed to impress men rather than God (Matt. 6:5,6). The one who prays to be heard by others (Jesus said) gets just what he seeks—praise from men, but no response from God. The counselor’s question, when he suspects such a problem, is obvious: “Who were you concerned about reaching when you prayed—God or men?”

(b) The second characteristic (in the end) amounts to the same thing (neither type of prayer is prayer at all). In the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9–14) we read that the Pharisee “prayed to himself.” His prayer wasn’t a prayer; it was merely a recital of his own virtues, self-righteous acts by which he sought to impress God through meritorious living. Consequently, Jesus points out, his prayer was not heard. Once more, the counselor’s questions are clear, “Did you think your prayer would merit what you wanted?”29

The counselor must warn against these abuses as well as be on the alert for them. They may take similar form in other contexts: e.g., a husband may utter words he doesn’t mean (in sessions or out) to his wife (or in prayer in her presence) in order to impress her. But prayer must be to God; it may never be directed to others. Ways of avoiding insincere prayer in counseling sessions have been discussed supra.

5. God doesn’t hear self-centered prayer— James is clear about this: “You don’t receive when you ask, since you ask wrongly—to waste it on your pleasures30.” While it isn’t wrong to ask for things that one needs, or even those things that he desires, plainly it is wrong for him to ask basically (or solely) for things for himself. Things used for one’s pleasures only (or fundamentally), James indicates, are wasted. God doesn’t answer prayer that is aimed at wasteful results.

In prayer, as in all else that one thinks and does, he is to “seek first His empire and His righteousness.” Then “all of these [other] things will be added.”31 James warns against the sin of seeking “first” the fulfilment of one’s own desires. “Basically, why did you want it-for yourself or for God’s sake?” is the counseling question to be asked in one form or another.

The counselee must be shown that his (often hysterically and repetitively self-centered) prayers are wrong. He must not come to God (or for counseling) demanding that his will be done. Contrary to any of his expectations, he must be taught that his own desires, and his own will, in any matter take second place to God’s. He must learn from Christ’s prayers in Gethsemane, in which intense personal desires are subjected to God’s will: “Yet don’t do what I want but what You want.”32 The words, “If it be Your will,” are a very significant addition that every counselee must learn to add (in his heart if not in his actual prayer itself) to every prayer. Either way, the qualification must be the basic presupposition for prayer. When it is, there can be no complaints about the answers to prayer, only thankful acquiescence. The praying Christian farmer who asks for rain and the postman who asks that it not rain, will both be satisfied by the outcome then, since they will be more concerned that the answer further God’s work and spread His righteousness than in fulfilling their own desires.

Counselees, in effect, must be taught to pray this way: “Lord, I bring my requests to you, knowing so little. I may not be asking what is best, so please cancel or modify whatever I ask as you see fit, and make me satisfied with the outcome.” Close to this is the other basic premise: God’s will must be sought for His sake. When we rejoice in negative answers to prayer, it is not because of masochistic tendencies, but because of love—the desire to see God glorified. The glorification of believers33 is secondary, derivative (in conjunction with Christ 34), largely takes place in the future35 and even then is intended to enhance His glory.36 So, then, in prayer, first one is to seek God’s will, which is manifested in those things that He does to further His work and His righteousness, and secondarily, his own will as it corresponds with God’s.37 Which leads to another biblical teaching.

6. God doesn’t hear unbiblical prayer. Jesus warned us about this when He said, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you” (John 15:7.). This apparent blank check has conditions (“If”) that must not be missed. The first condition (“If you remain in Me”) indicates that it is only the believer’s prayers that God is talking about; no such assurance is accorded to the unbelievers .38 Those who “remain” or “continue” in Him are the saints. This is the doctrine of the perseverance (or continuance) of the saints. All true saints will persevere; therefore, all who persevere are true saints.

But it is the second condition especially to which I wish to call attention: prayer must grow out of and be in harmony with Christ’s Word (which today is embodied in the Bible). His Word, stored up in, guiding and motivating the heart,39 will not only keep one from sin, but also inform his prayers. That is why praying with the mind (with understanding) -not by rote, or in mystical, magical or mechanical ways-is important. It is often wise to use biblical words and phrases (correctly interpreted and clearly understood) as a discipline for learning to pray properly.

It should be obvious (but every experienced counselor knows, from the frequency with which he encounters the problem, that it isn’t) that a counselee ought not to request what God forbids (or will not permit). Prayer must be biblical; i.e., requests must be within the range of scriptural norms to be legitimate. To pray successfully is to pray intelligently and out of a ’knowledge of what God’s Word encourages and allows.

Unbiblical prayer also is prayer that is contrary to biblical example. Nonsensical prayer falls into this category. Nowhere in the Bible will you hear a prayer like this (though you will hear it all the time today:) “Please, Lord, may last week’s meeting have been a blessing.” One may pray for that meeting before or during the meeting in that way, or a week later for blessing growing out of the meeting, or for future blessing stemming from it, but he has no biblical warrant for praying for something to happen after it has happened!

7. God doesn’t hear self—addressed prayer. What is the warrant for prayer? What is the address on the envelope sent heavenward? Prayer must be made in Christ’s name.40 Prayer, in Christ’s name, isn’t prayer on our own merit, with some special phrase like “for Christ’s sake,” or “in His holy name” merely tacked on at the end. There is nothing wrong with such phrases if they are filled with meaning for the one who uses them. They must express the true intention and understanding of the praying counselee’s heart. The words themselves may (or may not) occur; the understanding beneath the prayer must.

What, then, does Christ mean when He speaks of praying in His Name? He means that, in our prayers, we must ask God to answer our requests

(1) because of Who Christ is and what Christ has done;

(2) for Christ’s honor and benefit.

Believers are assured that God will hear us because of Christ’s redemptive work, and under His intercessory lordship. He is the one Mediator Who can bridge the gap between God and man ripped open by sin. God will not hear us in our own names because (apart from Christ) we have no right to be heard-we are but rebellious sinners. We can demand nothing in our own names. But because of what Christ has done, and for His honor (Heb. 2:10; Rom. 11:36), we can approach God boldly for all those things that, by His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ obtained for us (Heb. 4:16). He has provided much; and encourages His followers to lay claim to all of it, but He makes one thing clear-such claims must be made in His Name. Prayer must honor Christ by acknowledging the fact that all we ask, we ask on the basis of a saving relationship with Him and that He may be honored by the granting of this request. God will have His Son honored every time a believer prays; and we will be reminded of this fact in every prayer.

These seven conditions are not exhaustive, but they are (perhaps) the outstanding facts to keep in mind when discussing unanswered prayer with counselees. In many cases, failure in more than one of these areas will occur; don’t rest until you have the whole picture. It would be wise, therefore, to cover all seven possibilities in your questioning of a counselee. You can write the seven items into your Christian Counselor’s New Testament, and even read. them off to a counselee when appropriate (“John, there are seven common reasons why God doesn’t answer prayer. Let me read them, and I’d like you to tell me which ones—if any—fit you”).

Keep in mind, too, that unanswered prayer also may be God’s favorable response to proper prayer. (It is not really unanswered in such cases; “no,” “not now; later,” etc., are answers just as truly as “yes.”) Because He knows what is best, remember (as I said earlier), God may temporarily delay an answer to prayer, or deny it, or substitute another for it-for our good (which is always also the best for His work; the two are never at odds). Having explored the seven hindrances to prayer, the counselor may find that this is the final explanation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, let me reemphasize the fact that God is man’s basic Environment. That is why prayer, growing out of Bible study, is so crucial to his life, and why discussion of these areas is so important for counseling. Adam walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. Sin destroyed that fellowship. In Christ it is restored for those who trust Him (I John 1). Prayer now constitutes a significant part of the way in which a Christian comes into intimate contact with his Environment. Apart from the Scriptures (in which God speaks to him) and prayer (by which he speaks to God), a human being is out of touch with reality.

Jay Edward Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling: Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resource Library, 1986), 78–87.

Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry

Josh Hunt — Fri, 07 May 2021 15:00:08 GMT

When I first moved to Chicago, to Willow Creek Church, I called a friend of mine—the wisest spiritual man that I know—and I asked him, “What do I need to do to be healthy spiritually? What do I need to do to guard my heart?”

There was a long pause.

Then he said, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

There was another long pause, and I finally said,

“Okay, I wrote that one down. Now, what else do you have to tell me, because I don’t have much time, and I want to get a lot of wisdom out of this conversation.”

He replied, “There is nothing else. Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. It has had other enemies in other days. In our day, in our world, hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life, because you can hardly do anything the way that Jesus did it if you are in a hurry. You cannot love in a hurry. You cannot listen to a child in a hurry.

“Jesus was often busy. But there’s a real important distinction between hurry and busy. Busy is an external condition—a condition of the body. Jesus was often busy, but he was never hurried. Hurried is a condition of the soul. It is an inward condition in which you are so frantic and preoccupied that you are unable to receive love from the Father, and unable to be present with other people, to give love to them.”

Things will not settle down in life. And if you wait to get around to what really matters, you will never do what God made you to do or be. Your soul will wither and die. Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day, and you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. No one else will do this for you—not your boss, or your spouse, or your kids, or your parents. You must do this for yourself.

John Ortberg, Now What? God’s Guide to Life for Graduates (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).

The Vital Contribution of Sunday School

Josh Hunt — Fri, 07 May 2021 14:42:36 GMT

As a young boy I did not have high-definition television. In fact, we did not have color television. Our family TV was black-and-white. Now go ahead and reach for your handkerchief because we only had three channels from which to select—NBC, CBS, and, if the aluminum foil on the rabbit ears was just right, ABC. Boy, have things ever changed. Television has been around for decades, and it has made drastic improvements.

Like television, Sunday School has been around for decades. Most churches still have a functioning Sunday School. However, many questions have been raised as to the validity of Sunday School in an ever-changing world. What is the benefit of a Sunday School ministry in a local church? What role does Sunday School play in the context of the church's ministry? Does Sunday School fulfill a vital function in helping the church reach her mission? Are we just having Sunday School because we have always had Sunday School? Is it a worn-out method of yesteryear? Does Sunday School still have relevancy in the twenty-first century? These questions beg to see the context of Sunday School in the contemporary church. They seek to know if Sunday School has a vital contribution to make in the life and ministry of a local church. I want to give you six reasons why Sunday School is still a relevant, vital, and necessary ingredient in producing growing disciples and healthy churches.

Sunday School Is Relevant

1. Sunday School gives the church's DNA a natural, functional, practical expression.

I serve the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia. Under the leadership of our pastor, Dr. Johnny Hunt, we have adopted a fourfold mission for our church that we refer to as our church's DNA. Our mission is to:

Worship God
Love Others
Serve God
Invite Others

We want every member to be a disciple who loves God with his whole being in accordance with the first and greatest commandment. We want every member to love others, the second great commandment. We want every member to find a place of service and activate their spiritual gifts. We also want every believer to invite others to know Christ, to witness to them, and to invite them to church where they will hear the gospel. These four things are the ingredients of a disciple of Jesus Christ. These four things are the mission of First Baptist Woodstock. They are also the four things we want every one of our members to embrace because they are the church. We need a way to express our DNA, and Sunday School makes that possible in three ways.

Sunday School gives a natural expression to the church's DNA. It is natural for a believer to want to be discipled, build community with others, minister to people's needs, and be on mission with others in the body of Christ. As believers, we naturally desire a supernatural lifestyle because of the One who loves us and lives within us.

As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Pet. 1:3–4, emphasis mine)

Through His divine power God has given us everything we need to live supernaturally. He has even invested His divine nature in us through the person of the Holy Spirit. We need to find a natural way to express that which is naturally in us, and Sunday School fills this need. Sunday School provides a natural mechanism for every believer to express naturally what is supernaturally in them. We have the purpose in our heads and hearts; Sunday School moves it to our hands and feet! Sunday School affords every member a natural way to express the church's mission.

Sunday School gives a functional expression to the church's DNA. The book of Acts gives us the fivefold purpose of the church: worship, evangelism, discipleship, ministry, and fellowship. All of these, with the exception of worship, function better through Sunday School than through the corporate worship service. We have a clear mental picture of these five functions; however, they practically take place through the ministry of small groups.

Sunday School gives a practical expression to the church's DNA. Most of us know what to do; it is finding the how that is challenging. Sunday School is the how behind the what. Our pastors stand in our pulpits and proclaim the Word of God. Their messages tell us what to be and what to do. However, we leave the worship service with no tangible, practical way to express what we just heard. I am afraid that we teach a theology that never gets out of the intellectual and into the practical. Certainly we need to be good thinkers and to be intellectually astute so we can engage lost people who have bought into the lies and deceitfulness of the devil. At the same time, unbelievers must see a practical expression of our sound theology as it is lived out in the context of a real world that is reeling in pain and despair. At some point our theological and practical hands must shake!

Sunday School becomes a vital tool for the church to express her core values.

Sunday School becomes a vital tool for the church to express her core values. I have found that without a tool, our values often go unexpressed. When I was a boy, my Granny used to put my three brothers and me to work in the garden. With school out for the summer, she had to find productive things for us to do to keep us out of trouble. About once a week she would take me to the garden to weed. She would hand me the hoe and instruct me to rid the garden of the weeds. Granny gave me a task: weed the garden. She also gave me a tool to accomplish the task: a hoe. In the church we are guilty of giving people the task without the tool to accomplish that task. Sunday School puts a hoe in all believers' hands for their work in the church garden.

Can a church grow if she does not have a natural, functional, and practical way to express her purpose? It is very doubtful. Sunday School develops missional Christians as each class engages its members in the church's mission. Sunday School drives the mission down and places it on a personal basis. Many churches fail to see their mission accomplished because the mission is imprisoned behind the bars of the theological and philosophical cells. Sunday School releases the mission into the real world of practical living.

2. Mission is best accomplished in the context of small groups.

Any mission is best tackled in a setting of small groups of people. This gives everyone an opportunity for input. Dr. Johnny Hunt has taught me that people pay for what they own. I have found that to be true in my life. I pay for my house, my car, and my belongings. Why? They are mine! I do not make your house or car payments because I do not own them, and I have no part of them. When people are given the privilege to speak into the process, they begin to take ownership of it. If everything is dictated to people, then they will not own that mission. As we meet in small groups, people have the opportunity to speak to the mission that is being pursued by that small group. If a large meeting is the only gathering of God's people, then you run the risk of creating a dictator. Sunday School classes provide a forum for people to speak into the mission, to invest in the mission, and to own the mission.

Small groups not only give people an opportunity for input; they also give everyone an opportunity for involvement. A church cannot survive without the involvement of others. I have often said that the secret to success is the involvement of people! Sunday School allows people to get involved in ministry. Sunday School empowers people and puts them to work. Sunday School gives practical application of the words of Jesus, “Engage...until I come back” (Luke 19:13 HCSB). Let me give you three biblical examples of the principle that “mission is best accomplished in the context of small groups.”

Sunday School empowers people and puts them to work.

And so it was, on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. So when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit, and all the people stand before you from morning until evening?” And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.” So Moses' father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.” So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves. (Exod. 18:13–26)

In this passage we see the mission is to judge the people. Moses, the great leader of God, sat all day judging the grievances of the people. Moses was getting weary and so were the people. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, advised him to get some help, divide the people into smaller groups, and appoint capable men over jurisdictions. They were to be “rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.”

Moses reminds me of some pastors today. They are working hard but not working smart. I have had the blessing of doing conferences in many countries. Over and over again, I see two people in churches doing the entire ministry—the pastor and the worship leader. They are godly men, working hard, loving their people, trying to meet all their needs, erecting buildings, and trying to win their communities to faith in Christ. They are worn out and need some help. Like Moses, they need to be asked, “Why do you sit alone?” (Exod. 18:14). They need a Jethro to step into their life with exhortation, “The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself” (Exod. 18:17–18).

They need to heed the advice of Jethro and find capable people and release ministry to them. I submit to you that Sunday School is that ministry! I have seen pastors all over the world light up when they have caught the vision of getting others involved in vital ministry. Yet I constantly see American churches that are more exposed to the concept of ministry through Sunday School not get it. In some cases they are having Sunday School but they are not using Sunday School.

In some cases they are having Sunday School but they are not using Sunday School.

When the mission was to judge the people, Moses learned that “mission is best accomplished in the context of a small group.”

Ezra and Nehemiah observed this principle being practiced in their day.

Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose; and beside him, at his right hand, stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Urijah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah; and at his left hand Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law: and the people stood in their place. So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading. (Neh. 8:1–8)

In 586 BC the Babylonians had destroyed the magnificent temple that King Solomon had built. Some poor Jews were allowed to remain in the land of Israel, but most were carried away to Babylonian captivity. A remnant had returned, but they lived under much scrutiny and persecution. Under the prophetic ministry of Haggai and Zechariah and the leadership of Zerubbabel, the people rebuilt the temple. Some seventy-five years later under Nehemiah's godly leadership, the people rebuilt the walls of the city. Then Ezra, the scribe of God, stood at the Water Gate and read the Torah to God's chosen people from morning to noon. For many, it was the first time they had heard God's Word. Many did not understand it and needed further instruction. The Scripture says that “Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law.” The Bible does not give the exact details of how this took place, but it does give us the names of thirteen teachers who helped people understand the meaning of the Scripture read by Ezra. This passage also informs us that the Levites also helped to teach the people the meaning of what they had heard. How many Levites were there? The Scripture does not indicate. It would seem that there would have been many. Therefore, these many teachers must have huddled in smaller groups with people to explain the teaching of the Scripture. I have written in the margin of my Bible beside this Scripture “The first organized Sunday School.”

You see, when the mission was to help the people understand the Word of God, Ezra and Nehemiah learned that “mission is best accomplished in the context of a small group.”

In this passage we actually have a biblical account of small group Bible study for the purpose of helping people understand and live the truths of Scripture, and we have not been able to improve on it since!

The last biblical example I offer for your consideration comes from Jesus feeding the five thousand men with the little boy's lunch of five loaves and two fish.

And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. But when the multitudes know it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” And they did so, and made them all sit down. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them. (Luke 9:10–17)

The people had been with Jesus all day as He was teaching and healing. Apparently they had missed some meals to be with Jesus (There is a message in that!). As the day began to be late, Jesus knew they needed to eat and sent His disciples into the crowd to see if they could find some food. They came back with five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus took the food and then gave a directive to His disciples to “make them sit down in groups of fifty.” Jesus knew that He could best accomplish the task of feeding the people if they were in smaller groups of fifty.

When the mission was to feed the people, Jesus knew that “mission is best accomplished in the context of a small group.”

Sunday School allows a church to break its mission down in bite-size, chewable, digestible pieces. It makes the mission something to get your arms around. It makes the mission doable. Sunday School creates many “ministry teams” throughout the whole church so that everyone can connect to the intended purpose of the church. It is obvious that even the early church met in a large group setting and in small group settings.

Sunday School allows a church to break its mission down in bite-size, chewable, digestible pieces.

And daily in the temple (large group setting), and in every house (small group setting), they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” (Acts 5:42, emphasis mine)

Remember that mission is best accomplished in the context of a small group!

3. Sunday School equips the saints to do the work of the ministry.

Ephesians 4:11–12 is God's formula for church growth.

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

We have not found a better way to “equip the saints” than Sunday School. We have not found a better way to do “the work of the ministry” than Sunday School. We have not found a better way to “edify the body of Christ” than Sunday School! Sunday School disciples people in the Word of God. Sunday School puts people to work doing the ministry and exercising their spiritual gifts. Therefore, Sunday School is in the business of edifying the people of God like nothing else. This ought to cause many to rise up and champion her cause!

I have had the opportunity to address classes at some of our seminaries. It is such a thrill to speak to our upcoming church leaders. When addressing those preparing to be pastors, I would start out by asking, “When you finish your theological education and a church calls you to be their pastor, are you going to preach the Great Commission?” I then quoted Matthew 28:19–20. Those young seminarians would respond with a hearty “amen.” I then asked, “When you finish your theological education and a church calls you to be their pastor, are you going to preach Ephesians 4:11–12?” Again, I quoted this passage of Scripture and the “amen” was even louder. I then asked one last question, “When you finish your theological training and a church calls you to be their pastor, how are you practically and tangibly going to flesh out the Great Commission and Ephesians 4:11–12?” Silence! You could have heard a pin drop; there was no comment, no response, and no amen. I let the silence linger because it was preaching a loud message: it is one thing to preach it; it is another thing to do it! Now I believe in the power of preaching because I believe in the power of the Word, but at some point spiritual leaders must help people get practical with the Word of God. Nehemiah exhorted the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but there came a time when he started mixing mortar and laying bricks!

We have not found a better way to “equip the saints” than Sunday School.

We have not found a better way to help people become doers of the Word than through Sunday School! I challenge anyone to tell me what has done a better job of fleshing out Ephesians 4:11–12 than Sunday School. Let me repeat myself, this ought to cause many to rise up and champion her cause!

Sunday School has had to find ways to equip people to do ministry because…

Sunday School cannot survive unless she does. It takes multitudes of people to supply workers needed in all age divisions.
Sunday School is the largest organization in the church (in most cases). Therefore, Sunday School must shoulder the responsibility of equipping the people of the church. If left to a smaller ministry, the church would die for a lack of equipped people.
Sunday School gives away hands-on ministry to people who must be trained in order to be effective.
Sunday School empowers people with the ministry. Sunday School does not confine the people of God, she turns them loose to serve God with great zeal and passion.

4. Sunday School develops leadership for the church.

As we have just seen, Sunday School develops many for the work of Sunday School, but she also equips people for the work of other ministries in the church. If you were to eliminate Sunday School, you would see a gradual decline in workers being produced in other ministries as well. Sunday School is the foundational ministry from which other ministries are able to sprout.

How effective would other ministries in the church be if there were no Sunday School? Can you imagine ministries with leaders that had never been nurtured and discipled in a Sunday School class? For example, how effective would Awana leaders, discipleship teachers, altar counselors, evangelism trainers, counselors leading devotions at children's/youth camp, DiscipleNow Weekend, and others, be if they were not nurtured by a Sunday School class? At the least we would have to say that they probably would not be as equipped as they could be.

5. Sunday School gives intentionality to our good intentions.

Good intentions alone are no better than no intentions unless we get intentional about our good intentions! Most of us do not suffer from a lack of knowledge, but from a lack of will. Churches are full of good intentions. Churches have good intentions to win the lost, assimilate new people, disciple the saved, minister to people's needs, be on mission to reach the world, involve people in vital ministries, build relationships with others, and so on. With all these good intentions, why are we not growing and thriving? Why are most churches in decline or plateaued? There is a lack of intentionality! Friend, if good intentions would have gotten the job done, we would have won the world to Christ years ago.

Christian people often go to bed with the good intention of rising the next morning and spending time reading their Bible and praying. Yet many do not. Why? There is a lack of intentionality. They do not get to bed in time to get a decent night's rest, or they do not set the alarm early enough to have time for their morning devotions. They have good intentions; they just do not execute those intentions. Churches are like the people in them; they are full of good intentions but often devoid of ways to execute them.

As previously stated, Sunday School gives everyone the opportunity to get involved in the church's mission. Intentionality requires involvement! No involvement, no intentionality! If a church has no small group ministry, she greatly reduces the possibility for people to be involved. If you have no intentional way to get people involved, then you

• waste God's giftedness in them

• have very little ministry taking place

• raise up lazy Christians

• confine the church's potential

• position the church for an implosion

I heard a story that illustrates this point. A young preacher had graduated from seminary and was called to pastor his first church in a rural community. He had just moved to his new church when the local funeral home director called and asked him to do the graveside service for a ninety-three-year-old man. Obviously the new pastor wanted to get involved with the community and minister to the people there, so he accepted the offer. The elderly man had outlived his friends and had just a few family members so the decision was made to have only a graveside service at a small country cemetery. The funeral home director explained directions to the cemetery and gave the new pastor the time and date. At the appointed time the pastor drove to the cemetery but lost his way. Finally, after several wrong turns he showed up thirty minutes late. The hearse was gone and no people were present. The pastor just assumed the few people that would have attended decided to leave. Since he had promised he would do the graveside service, he was bound to keep his word, so he could at least report this to the funeral home director and maintain his integrity as the new pastor in town. So he took his Bible, got out of his car, and walked to the grave. It was then he noticed the workers sitting under a shade tree eating their lunch. Apparently, they were waiting on him to do the service so they could cover the grave. The pastor went to the grave and found the vault already in place. He opened his Bible and read Psalm 23, made a few comments, and offered a prayer. As he returned to his car, he overheard one of the workers say to the other, “Do you think we ought to tell him that's a septic tank?” The pastor had good intentions, but his good intentions were not enough. We must put some intentionality to our good intentions, or else we will end up with an unhealthy church on our hands.

Intentionality requires involvement! No involvement, no intentionality!

If you have no way to exercise your good intentions, then you will end up like the following story.

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody

There were four church members named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. (Author Unknown)

6. Sunday School keeps the church small.

Everyone wants to attend a growing church that is reaching many people yet remains small. Sunday School helps keep the church small. As the population increases and more and more people move to metropolitan areas, we have seen the emergence of many mega-churches. Whether your church is a megachurch or not, she should be a growing church. I believe it is God's will that everyone repent and come to faith in Christ.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Pet. 3:9)

I believe it is God's will for churches to grow because it is God's will for everyone to be saved; however, a growing church faces the serious challenge of becoming bigger, and many people do not like to attend big churches. We do not have the option of not reaching more people, but we do have the challenge of accommodating people into a larger congregation. Since large congregations can be intimidating to many, how do we help people get assimilated into our growing churches? Sunday School!

Sunday School keeps the church small because Sunday School makes the church personal and relational. This places people in an environment where they are comfortable. It positions people in surroundings that are conducive to their emotional and social well-being. God designed us for relationships, and relationships are best formed in small group settings. We recognize the spiritual experience that church attendance provides, but it also offers social experiences, and we need both.

Churches work hard at reaching new people. Much time, effort, and money are expended to reach others for Christ and church membership. Yet sometimes little energy is given to assimilate those we reach. Companies have a difficult time staying in business if they cannot keep their customers. They do much in the way of marketing to acquire new customers, but they also do much in maintaining their current clients. Business is much better when you have repeat customers instead of one-time customers. So it is with the church. How do we keep the new people we reach? How do we assimilate new members? We do this through relationships! Where are relationships formed? They are formed in small group settings. Sunday School is the church's Velcro.

Sunday School puts a face to the church and presents the characteristics of smaller churches such as a hand of fellowship, a prayer of support, a hug in difficult times. Therefore, the larger a church grows, the more vital Sunday School becomes! When we stop to analyze the role that Sunday School fills in the context of a local church, it is mind-boggling. Every church needs a small group ministry. If a church has no small group ministry or has a dysfunctional small group ministry, then it leaves a huge hole in the church. I submit to you that Sunday School is the best small group ministry known to the modern-day church. The contribution of Sunday School to the church ministry cannot be overstated.

Allan Taylor, Sunday School in Hd (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2009).

SUNDAY SCHOOL EVANGELISM

Josh Hunt — Fri, 07 May 2021 14:36:38 GMT

The parachurch organizations make an interesting study. They certainly have contributed significantly to youth evangelism. However, the venerable Sunday School has reached a lot of young people as well.

ORIGINS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

Robert Raikes started the first Sunday School in Gloucester, England in 1780. A dedicated social reformer, Raikes established his school to improve the miserable life that workhouse children endured. Raikes taught the children reading, writing, and religion. Despite opposition from the Church of England, Sunday Schools multiplied. When Raikes died in 1811, four hundred thousand youngsters attended classes all over Great Britain.6

The first Sunday School in America was started in Virginia in 1785. The number of schools grew steadily, but Sunday School received its greatest boost when the American Sunday School Union was organized in 1824. This was one of several significant institutions spawned by the Second Great Awakening. Many of the early Sunday Schools operated separately from the churches. Some pastors refused to allow a Sunday School in their churches because they doubted that laymen could teach the Bible.

Gradually the denominations began to see the potential for growth held by Sunday Schools. The Methodists and Baptists began to include Sunday School in their church programs, and other denominations followed their example.

The American Sunday School Union committed itself to evangelizing the Mississippi Valley by establishing Sunday Schools throughout the region. The Sunday School Union sent eighty missionaries to fulfill this goal. The most famous of these missionaries was Stephen Paxson. Riding his horse, named Robert Raikes, Paxson traveled through Illinois and Indiana starting Sunday Schools. During his ministry Paxson enrolled eighty-three thousand young people and established 1,314 Sunday schools. Scholars estimate that four of every five churches in the Mississippi Valley began as Sunday Schools, and in one year alone seventeen thousand people made professions of faith.7

Around 1900 Sunday School enrollment in the mainline denominations began to decline. Many of these churches viewed Sunday School as merely a means of providing religious education for the children of their members. However, the more conservative churches and denominations began to develop the Sunday School as an outreach organization. The Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention promoted Sunday School as the outreach arm of the local church.

FLAKE’S FORMULA

Arthur Flake provided strategic leadership for Sunday School development within the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1920 he was appointed head of the Sunday School Board’s new department of Sunday School Administration. Flake soon developed and popularized principles of Sunday School growth. Through his book, Building a Standard Sunday School, Flake laid out a five-point formula for Sunday School growth:

Discover the prospects. Flake encouraged churches to locate prospects and develop a prospect file.
Expand the organization. Flake discovered that starting new Sunday School classes enhanced growth because new classes grew faster than existing classes.
Train the workers. Flake taught the churches to plan for growth by enlisting and training new teachers for new classes.
Provide the space. Flake instructed the churches to plan for growth by providing space for new classes and projecting increases in attendance.
Go after the people. Flake emphasized visitation, insisting that planning for growth was wasted effort if Sunday School workers did not visit the prospects.

Thousands of churches followed Flake’s formula and experienced growth. In fact, Flake’s simple principles became the “Five Commandments” for Sunday School directors in the Southern Baptist Convention.8

Baptists made the Sunday School their key tool for evangelism. In 1945 J. N. Barnette wrote, “During the past quarter of a century approximately 85 percent of all church members, either by baptism or letter, have come out of the Sunday school enrolment.… The Sunday school is formed and operated for the purpose of reaching the lost.”9

Southern Baptists have tended to point toward organization in general and to Flake’s principles in particular as the key factor in their Sunday School growth. Elmer Towns discounted the role of organization and pointed instead to the evangelistic fervor of the pastors, commitment of the teachers, and dedication to the Bible as the important factors. Organization alone cannot account for the growth, but Flake’s formula provided a simple and effective approach that enabled Southern Baptists to channel their enthusiasm.10

The 1970s brought a remarkable increase in Sunday School growth. In 1968 there were only twelve Sunday Schools of all denominations that averaged more than two thousand in Sunday School. By 1981 forty-nine churches averaged more than two thousand. Several factors contributed to this development. First, the 1970s was the decade of fundamentalism. Fundamentalist churches proliferated during this period, and they emphasized Sunday School attendance. For example, in 1981 the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, averaged over fifteen thousand for the year. The use of church buses also boosted attendance. A large Sunday School attendance became a matter of prestige among some pastors.

INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION

Throughout most of church history, no specific efforts were made to evangelize young people. This changed in the 1800s. During this period the Sunday School and YMCA were founded to reach young people. Youth ministries multiplied rapidly during and after World War II. The founders of these ministries sought to win high school and college students and fill gaps left by the churches. No doubt these organizations did much good, but they also left some with the impression that local churches were ineffective in evangelizing youth. It remains to be seen if the churches can recapture the initiative or if they will surrender responsibility to parachurch organizations.

For their part, the parachurch organizations need to show a closer linkage to local churches. They claim to be servants of the church, but practical benefits of this servant spirit are often hard to find. The organizations report impressive numbers of conversions, but it is not clear how many of these converts become active adult members of local churches.

John Mark Terry, Evangelism: A Concise History (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1994), 180–183.

Basics of Sunday School Growth

Josh Hunt — Thu, 06 May 2021 20:05:37 GMT

As a young pastor, I inherited Sunday School programs that were well established but hardly aggressive in outreach. I pastored a rural church of 120 members, a small-town church of 700 members, and a metropolitan church of 6,000 members. In each case, when I came to the church the Sunday School was reasonably well organized in the preschool, children, and youth divisions but was essentially stagnant in the adult areas. Because none of these churches had a clear strategy for organizing the Sunday School for growth, most of the small groups had plateaued or declined over time, accurately displaying the condition of the church as a whole.

The beginning of the awakening

In the first two churches I pastored we experienced growth; it was reflected in the Sunday School attendance, but it was not driven by the Sunday School organization. The Sunday School was simply the recipient of growth, not the catalyst of growth. In these churches the growth was fueled by visitation, worship, and an aggressive youth program.

In one pastorate I stumbled over the potential for growth through the Sunday School. We had a number of young single members who were regular in worship attendance but had not attended Sunday School since they were in the youth department. We began a college and career class. To my amazement the class began to attract other young singles who had not been attending church anywhere. They were brought by friends! At that time I knew little about the growth principles of homogeneity and receptivity, but later I began to see that these accepted growth principles were inherent in the Sunday School structure.

On another occasion, we started a pastor’s class for a group of median adult couples who attended our worship service but were uncomfortable in our existing Sunday School structure. In this case too, the class grew and attracted a new group of folk not previously involved in the church. Forming the new classes created a permanent growth situation. Both church membership and attendance increased and were sustained at these new higher levels. Other growth projects had produced momentary gains, but those gains had soon dissipated. Little did I know that I was discovering the value of the “New Unit Principle,” which I will describe later in this chapter.

The growth discovery

I became the pastor of First Baptist Church of Norfolk in 1981. The church had recently relocated near the rapidly growing Virginia Beach area in Tidewater. A fire that destroyed the downtown plant had forced the move in the early 1970s. At the new location the church grew rapidly, peaking at an average of 550 in Sunday School attendance in 1976. It then declined slowly back to the 380 average Sunday School attendance mark that I inherited in 1981.

During the early months of my ministry at First, Norfolk, God began to give us immediate and spectacular results. People were joining the church every Sunday. This rapid growth was taxing to me and the one other staff person serving the church. After I had been serving the church for six months, my staff colleague was called to serve alongside the former pastor. Not only did we have insufficient staffing, but also we had even less money and physical resources. Before you think I am painting a bleak picture, I must be honest to tell you that I discovered one incredible asset. The church was blessed with a highly committed group of laypeople who had been praying for God to awaken the church to its potential and who were willing to work. Many of these persons had been faithfully serving in the Sunday School program for many years.

In those early months, I focused on the basics: preaching, teaching, training, and visiting. The rapid growth of the church was exciting but draining. The church outgrew my ability and energy rather quickly. I soon began to ask myself, “How do I care for the needs of all the church members and continue to reach the lost?” While I knew that God was sufficient, I had grave doubts about my own sufficiency. The needs were overwhelming. The young couples we were reaching had several small children, and the preschool was quickly overcrowded. We needed workers! We had seen many people profess Christ as Savior, but now we faced a huge discipling task. How could we organize to accomplish this massive task? I knew that if I stopped emphasizing our new visitation program, we would stop reaching the lost. My passion for the lost of Tidewater would not permit me to consider such an option even though many other tasks vied for our attention and resources.

I felt like the circus juggler who spins plates on long, pointed sticks. He gets two or three spinning, then he pauses to spin a new plate, but one of the spinning plates wobbles and falls to the ground. I would launch one new program after the other, trying to meet all the complex needs of a growing church. The core leaders responded to my desperate cries for help as they scurried to shore up the preschool or the outreach program or the discipling ministry. I’m sure the people must have felt that I was indecisive and unsure, for such was certainly the case. We were doing too many things but achieving few results. We had many programs, but they were disconnected. How could we organize the church to fulfill the Great Commission?

I began to devour church growth books in an attempt to find a means of coping with the growth that God was causing in our church. In each book I would find good ideas and helpful organizational structure, but it was disjointed in my thinking. With our limited staff and resources, I knew that I needed a more integrated tool, one that was simple to organize and manage.

The converging streams

Several events flowed together in my own experience that led to the conviction that the Sunday School, with its age-graded, small-group structure, might be the integrated growth tool for which I was searching.

With my Sunday School director, Dick Baker, I attended a Growth Spiral Conference led by Andy Anderson. As Andy described the Sunday School Growth Spiral, I began to recognize many parallels between the principles he was espousing and those in the pile of church growth books I had been reading. The parallels between Sunday School work and church growth principles were numerous and unmistakable. Then it dawned on me: I already have a single organization that embraces acknowledged church growth principles. Why should I create several more ministries to do the work Sunday School was designed to do?

I left that conference with a clear vision, and I was committed to make Sunday School the central organization for church growth. On the drive home, Dick and I talked about setting enrollment goals, establishing new teaching units, and administrating the Sunday School as a growth ministry, not just a maintenance organization.

I began with an abundance of zeal and a modicum of knowledge. Our first enrollment goal was for a net gain of 840 persons in Bible study. I enthusiastically had posters and banners made declaring that goal. Little did I know that a goal for over 60 percent net gain in a single year was impossible in a large church. With supernatural empowering and clear vision, even the impossible is achievable. We actually exceeded our growth goals for the year. We were well on our way to using the Sunday School as a growth tool.

One question still plagued me: If the Sunday School is such an effective growth tool, why are so few churches growing? Most of the churches that I knew about in our area had some small-group Bible study plan that resembled our Sunday School organization. Why were so few churches experiencing any real growth? Something was missing.

I found the missing factor in the equation when I attended a conference with Harry Piland, former director of the Sunday School division of the Baptist Sunday School Board. Piland stated that any adult Bible study class that had not attempted to lead anyone to Christ during the past year had missed their purpose for existing. He then affirmed that Sunday School must first be an evangelistic tool. Sunday School and outreach evangelism! I had never really connected the Sunday School with evangelistic outreach. I knew that it was effective for conserving the results of evangelism, but I had never seen a Sunday School designed for outreach.

The idea shocked me, and it rattled some of my finest teachers. Some were so convicted by their lack of evangelistic concern that they even considered resigning their classes. In the end, we all decided that repentance was more appropriate than resignation. Thus began the vision to give the Sunday School an evangelistic focus at First Baptist, Norfolk.

The event that allowed me to integrate my thinking about church growth and Sunday School was the opportunity to teach a course entitled “Growing an Evangelistic Church” at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The course was designed to cover every phase of church growth. I required my students to read a wide range of materials from several different authors. As I was lecturing on the ratios for church growth, I was dumbfounded by the similarities between the ratios for growth described by Win Arn, one of the founding fathers of the church, and basic Sunday School principles. This discovery caused me to examine more closely basic Sunday School concepts and principles espoused by church growth authors. It was the final clue that helped me discover the evangelistic Sunday School as an integrated growth tool.

Parallels between Growth Principles and Sunday School

All church growth authors agree on principles though their methods differ. The distinction between method and principle is basic. Methods are many; principles are few. Methods are often tied to a particular setting, time, and person or group of persons; principles are timeless and universally applicable. A method that works well in an Atlanta suburban congregation might fail in a rural Kentucky church. In truth, it might not work in another Atlanta suburban congregation. Methods must always be contextualized. Yet the principles by which these congregations experience growth are the same.

Delos Miles, in his book Church Growth: A Mighty River, isolates six growth principles that run through the writings of virtually every church growth author. Miles states that all methodological strategies are based on these six principles of church growth: the Process Principle, the Pyramid Principle, the Receptivity Principle, the New Unit Principle, the Homogenous Principle, and the Leadership Principle.8 I contend that these six principles of church growth are inherent in a properly designed evangelistic Sunday School.

Principle 1: The Process Principle

The Process Principle maintains that church growth is a process and not an event. As such, a process requires planning, goal setting, management of resources, and regular evaluation of results and effectiveness. Because church growth is a process, it is neither a passing fad nor is it a quick-fix program.

The need for planning, goal setting, management of resources, and the like strongly motivated me to organize our Sunday School to function as a church growth tool. The fundamentals for managing the process of growth were already in place through the Sunday School organization.

One of the great and continuing growth stories of our generation is First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Copastors Homer Lindsay Jr. and Jerry Vines recently occupied their new 9,000-seat sanctuary debt free. Over the past fourteen years they have baptized 13,133 people, averaging 938 a year.

Recently, I asked a group of growth leaders to name the church that was doing a good job in reaching children, youth, singles, young adults, and various other categories. I was expecting them to name a different church in each category, but without exception they mentioned First, Jacksonville. This church has been a leader in many categories for years. How do they do it? How do they organize for such consistent and long-term growth? They focus on exalting Jesus and on personal soul-winning, and they organize everything through the Sunday School. Dr. Vines recently told me that he is always surprised when church growth experts trot out some new program or strategy for outreach, assimilation, or discipleship. They herald this new program as the latest innovation and the greatest need of the growing church. Yet when compared with a properly designed Sunday School, Vines notes, “They seem so complex and cumbersome when you can do it all so effectively and easily through the Sunday School.”

Principle 2: The Pyramid Principle

The Pyramid Principle is discussed under several different names. It is actually a pictorial representation of growth. To enlarge the pyramid, you must first enlarge its base. The base of the pyramid is the organization structure for growth. Thus many would affirm that the base of the pyramid is the small-group structure through which Bible study, assimilation, and discipling relationships occur. Thus if we are to enlarge the attendance structure of our church on a permanent basis, we must continue to increase the number of small groups in the organizational base of our church.

In chapter 5 we will discuss in detail how the organizational structure for growth must be increased and is most easily expanded by developing new units and new departments in the Bible study structure of the church.

Principle 3: The Receptivity Principle

The Receptivity Principle establishes evangelism as a priority for church growth and discusses how best to present the gospel by understanding and developing natural receptivity in those to whom you are witnessing. In simple terms, the Receptivity Principle states that the church should invest most of its resources where they will return the best evangelistic harvest.

Jesus instructed His disciples to brush the dust from their feet when rejected and to go to a house that would receive them. This does not mean that the church can ignore those who reject our witness; it simply means that we must first harvest the fields that are ripe. While we are harvesting ripe fields, we can work to break down barriers to the gospel in the less receptive fields. Small groups for Bible study can often create a door of opportunity to create and foster growing receptivity for evangelistic results.

Principle 4: The Homogenous Principle

This is another principle that focuses on the evangelistic task of Sunday School. The Homogeneous Principle recognizes that the gospel witness often travels with greater receptivity through a kinship or friendship unit. Each homogenous unit in the church can become a bridge for the church to move evangelistically into the world and for the secular person to find access to the church. The growing church will sensitize its people to recognize natural homogenous groupings and utilize these as means for spreading the gospel. This principle has been fully utilized in friendship evangelism strategies. Homogeneity is the basis for a Friend Day in Sunday School. Homogeneity is the power behind the personal invitation.

The church growth movement has come under attack for its emphasis on the Homogenous Principle. This principle could be less than Christian if it fosters a spirit of racism or elitism in the church. It must never be used to justify ignoring social injustices. We can, however, reach the lost by recognizing that people look for a homogenous unit where they share some characteristics in common and to which they can belong.

For example, if you wanted to reach families living in a trailer park, you could win one family in that trailer park to Christ, organize a Bible study in their home, and invite their friends and neighbors. From here you could move to fully integrate the new Christians into the life of the church. Once they accept Christ, they will have a new sense of homogeneity with other members of the body of Christ. In the church at Antioch (Acts 11), we have the remarkable scene of Jew and Gentile eating together. The Spirit of God had created homogeneity between two groups that had been alienated previously, but now they were united as brothers and sisters in Christ.

The small groups of Sunday School provide a natural means of using the principle of homogeneity for outreach and for developing homogenous relationships for assimilation.

Principle 5: The New-Unit Principle

Growth emanates from new units, new members, and new churches. Remember, new canes of a rose bush produce beautiful roses. Older units or groups begin to calcify. Newcomers find these old groups hard to penetrate. Churches must regularly create new groups to maintain the flow of new life. Remember the Pyramid Principle: Establishing new units expands the organizational base of the pyramid, thus empowering the Pyramid Principle.

Principle 6: The Leadership Principle

The master key of the church growth movement is leadership. To sustain meaningful growth, a church must have plenty of Great Commission-conscious leaders. This is why the growing church puts a high priority on recruiting and training leaders. The Sunday School is well designed to recruit and allocate church growth leaders.

As we look carefully at the basics of Sunday School work, we will see that all these principles are incorporated in the properly designed evangelistic Sunday School. When I examined my church in light of these principles, I realized I already had the program I needed in place. In addition, I could integrate the six principles into a single organizational strategy. I didn’t have to recruit and train leadership for several programs; I could do it all through one central ministry. I didn’t have to keep five different plates spinning at one time!

Revitalizing the Great Commission Mind-set

Let me close by returning to a set of questions:

Is the Sunday School irreparably broken? No.
Is it unplugged? Often, yes.
What will empower the Sunday School to function as an effective church growth tool? A vision to fulfill the Great Commission.

The Sunday School must be plugged into a passion for evangelism; otherwise, it will settle into the comfort zone of a maintenance organization. By ignoring the evangelistic potential of the Sunday School, we have reduced Sunday School to a stagnant pool of introverted groups that look primarily to their own needs and interests and ignore the plight of the unsaved.

Your Sunday School does not have to remain stagnant! It can give your church the most effective Great Commission tool ever designed if it focuses on evangelism and if its purpose statement is clearly understood by all those who work and participate in it.

The Six Principles of Sunday School Growth

The Process Principle: Church growth is a process, not an event.
The Pyramid Principle: If you want to grow, enlarge your base.
The Receptivity Principle: Invest the most resources where they will return the best evangelistic results.
The Homogeneity Principle: The gospel witness often travels with greatest receptivity through a kinship or friendship unit.
The New Unit Principle: New units that enlarge the organization bring growth.
The Leadership Principle: To sustain meaingful growth, a church must have plenty of Great Commission-conscious leaders.

Ken Hemphill, Revitalizing the Sunday Morning Dinosaur: A Sunday School Growth Strategy for the 21st Century (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 7–15.

If the Sunday School Is a Church Growth Tool, Somebody Unplugged Mine!

Josh Hunt — Thu, 06 May 2021 20:02:18 GMT

The Sunday School is the finest integrated church growth tool on the market today!” I have begun numerous conferences in various denominational settings with this assertion. My bold declaration has elicited responses varying from mild amusement, to incredulity, to outright scorn, to enthusiastic endorsement. Often religious educators applauded because they felt a certain sense of satisfaction and job security. Many, however, were guarded in their endorsements because they had not seen their ministry in terms of church growth. Other educators were somewhat hostile because they feared that the emphasis on church growth through the Sunday School would compromise their commitment to educational excellence. In truth, their Sunday School programs were not resulting in church growth. Many pastors stared at me blankly thinking, If the Sunday School is a church growth tool, somebody unplugged mine!

These pastors were unconvinced because they had never seen Sunday School function as a church growth tool. Most American churches have a form of Sunday School in place, but they have not experienced any perceptible growth through this organization.

Sunday School as a church growth tool? This sounds hard to believe when some church growth writers are predicting the demise of the Sunday School. They have labeled it a dinosaur, a relic of a past age. Some contend that the Sunday School was an important growth tool of the past, but it is facing extinction as the church enters the twenty-first century. Are they right?

Is the tool simply unplugged from its power source, or is it worn out and due to be replaced like your daddy’s Oldsmobile? Are we hanging onto Sunday School like a fine antique automobile? Do we polish it and take it out for a drive down memory lane though we intuitively know that we shouldn’t rely on our cherished classic for extended high-speed driving on today’s church growth interstate?

This is a critical question because thousands of churches already have a form of Sunday School or small-group organization in place. We must seek to answer this question honestly, for we are investing valuable resources of money and time in the Sunday School structure. Our intention should never be to preserve an organization for the sake of sheer nostalgia; we need to find tools and organizations that will enable us to fulfill the Great Commission most efficiently. I believe that with a few adjustments aimed at modernization and contextualization, the Sunday School organization can be raised up from its growth malaise and take its place as the church growth tool of the twenty-first century. We can reanimate the behemoth of church growth.

A Brief Historical Perspective

Few would debate the significant role of Sunday School in the history of church growth. Yet we must take a glance backward to learn lessons for the future. It is my conviction that the Sunday School has not lost its effectiveness as a growth tool, but that we no longer use it for its intended purpose. A screwdriver is an effective tool when used properly but is totally ineffective at driving nails.

Building on the British model

Sunday Schools first appeared in America during the 1790s. Anne M. Boylan, in her study, Sunday School: The Formation of an American Institution, 1790–1880, writes, “Inspired by British examples, most [Sunday schools] were designed to provide rudimentary instruction to poor working children on their only free day of the week. Robert Raikes and other British evangelicals had pioneered this model during the 1780s by collecting children off city streets, cleaning them up, and keeping them in school for two long Sunday sessions.”1

The British model of Sunday School was primarily a mission school aimed at providing basic education for those unable to attend public education. The earliest American Sunday schools were virtual copies of the British models, providing education and often essentials such as food and clothing to needy children. In time, the British model faded in America, and in its place arose a new type of Sunday School, taught by volunteers and offering a specifically evangelical Protestant curriculum. In the American school, reading was not an end in itself. The greater end was an evangelical interpretation of the Bible and the conversion of the pupil.2

Developing on evangelistic purpose

Using the Sunday School program to evangelize children is of such historic significance that Boylan devotes an entire chapter to the discussion of conversion and Christian nurture. She writes, “The earliest goal of evangelical Sunday school workers was simply to bring religious knowledge, and the behavior associated with it, to lower-class youth.” But they accomplished much more: “They would also provide a foundation upon which their charges could construct moral lives. True morality, in their view, emanated from knowledge of the individual’s ultimate accountability to God for his or her actions; without that knowledge, individuals had no incentive to behave correctly.” There was even an evangelistic motive. “Although teachers did not expect their instruction to guarantee conversion—such an expectation would challenge the orthodox doctrine of inability—they did hope for subsequent conversions among pupils who participated in revivals and believed that Sunday school instruction would at the very least ‘rectify and enlighten their consciences,’ creating prudent and circumspect individuals.”3

Denominationalism of the Sunday School

The earliest American Sunday School organizations were interdenominational and paraecclesiastical. Concern for evangelism, doctrinal purity, and a clear stand on moral issues led to the “denominationalization” of Sunday School. As children were converted through the Sunday School, there arose a greater concern to develop material to teach the unique doctrines of the various denominational groups that employed the Sunday School system through the church.4

Southern Baptists have played a leading role in the recent history of the denominational Sunday School movement. It is thus instructive to look at the purpose statement for Sunday School in the writings of early Baptist leaders. In 1902, E. Y. Mullins said, “The Sunday school must more and more prove a factor of power in the pastor’s work. Already in many churches the Sunday school is the chief and almost only hope for church growth [my emphasis]. But whether in the family church, or the church among the masses of the great city, or the country church, the Sunday school will remain the most hopeful field of evangelistic endeavor.”5

J. M. Frost, first head of the Baptist Sunday School Board, said, “The school becomes as an agency what the church makes it; is capable of almost indefinite expansion in church efficiency as a channel for the output of its energy and life.… As a force for study and teaching the Word of God; as a force for evangelizing and bringing lost sinners to the Saviour; as a force for instruction and education in the mightiest things claiming the attention of men; as a force for mission operation in the worldwide sense; as a force for making Christian character in men and women; and for opening the door of usefulness in a large scale.”6

Arthur Flake, a layman who was instrumental in shaping Southern Baptist Sunday School, wrote, “The supreme business of Christianity is to win the lost to Christ. This is what churches are for … surely then the Sunday school must relate itself to the winning of the lost to Christ as an ultimate objective.”7

The early architects of the Sunday School movement in America believed that the Sunday School must have a Great Commission focus. They did not believe that Sunday School could function properly without a clear and intentional strategy of evangelism. After persons were won to Christ, the Sunday School would nurture and train these new believers even as it helped mature all believers. Yet clearly the enthusiasm and energy for an effective Sunday School came from its clear evangelistic focus.

The beginning of the demise

It is my conviction that the beginning of the so-called demise of Sunday School can be traced to a time when denominations and local churches failed to use the Sunday School with evangelistic intentionality and purpose. When the design was forgotten, the Sunday School became a maintenance tool rather than a growth tool.

While holding growth conferences in diverse settings, I have asked participants, “What is the role of the Sunday School?” I usually get two answers: “Fellowship” and “Bible teaching.” These are important, but fellowship and Bible teaching are not to be the stated purpose of the Sunday School if it is to function as a growth tool. The purpose of the Sunday School is to fulfill the Great Commission.

A Personal Discovery

I am a preacher’s kid. In fact, I am the son of a Southern Baptist preacher. You might surmise that my earliest memories are of Sunday School. I was enrolled on the cradle roll before I was born. Sunday School was formative in my thinking and an ingrained part of my religious tradition. Yet in truth, it was not until relatively recent years that I began to think of the Sunday School as a tool for evangelism and church growth. I had simply never seen Sunday School used to grow the church.

My dad once told me that Sunday Schools in the past were more aggressive in evangelism than those I had experienced as a child. When I was nine years old our family moved from Morganton, North Carolina, to the not-too-distant town of Thomasville. It was hard to leave my church friends in Morganton and that beautiful brick church building in the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains for a decrepit building overlooking a lumber yard.

Soon, however, our new church experienced growth, and plans were made to relocate the church to a new site on a major road. Often Dad would pick me up from school and take me with him to inspect the progress of the building. These trips began even before the lot was cleared. Once the building was designed, it was as if it already existed in my dad’s mind. One day when he picked me up he was flush with excitement. He could hardly wait for me to see the church. What I saw was hardly spine tingling—ditches with freshly poured concrete outlined by a few stakes with strings drawn down the entire length of the ditch. Workers had laid the foundation, but Dad could visualize the finished project.

He proudly led me on a tour of the sanctuary, pointing out the vestibule, the aisles, the pulpit area, and finally the baptistry. As we stood on a small knoll by the soon-to-be baptistry, he motioned to the strings outlining a much larger rectangle and pointed out to me the future sight of the educational building. He paused momentarily, as if reflecting back over his ministry, and said, “I can remember when virtually everyone we baptized into the church came through our Sunday School ministry. That’s no longer the case. Truth is, I lead most of the new converts to Christ myself. For that reason they are more faithful to come to worship than Sunday School. The Sunday School is changing and I don’t think it bodes well for the future.” That conversation must have taken place about 1960.

Ken Hemphill, Revitalizing the Sunday Morning Dinosaur: A Sunday School Growth Strategy for the 21st Century (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 1–5.

The secret to today's fast-growing churches

Josh Hunt — Wed, 05 May 2021 13:04:59 GMT

I can summarize my life message in one sentence: you can double a group in two years or less by inviting every member and every prospect to every fellowship every month.

A longer, one-paragraph version goes like this: A group of ten that doubles every eighteen months can reach a thousand people for God in ten years. One of the best ways of growing a group is through relationships. The gospel spreads best on the bridges of existing relationships. Donald McGavran called these The Bridges of God. Hospitality makes relational evangelism intentional evangelism. If we love them they will come and they will come to love our Lord. It is not enough to tell them about a God who loves them, we must love them. It is not enough to tell them the words about grace, we must be gracious to them.

Do the top 100 have anything to say about hospitality? Once again, let me quote the pastor of the nation’s largest church:

When I got out of Seminary I started working with High School students I learned two things real quick, number one. I learned it was possible to create environments where unchurched, unbelieving kids could come and even though they didn’t believe what we believe they would come back the next week to hear more. And I also learned a more important thing. I learned that if you can get unchurched, unbelieving people in a community of believers that are loving each other and caring for each other and being real Christians, that being in that community breaks down the barriers to unbelief. It strips away big objections—good God and bad things happening to good people and all those legitimate questions. You get somebody in the community where the church is being the church and somehow the edges get softer and people’s hearts open up and life change happens. And so, we started creating environments where kids started coming and lives started being changed and do you know where we got the resistance? From the church people! And so one night I am sitting in this meeting. It had been going an hour and a half because we had a band and video and stuff and there are all these wonderful church people … I know many of them, knew many of them for many years, some of them come here now. And the meeting was, “Andy, if you keep doing this, creating these environments, here is what is going to happen, and all the potential horrible stuff and sex drugs and rock and roll and whoa! It’s going to be terrible.

And I just kept thinking, “Where is this coming from?” Toward the end of the meeting a lady stood up toward my right. She is still a friend of mine. She stood up, tears in her eyes, her voice quivering, and she said, “I am amazed at what I have heard. For an hour I have listened to everyone talk about how afraid they are about what might happen. Can I tell you what has happened? My two sons, who have never been involved in a church look forward to every Wednesday night and never miss. And, it you shut down this program, I am afraid they will never step foot inside a church again.” She sat down.

And I made up my mind. I am going to spend the rest of my life finding people who understand that you can create environments in a local church that allow us to partner with people who are fishing. And I want to create environments for people and as they come and as they get involved in a community of believers their belief system begins to change, not because we have confronted, not because we give them specific answers to specific questions, although there is a time and a place of that. But, because they are in the presence, as much as they’ll ever be in the presence of the living savior.

The nation’s largest church is only nineteen years old. It was able to grow so rapidly (in part) because the pastor, Andy Stanley regularly stands before the people and says, “I am in a group that is doubling; I want you to be in a group that is doubling.”

They grow by creating environments where unchurched people can kick tires in an atmosphere of grace and acceptance. They have discovered that if they will love people, people’s hearts will warm up to a message about a God who loves them. They have discovered that if they are gracious to people, people’s hearts warm up to a message about grace. If they will befriend people, people will warm up to a message about, “What a friend we have in Jesus.”

North Point has grown by loving people in common, ordinary, pedestrian ways. But, they are not the only church that does.

Willow Creek and Matthew Parties

North Point is not the only top-100 churches that uses hospitality to reach people. Willow Creek uses hospitality as well. Bill Hybels calls them Matthew Parties. They are based on Jesus’ encounter with Matthew (also known as Levi). Here is the story from Luke 5.

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:27–32 (NIV)

Based on this example Bill Hybels and the people of Willow Creek use Matthew parties to build bridges to people who are far from God.

Willow Creek wrote a drama that I have used many times to communicate the value of hospitality. (If you would like to teach on the value of hospitality in your church, I strongly recommend you use this video. Available on Willow Creek’s website.) It features a character named Evan Powell who is the quintessential “Unchurched Harry.” He meets a woman he is interested in and she invites him to church. Not interested.

She invites him to a home group Bible Study. Not interested.

People from the Bible study invite him to go bowling. Not interested.

They invite him to dinner. Not interested.

They invite him to a music festival. Not interested.

They invite him to a vintage car show. Bingo. Evan can’t resist. He loves vintage cars. He goes to the vintage car show and discovers one of the guys in the group has two vintage cars. This guy invites him over to see the cars and a friendship develops. The friendship opens the door for Evan to become a friend of Jesus. Everything changes when we love people rather than just telling them about Christ’s love.

Here is a typical Matthew Party in Hybels’ own words:

Back in the early days of Willow, we talked with such frequency about the “Matthew Party” story in Luke 5 that it became part of the fabric of our church culture. Operating with Matthew’s intuition for discerning next steps in the lives of seekers became sort of a way of life, and lots of us started throwing Matthew Parties, for want of a better name. They weren’t part of a formal, programmatic effort. They were just casual ways to help people who were outside the family of God to get inside the family of God. Willow folks would grab a few people from the office and a few people from church and host a backyard barbeque or a pool party or hang out shooting pool in someone’s basement. During the eighties and nineties, we heard of scores of people coming to faith as a result of these parties.

Over time, my desire to reflect Matthew’s remarkable courage kept increasing. I got addicted to sticking my neck out there just as he did, pulling believers and nonbelievers into the same room and trusting God with the results. After a while, although the larger-scale buzz at Willow died down, I was one of those eternal optimists who never stopped believing in the power of the party. I never stopped seeking ways to gather some new-life friends together with some old-life friends just to see what might transpire. I never stopped rejoicing over that particular work of the Holy Spirit in my life, who used the simplicity of throwing a party to craft me into the type of person who better reflects the heart of the Father.

At Christmastime last year, I did what I have done every year following Willow’s Christmas Eve service: I threw a Matthew Party. Despite wall-to-wall meetings, planning sessions, and run-throughs that week, my mind kept drifting to the Matthew Party that was only days away. I couldn’t wait!

I had invited about twenty people who were living extremely far from God, by their own admission. These men and women had never been to Willow before, had never been to my house before, and spiritually speaking would profess to be “going it alone.”

To that group, I added about twenty people who were in the Seeker Slow Lane—the remedial class of Christianity, you might say. On the rare occasion when I would badger them mercilessly, they’d agree to come to Willow. But it was sporadic attendance at best, usually involving a fair amount of kicking and screaming on their part. Most of them had been to my house previously to attend other parties, and all of them knew I was “working” on them, nudging them along the (very) slow path to God. Maybe they would step across the line of faith someday, but in my estimation, it was going to take some time. A lot of time.

In addition to the twenty or so people who were very far from God, and the twenty or so people who were in-progress types, I had sprinkled in a dozen or so very strong Christ-followers from Willow to mix it up a bit. The screening process for this group in particular had been intense! I knew I couldn’t afford any overzealous types showing up. No truth vigilantes. No bounty hunters. Just normal, mature, relationally intelligent, open-hearted, radically inclusive people who understood how high the stakes were that night—after all, I was going to put them in a room with friends of mine who, apart from a bona fide miracle, would spend eternity apart from God.

As with every other year, fifteen minutes before guests arrived, my heart started beating fast. I’m sure the tension I felt was completely natural—I had no way to control the outcome of the party, no way of knowing how the guests would interact, and no way to prepare for the exact conversations that would unfold and what God would choose to do as a result.

But I wouldn’t have traded that anxiety for anything in the world! As I greeted the first guests to arrive, I braced for the adventure to come as a final burst of adrenaline exploded. Here we go!

I wish you could have been there to watch what unfolded that night. In my house in Barrington, Illinois, in the twenty-first century, we enjoyed an approximation of Matthew’s first-century experience. It was incredible to witness so many God-moments in the making, not to mention it was just a heck of a party. The first time I glanced down at my watch, it was well past midnight, and guests ended up staying until two o’clock the next morning—and only left then because I kicked them out.

So what was it that gave it the buzz? What made it such a magical, edgy experience? I mulled over questions like those in the hours and days that followed. Want to know what I decided? The single greatest reason that the party was such a success was because the Christ-followers I’d invited from Willow did exactly what Christ wants all of his followers to do: they took a walk across the room.

When the Willow people had first arrived, they gathered in little Creeker circles, safely huddling together to talk about the weather, the Christmas Eve stage set, plans for the weekend, you name it. (They had to start somewhere, I guess.) But then, after about twenty minutes, it happened—and I was so proud of them when it did. One by one, they looked around the room and started excusing themselves from each other’s company. “Well, I’m not going to stay in this circle all night,” they would murmur as their minds raced. I’m going to walk across the living room and stick out my hand and introduce myself to someone.

“Excuse me,” they would say, with a complete lack of confidence. And then slowly they turned and walked. And how I related to the thoughts they had as they made those walks. I’d made hundreds of similar walks across rooms, and I knew how fast their hearts were beating, how dry their mouths were becoming, how curious they were about what would take place once they said, “Hi. My name is …”

Every step of the way across my living room that night, each Christ-follower was thinking, I have no idea how this is going to turn out. I don’t know if this guy is going to want to talk to me. I don’t know if that woman will want to engage in conversation with me. But you know what? I’m going to give it a shot. I’m going to pray every step of the way as I walk across this room, I’m going to introduce myself, and then I’m going to step back and just see if God does anything more.

The discussions instantly began to light up. I was so grateful that the Spirit was opening doors! Everyone at the party had attended the Christmas Eve service together, and that shared experience provided the perfect conversational springboard. Some people talked about how they’d never been on the inside of a church before. (What an honor that Willow was their first experience!) Others admitted to just needing “more facts,” and still others had recently purchased Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life, intending to read it over the holidays.

As I meandered through the crowd that night, I thought about all of the requests I’d made of God in the days leading up to the party. “Oh, if this person and that person could get together and be in conversation with one another, that would be incredible!” Or “If only so-and-so and my other friend could chat, that would be so kinetic—they have so much in common.” Sure enough, while I wandered around my own home that night, refilling drinks and making sure people had enough to eat, I would catch a glimpse of those exact pairings occurring. “God is good!” I whispered quietly. “God is so good!”

Thankfully, no Pharisee types showed up at my house that night to throw water on the delicate sparks that were flickering. I remember walking back into the kitchen with a feeling of soul-level satisfaction. It took hours before that buzz wore off! Finally, after I had given everyone the boot, I halfheartedly picked up the remaining dishes, grabbed stray glasses, and headed back into the kitchen, dazed by the significance of all that had happened.

Sometime just before daybreak, my mind still racing from the mystical aspects of the party, I thought to myself, the whole thing comes down to nights just like this one. The future of the kingdom of God comes down to whether individual rank-and-file Christ-followers will do in their everyday lives what just happened in my home tonight!

It really is true: the spread of the gospel—at least in today’s reality—boils down to whether you and I will continue to seek creative ways to engage our friends, inviting them to explore the abundance of the Christ-following life and helping them choose eternity with God instead of settling for a terrible fate when this life is all said and done.8

Rick Warren has done a similar thing. His words:

For years, Kay and I would host an informal coffee in our home on the fourth Sunday night of each month. Called the “Pastor’s Chat,” it was simply an opportunity for new members and visitors from the previous month to meet us face-to-face and ask any questions they had. We’d place a sign-up sheet out on the patio before Sunday services and the first thirty to sign up would get to come. The chats would last from 7 to 10 p.m. This simple act of hospitality brought in hundreds of new members and established many relationships that Kay and I cherish today. Hospitality grows a healthy church.9

Rick Warren’s Small Group Pastor, Steve Gladen teaches all of their small groups to use parties as a means of reaching people:

Follow his example and host a neighborhood picnic or barbecue. Plan to go to a lake or park and have everybody in your group invite a friend. Or have a Super Bowl party. Relax and have fun. The sole purpose of this social event is for your small group to get together with seekers and build relationships. But don’t expect lost people to act like anything but lost people. That’s one of the huge mistakes we make. We start with this sort of judgment and condemnation rather than just saying, “Man, we’re so glad you’re here. Come on in.” Just remember that they need Jesus. This is your chance to show them the love of Christ. Just accept them.10

Doubling groups and hospitality are two tools of top-100 churches. There is one more thing we must do to see a doubling group movement.

Josh Hunt, Doubling Groups 2.0 (Josh Hunt, 2015).

What is the unforgiveable sin?

Josh Hunt — Tue, 04 May 2021 22:19:09 GMT

“Do you really believe that there is a sin that is unforgivable? Do you really hold to that?”

What the unforgivable sin is not

Most people have no idea what the unforgivable is. There are many people who think that they are so “bad” that what they have done must be the unforgivable sin. The following is a list of some of the things people have thought the unforgivable sin to be.

• Murder

• Adultery

• Masturbation

• Blasphemy

• Having an abortion

• Not going to church

• A divorce

All these ideas are very wide of the mark.

Did Jesus ever say that there was any sin that would not be forgiven?

“Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Matthew 12:31

What the unforgivable sin is

Jesus had just healed “a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute.” Matthew 12:22

The Pharisees said that Jesus had expelled demons by the power of the prince of demons, Beelzebub. So their unforgivable sin is attributing Jesus’ miracle, which was performed in the power of the Holy Spirit, to Satan. The unforgivable sin is to call Jesus and his divine power satanic.

People who do this would never go to Jesus for forgiveness, as they are saying he is of the devil. So their sins will never be forgiven by God.

UNBELIEVERS

Some have theorized that the one sin that is unforgivable is the sin of “unbelief.” That is to say that “unbelief” is the one sin that the blood of Jesus could not cover. Every other sin in the world can be forgiven, but if one fails to place one’s faith in Jesus Christ and decides to remain in “unbelief”—then that sin of unbelief is not forgivable. It is a direct rebuff of the work of the Holy Spirit on one’s heart.

ARE YOU WORRIED?

Anyone who is genuinely concerned that he may have committed the unforgivable sin, has not done so. For such a person will ask God for his forgiveness. It is only the person who does not think that he or she ever needs God’s forgiveness, who may have committed this sin.

NO ONE IS TURNED AWAY

Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John 6:37

A QUOTE TO CHEW OVER

“There is only one person God cannot forgive. The person who refuses to come to him for forgiveness.” Anonymous

Mark Water, Hard Questions about the Bible Made Easy, The Made Easy Series (Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishers Ltd, 2000), 62–63.

The Navigators "With Him" Principle

Josh Hunt — Tue, 04 May 2021 22:09:42 GMT

The Navigators refer to this as the “with Him” principle. I also like to look at this kind of relationship as “friendship with a purpose.”

It seems that cool, flashy Christian events and listening to dynamic speakers have become the most important part of American Christianity. Whatever happened to this kind of close personal bond? Is the “with Him” principle outdated? Is it no longer valid?

My father’s spiritual leadership in our family was filled with much wisdom. Dad knew I needed the “with Him” principle or “friendship with a purpose” in my own life. However, he also knew he was not the one to do it. Early in my ninth-grade year he asked a young man named Mark Sulcer to move into our home for Navigator training. What I did not know at the time is that Dad had asked Mark while he was finishing college to spend time helping me grow into an equipped laborer for Jesus Christ. Through Mark’s love and concern for me, he was teaching me indirectly about Jesus.

What was so great about those four years that Mark lived in our home was all the time he spent with my friends and me. He went to tons of my soccer games, took my friends and me skiing, and wrestled with us to complete exhaustion. Through it all, Mark’s life touch was there. It was so natural to memorize Scripture with Mark. It was so natural to pray for the salvation of my friends with Mark. Because it was so natural I caught more than I was taught.

Like Timothy reminiscing about his experiences with Paul, I look back on those times with Mark with great fondness and gratitude. This kind of special relationship increases the depth and effectiveness of the ministry of the laborer.

During his years of heading up the Navigator ministry in the Midwest, my father learned many lessons from the Scriptures on discipleship. Acts 20:4 says, “And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.” What a picture! Young laborers in training—living, walking, suffering, ministering with the apostle Paul.

Solomon said, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20). Paul chose this simple plan of training young men by bringing them with him on the road of life. Why didn’t Paul start a school for the training of laborers? Was it because he didn’t have enough contacts? Nonsense! There would have been a line a mile long waiting to get in. Was it because he didn’t have the academic qualifications? Nonsense! Paul was one of the few, if not the only one, who did. Then why did he choose this method? The answer is abundantly clear and simple. Paul knew he could not improve on the method of Jesus Christ. He knew what Jesus had done, and he followed it as closely as he knew how.

Whereas the “with Him” principle is a general friendship approach to training, the “one-to-one” principle is usually more structured. Its usefulness is primarily in the training of laborers, but each laborer must use it also in his efforts to help the growing Christian become a mature, dedicated, fruitful disciple. Admittedly, the bulk of his contact with the young Christian may be at a small-group level, but he must supplement his group fellowship with periodic one-to-one training and counsel.

Let’s say you have four or five young Christians in your church, your Sunday school, or your men’s or women’s fellowship who are clearly eager to grow. You realize that if they aren’t helped and challenged to the maximum of their interest and potential, their growth will be stunted and possibly their interest cooled. But what should you do? You can’t possibly get with all of them on a one-to-one basis, and maybe you shouldn’t. Quite possibly the most effective thing you can do is to involve them in a small-group Bible study.

First of all, if they are motivated by the idea, agree on some ground rules. To create personal ownership, it is best to discuss these guidelines with them rather than throwing your weight around by “laying down the law.” Ask them for their opinions: Shall we agree to have our lessons prepared when we come to our Bible study group? Shall we include Scripture memory as part of our study? How many verses per week? Which verses?

When you clear the air ahead of time by bringing them into the decision-making process and letting them help set the standards, you are likely to get a greater degree of cooperation and commitment. Now it’s their study: They made the rules; so full speed ahead!

A great way to start is with basic topical studies in order to help the young disciples get established in Christian doctrine. There are many good studies designed to help new converts make progress toward becoming mature, dedicated disciples. (I highly recommend the DESIGN FOR DISCIPLESHIP series and the STUDIES IN CHRISTIAN LIVING series published by NavPress.)

Some might ask, Why not begin by studying the books of the Bible? As you help the young Christian grow, that is the ultimate goal. However, first we should lay a solid foundation on the various topics that are vital to the inexperienced, growing Christian. Then begin to study different books of the Bible. It is helpful to start with the shorter books first. It gives the growing Christian a good feeling to know he or she has completed something. Solomon reminds us that “the desire accomplished is sweet to the soul” (Proverbs 13:19). Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and 1 and 2 Timothy are good “starters.” After finishing a couple of these, you can then suggest a study of a longer book, such as Romans or John. Look upon the question-and-answer studies as a solid foundation upon which you begin to build the superstructure with the study of various books of the Bible.

If you have your study weekly, you might like to try the early morning hour. This time usually works well for men and is a great way to start the day. Meeting before work usually does not conflict with other plans, and it adds a touch of heartiness to meet in the early morning hours. Begin with a prayer to commit the time to the Lord. Then check each other on your new Scripture verses to make sure each of you has them word perfect. This takes only a few minutes if you pair up by twos and quote them to each other.

Remember, you are the leader, not the teacher. Ask discussion questions; keep the study moving; and at the end, it’s often good to give a brief challenge before closing in prayer.

“Okay,” you say, “but where does one-to-one time fit into all this?” Simply put, your one-to-one time with these people can be seen in the same way that a medic looks on a soldier who has been wounded. If someone is being attacked by the forces of darkness, if he is having problems with overexertion, divisions, priorities, demotivation, or other serious trials, it’s time to get that person aside and help him through it. Apply spiritual first aid. Pray with him; comfort him; encourage him—whatever it takes to keep him going.

As the group continues to meet, it will become evident to you which individuals are the most motivated and eager to learn and grow. These are the ones to whom you want to begin giving personal time. But let them evidence the hunger and desire before you approach them individually. If you move too soon, you could scare them off. However, the eager ones will not continue to be satisfied with just what you can give them during the study time. They will want you to share your life with them. That’s where the “with Him” principle begins to mesh with a variation of “one-to-one” in the context of your small group. We have a God of variety; He is not locked into one method to accomplish His purpose. The same is true for developing laborers. You can find many creative ways to achieve what I have mentioned, so I hope you use these suggestions as a springboard in helping young men and women grow.

My father had the privilege of being a part of the ministry of The Navigators when Dawson Trotman was alive. He recalled a time in 1951 when Dawson told of a very discouraging pattern he had observed in the military ministry. Large groups were failing to produce many effective laborers. “Why?” Daws asked. “Because a mother knows how to care for her baby but not how to run an orphanage. First Corinthians 4:15 is why the large groups often fizzle out.”

In this Corinthian passage, Paul described the father-son kind of relationship that takes place in one-to-one. There should be a mature concern on the part of the leader for certain young Christians. But the leader of a large group can’t meet the personal needs of all the group members. Sometimes people get lost in the shuffle. That’s why I urge you to use the tool of the small-group fellowship, supplemented by periodic times of one-to-one fellowship. And learn also to use the “with Him” principle.

Daws taught leaders eight vital guidelines to help the new Christian grow:

Build in him a life that will glorify God.
Build in him a life centered in Christ that is supported by regular prayer, Bible study, witnessing, and fellowship.
Get him into contact with other strong Christians.
Get him into the right environment.
Teach him, “When they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:34).
Observe him.
Give him experience.
Pray with him.

Because each individual is different and uniquely created by God, you will need to be flexible in your one-to-one encounters. But one thing is loud and clear: We need to do all within our power to help these new ones count for God.

One more vital ingredient in motivating and helping the young Christian grow in his or her intimacy with the Lord is church attendance. It is essential to involve new Christians in the life of the local church. The church is the logical place to get the personal touch that we all need. My father set a great example in this area of church involvement. He saw the benefits of corporate worship and sharing life with the whole body of Christ. He never saw the parachurch organization he worked for as an end in itself or taking the place of what God had established in the local church. In fact he said, “I have never seen a person do well over the long haul whom, early on in his walk with God, did not get involved in the life of a local church.” There may be some, but I have never seen them. It may indeed happen, but it must be a rare event.

There are, no doubt, many ways to positively influence the life of a new believer. But we must never forget that it is almost impossible for that believer to thrive without the close personal contact of a more experienced Christian who cares about him. As we reflect on the needs of growing Christians, let’s pray that God will use us as “wise masterbuilders” in the cause of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10). For this is the privilege and responsibility of laborers.

LeRoy Eims and Randy Eims, Laboring in the Harvest (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2011), 66–72.

The art of neighboring

Josh Hunt — Tue, 04 May 2021 21:46:45 GMT

Vicky Reier, assistant city manager in Arvada, Colorado, has taught our network of churches a lot when it comes to neighboring. At one of our pastors’ gatherings, Vicky challenged us to encourage and equip the people in our churches to throw block parties. She said that it may not sound like a big deal, but a block party movement could have an incredible, long-term impact in our community. We have taken Vicky’s words to heart and have been amazed to see how effective parties can be in fostering neighbor relations. Now, we are not talking about an annual HOA (homeowners association) block party that only 10 percent of the subdivision attends. When we use the term block party, we are talking about a party that is thrown by and attended by people who live on a specific block or group of blocks.

Block parties are natural environments in which neighbors will often take steps from being acquaintances to actually being friends. Parties create space for us to talk to others we already know and to meet people we don’t. Maybe this is the reason Jesus spent so much time at parties—he knew the power of a party. He understood they were an important means for people to share their lives with one another in very real and practical ways.

In the book of Luke we read the account of Jesus calling Levi to be one of his disciples and then Levi responding by throwing a party. The story is in 5:27–32.

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

There’s a lot that happens in this short account. When Levi throws this party, Jesus is more than happy to attend. After all, Levi is creating an environment where the people he knows well can interact with Jesus and his new friends. From all indications, Jesus doesn’t even think twice about showing up to this event, although he knows it’s likely he is going to be criticized by some of the religious leaders for attending.

Let’s be honest. The fact that the Pharisees question Jesus’s attendance indicates that this party was likely not a “Mountain Dew and pizza” kind of party. This, for sure, wasn’t a Sunday afternoon church potluck. This was a party where people were having a lot of fun.

So when the Pharisees question him, Jesus has every opportunity to apologize for spending time with “sinners.” Yet Jesus actually does the opposite. He defends his right to be there and doesn’t back down because he is using the opportunity to hang out and party with a group of people who don’t have any religious framework and whom he might not see otherwise.

When is the last time you were accused of doing something like this? Has your character ever been questioned because you ate or drank with sketchy people? Not everyone in the neighborhood is cleaned up and easy to be around. We need to be willing to follow Jesus and choose to be with others in uncomfortable situations, because we can’t always expect people to come onto our turf; we must also be willing to enter their world.

Let’s make this personal. When we participate in block parties, we are being like Jesus. We are making it a priority to understand the people God has placed around us, regardless of what they believe or how they act.

You may wonder, Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Jesus to throw the party to celebrate Levi’s decision to follow him? But that’s not how the story goes. Levi is so excited about what is happening in his life that he gathers his circle of friends and invites Jesus and the disciples to join them in celebrating.

With this in mind, when we consider gathering our neighbors together, there may be others who are better suited to host the party. If so, look to partner with them rather than trying to plan and host a party on your own. If not, then maybe God wants you to be the one who initiates the gathering. Either way, as Christians, we should be playing a part in throwing the best parties in our neighborhoods—not sitting on the sidelines being irritated because the music is too loud!

There’s Gold Next Door

Diane attends a church that a couple of years ago presented a sermon series on the art of neighboring. As she listened one Sunday morning, she found herself thinking about how different the neighborhood of her childhood was compared to the one she had been living in for more than a decade. She had always wished that she knew her neighbors better, and now she sensed that God was calling her to do something about it.

After hearing about the value of learning her neighbors’ names, Diane went home and did something radical. She acted on what was discussed in church earlier that day. She decided to start taking walks and looking for opportunities to learn some of the names of the people she encountered.

While she was on one of her walks, she ran into an older lady that she had waved to numerous times in the past. This time Diane stopped and began talking to the woman. They both mentioned the fact that everyone in the neighborhood seems very busy these days. Then Diane’s neighbor, a widow, mentioned that she had been having some health issues. When Diane showed concern, her neighbor shared with her that she had just finished treatments for cancer and that it looked like it was in remission. Diane is a cancer survivor as well, and immediately the two had a bond that most of us cannot understand.

Soon after that conversation, Diane ran into her new friend again. This time her neighbor began to share some of her story with Diane. She said she was born in Germany and had spent her childhood there. And then she shared that she was actually a Holocaust survivor. They talked for a while that day, and Diane walked back to her house with her mind spinning. It dawned on her that they had been living near each other for ten-plus years, and she was just now learning that her neighbor had an amazing life story.

When Diane shared this story with us, she made a statement that we have not forgotten. She said, “I am learning that there are people right around me that have incredible things to share with me and others. It’s like I have been living next to a gold mine, but I was too busy to know there was gold right next door.”

Diane’s story didn’t end there. As she began to fill in her block map, she felt an urge to gather her neighbors together. She printed up a simple flyer that outlined a plan for a block party the following month. Distributing the flyers personally gave Diane a chance to learn a bunch of new names, and she carried a small notepad to write them in as she went door-to-door. Diane’s block map was quickly becoming a block directory.

Once they realized that her block party invite wasn’t a flyer for a roofing company, most of the neighbors she met were very friendly. Many of them even expressed interest in contributing and helping out with the party.

A month later, Diane stood in front of her driveway and watched more than forty of her neighbors hang out together for the first time. For Diane the most rewarding part of the party occurred when a guy who had been known only as “the grumpy neighbor” came to the party. Not only was he not grumpy but he also brought over two canopies and set them up to provide shade for those who wanted it.

One of the longtime residents thanked Diane and mentioned that the neighborhood used to do this kind of stuff all the time. She said that, for some reason, the parties and gatherings stopped happening and this was the first block party anyone had organized in more than fifteen years.

Diane’s story reminds us that there are amazing people and stories all around us. Often all we have to do is take a walk and be willing to engage the people we see along the way. By doing so, Diane moved from stranger to acquaintance with a number of her neighbors. And by initiating a block party, Diane helped to create an environment where many were able to get to know each other better. Diane and many others have embodied the neighboring framework that we believe works.

Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon, The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012), 78–83.

Fill Factor #6: The Church-wide Campaign

Josh Hunt — Tue, 04 May 2021 14:16:43 GMT

Every fall semester at The Journey, we do a church-wide campaign, or integrated movement, where small-group discussions mirror and support sermon topics, and vice versa. Recently, we did a church-wide campaign called “The New Testament Challenge.” The start date for the Sunday teaching series was the same week as the start date for the groups semester. We challenged our people to read through the New Testament in 63 days to coincide with the Sunday teachings, which were oriented around the key themes of the New Testament, and to discuss the readings in their groups throughout the week. The challenge was very effective for group sign-ups, and really had an impact on our church by deepening each group member’s walk with God. Tremendous synergy occurs in a church when there is a single focus between the Sunday service and small groups.

Sometimes people see groups as an add-on. They think groups are just part of the buffet the church offers—another option for spiritual growth besides the weekend service. A united campaign helps people see that groups do not stand alone. Rather, they are an integral part of the whole life of the church. When they understand this unity, people who have never experienced the power of groups are more likely to sign up. That means that first-time group members are more likely to sign up during the church-wide campaign semester than during any other semester.

We recommend using a church-wide campaign one semester a year. Fall and spring are the two best options, with fall winning by a nose. In our experience, with hundreds of churches, fall semester church-wide campaigns seem to generate the most sign-ups. Why? Because of the back-to-school urge that lies dormant (or not so dormant) in each of us. The fall feels like the beginning of a new semester, even to people who have never been in a small group before. That’s what you want. Work with the inherent tendencies of the fall season. Fall also lends itself to a church-wide campaign because the Thanksgiving holiday makes the semester a little shorter. This means that you will have an easier time coordinating small groups with the Sunday service.

Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas, Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2010).

THE LAYMAN’S PRAYER REVIVAL OF 1857–59

Josh Hunt — Tue, 04 May 2021 13:23:34 GMT

By the mid-nineteenth century the effects of the Second Great Awakening subsided, due in part to growing prosperity, political turmoil over slavery, and religious extremism (such as the Millerites, who wrongly predicted the return of Jesus in 1843–44).

Several simultaneous events occurred at the beginning of this movement, known as the Layman’s Prayer Revival. Union prayer meetings, led by Jeremiah Lanphier, began in 1857; they spread quickly to involve over 50,000 within six months across the eastern part of the United States.

Unusual church revivals were reported in Canada, Massachusetts, South Carolina, and other places in 1856–57.

Evangelism conferences held by the Presbyterian Church erupted in revival in 1857.

Sunday school outreach efforts in the East were also a factor.

In New York and Philadelphia, many businesses closed daily to pray.

Multitudes were converted. Seventy-five people were converted in a Brooklyn church revival meeting. A Catskill church saw 115 professions of faith in a few days. In Newark 3,000 people were converted in two months. In Philadelphia a man began a prayer meeting like those in New York. Soon 6,000 people met daily, and a tent revival was held. It continued for more than four months, with 150,000 attending. Over 10,000 were converted in one year.

God was exalted in this revival. This was the only awakening without a single well-known leader. Also, it came unexpectedly. Further, there was great cooperation among believers. It was part of a worldwide movement, including the revival in Wales in 1859 and the revival in the ministry of Andrew Murray in South Africa. It strongly influenced D. L. Moody during his youth. The Layman’s Prayer Revival of 1857–59 was characterized by its wide appeal. Several colleges experienced revival during this time. J. Edwin Orr documented revival movements at Oberlin, Yale, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Williams, Amherst, Princeton, and Baylor.28

Alvin L. Reid, Introduction to Evangelism (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1998), 75–76.

What makes good preaching and teaching good?

Josh Hunt — Sat, 01 May 2021 16:26:54 GMT

What E.M. Bounds said about the preacher is also true of the teacher:

WE are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.” The dispensation that heralded and prepared the way for Christ was bound up in that man John. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” The world’s salvation comes out of that cradled Son. When Paul appeals to the personal character of the men who rooted the gospel in the world, he solves the mystery of their success. The glory and efficiency of the gospel is staked on the men who proclaim it. When God declares that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him,” he declares the necessity of men and his dependence on them as a channel through which to exert his power upon the world. This vital, urgent truth is one that this age of machinery is apt to forget. The forgetting of it is as baneful on the work of God as would be the striking of the sun from his sphere. Darkness, confusion, and death would ensue.

What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer.

An eminent historian has said that the accidents of personal character have more to do with the revolutions of nations than either philosophic historians or democratic politicians will allow. This truth has its application in full to the gospel of Christ, the character and conduct of the followers of Christ—Christianize the world, transfigure nations and individuals. Of the preachers of the gospel it is eminently true.

The character as well as the fortunes of the gospel is committed to the preacher. He makes or mars the message from God to man. The preacher is the golden pipe through which the divine oil flows. The pipe must not only be golden, but open and flawless, that the oil may have a full, unhindered, unwasted flow.

The man makes the preacher. God must make the man. The messenger is, if possible, more than the message. The preacher is more than the sermon. The preacher makes the sermon. As the life-giving milk from the mother’s bosom is but the mother’s life, so all the preacher says is tinctured, impregnated by what the preacher is. The treasure is in earthen vessels, and the taste of the vessel impregnates and may discolor. The man, the whole man, lies behind the sermon. Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make the man. The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows. The sermon is forceful because the man is forceful. The sermon is holy because the man is holy. The sermon is full of the divine unction because the man is full of the divine unction.

Paul termed it “My gospel;” not that he had degraded it by his personal eccentricities or diverted it by selfish appropriation, but the gospel was put into the heart and lifeblood of the man Paul, as a personal trust to be executed by his Pauline traits, to be set aflame and empowered by the fiery energy of his fiery soul. Paul’s sermons—what were they? Where are they? Skeletons, scattered fragments, afloat on the sea of inspiration! But the man Paul, greater than his sermons, lives forever, in full form, feature and stature, with his molding hand on the Church. The preaching is but a voice. The voice in silence dies, the text is forgotten, the sermon fades from memory; the preacher lives.

The sermon cannot rise in its life-giving forces above the man. Dead men give out dead sermons, and dead sermons kill. Everything depends on the spiritual character of the preacher.

Edward M. Bounds, Power through Prayer (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1999).

Rule keeping and Christian living

Josh Hunt — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 18:11:00 GMT

A recent study by the Barna Group found that the number one challenge to helping people grow spiritually is that most people equate spiritual maturity with trying hard to follow the rules in the Bible. No wonder people also said they find themselves unmotivated to pursue spiritual growth. If I think God’s aim is to produce rule-followers, spiritual growth will always be an obligation rather than a desire of my heart.

“Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith,” Paul wrote, “but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping.” In other words, it only results in a rule-keeping, desire-smothering, Bible-reading, emotion-controlling, self-righteous person who is not like me. In the end, I cannot follow God if I don’t trust that he really has my best interests at heart.

The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. There is an enormous difference between following rules and following Jesus, because I can follow rules without cultivating the right heart.

A friend of mine recently graduated from one of the service academies where they are very serious about the “clean your room” rule. Sometimes my friend got ink marks on the wall that would not come out, so he would chip the plaster off. The inspectors would give demerits for ink marks, but they figured missing chunks of plaster was a construction problem. The “rules” ended up encouraging the slow demolition of the room.

Jesus did not say, “I have come that you might follow the rules.” He said, “I have come that you might have life, and have it with abundance.” When we cease to understand spiritual growth as moving toward God’s best version of ourselves, the question, how is your spiritual life going? frightens us. A nagging sense of guilt and a deficit of grace prompt us to say, “Not too well. Not as good as I should be doing.” People often use external behaviors and devotional practices to measure their spiritual health. They measure their spiritual life by how early they are getting up to read the Bible, or how long their quiet times are, or how often they attend church services. But that is not what spiritual formation is about.

John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God’s Best Version of You (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009).

The exponential power of a campaign

Josh Hunt — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 13:26:38 GMT

Saddleback Church was the first church to successfully use the campaign strategy, and beginning in 2002 we have developed campaigns such as 40 Days of Purpose, 40 Days of Community, and 40 Days of Love. A campaign is an intensive, churchwide focus on a particular aspect of spiritual growth that involves every age group. Weekend sermons, small group curriculum, children’s Sunday school activities, student ministry programming, memory verses, newsletters, bulletin inserts, and websites are all used to get everyone on the same page for the duration of the campaign, which is usually about six weeks. Over 30,000 churches have successfully used Saddleback campaigns, and the strategy has proven to be an amazing vehicle for spiritual growth and connecting people into groups.

Before developing the campaign strategy, we used connection events to draw people into groups for churchwide events. One day we were in a management team meeting and Rick asked us, “How many groups do we usually start through connection events?” We answered, “About 300.” He said, “That’s great. Add a zero to that. Let’s start 3,000 groups.” We all knew that using connection events would never get us those kinds of numbers, and we told him as much. His answer? “Come up with a different strategy.” And so we did.

This is when we came up with the H.O.S.T. strategy, and it became a huge piece of the puzzle. Rick stood in front of the congregation and said, “If our church has ministered to you, would you in turn minister to your community and be willing to H.O.S.T. a small group? You don’t have to be married to them; just try it out for six weeks and see.” We had so many people respond during the first service, we thought they had misunderstood. Rick repeated the invitation during the second service, clarifying that he was asking people to H.O.S.T., meaning: Have a heart for people, Open their home to a group, Serve a snack, and Turn on a video. We received an even larger response! During that first weekend, a total of more than 2,000 people volunteered to be a H.O.S.T. Now our only problem was to figure out how to prepare 2,000 people to fill and lead a group.

Resources and Support

We started by thinking in simple terms. If someone had never led a group before, what questions might he or she have? Once we had a list of questions, we came up with an FAQ list to provide answers for our new leaders. You can see it at www.smallgroups.net/hosttraining. You can do the same for your new leaders. Make your FAQ list available online through your website, as a handout given to your new leaders on day one, as part of your ongoing training, or ideally all three.

Give them answers to something as simple as, “How do I invite somebody to my group?” During our first 40 Days of Purpose Campaign, we gave our H.O.S.T.s a script they could memorize for inviting their friends and neighbors into their small group. That might seem like overkill, but you would be surprised how fearful some of your people will be about just talking to a neighbor. So we gave them a short, one-paragraph script.

We also included suggestions about how to plan for the first meeting, how to set up the room, when to offer the snacks, and what to do about name tags. Finally, we included information on how to use the curriculum and how to share ownership of the group. We tried to think ahead of time of any questions the H.O.S.T.s might have and then gave the answers to them in writing so they could read them in the comfort of their home.

Saddleback Campaigns

We have experienced amazing spiritual and numerical growth during campaigns. For example, through a 40 Days of Purpose Campaign (in just 40 days):

671 new believers came to Christ and were baptized

1,200 new members took C.L.A.S.S. 101 and joined the church worship attendance increased by 2,000

2,200 more people started serving in ministry

3,700 people committed to a world mission project

There are particular distinctions of a Saddleback campaign, including:

Small groups provide tremendous potential for exponential growth.
We use the term H.O.S.T. instead of leader to lower the bar and increase participation.
The H.O.S.T.s are responsible to fill their groups with people they already have a relationship with, increasing the likelihood that the group will continue after the initial study.
Senior pastor buy-in is obvious through his involvement from the pulpit, thus increasing the perceived value of small groups and community.

Short-term commitments (usually six weeks) are easier to obtain.
DVD-based curriculum is easy to use and takes the pressure off the H.O.S.T.
Campaign topics have a wide appeal, so more people are likely to want to participate.
Small groups are the distribution point for materials of the campaign, so the people of the church feel as though they are missing out on something if they do not join a small group. If people want the book, the key tags, or whatever promotional material you are using, they have to join a small group to receive it.
H.O.S.T.s have the support of a community leader who encourages, answers questions, gives guidance, and prays for them.

Think Long Term

As your church does campaigns, you will start and lose a lot of groups, but if you retain a portion of the groups started, you will be ahead of where you started. See figure 17.1 to see how this has played out at Saddleback.

Our first 40 Days of Purpose Campaign (2002) launched with 2,154 groups. By February of the following year, we still had 1,456 of those 2,154 groups. We could view that two ways: (1) we lost about 700 groups (from campaign peak), or (2) we gained almost 700 groups (from before it).

When we looked at the reasons why people did not continue with their group, we found it was not because they did not have a good experience. It was more likely that life got in the way or that we didn’t have the infrastructure in place to support them. Two years later, with our infrastructure in place, we did our 40 Days of Community Campaign and our retention rate went from 68 percent to 86 percent. We learned by stepping out in faith and attempting the seemingly impossible, by moving ahead before we had all of the details worked out, and by making mistakes and learning from them.

Anyone can now benefit from our experience by purchasing one of our Saddleback Church Campaign Kits (www.saddlebackresources.com), which come with full instructions on how to run the campaign from start to finish. The instructions explain what type of teams you need to develop, and the kit provides a calendar timeline and training DVDs for you and your team to watch. Having lived through nine campaigns in my twelve years as small group pastor at Saddleback Church, I have discovered a strategy is only as good as the foundation and follow through. As they say, the devil is in the details.

A churchwide campaign is an exponentially positive or negative experience for a church depending on how you approach it. Based on my experience and a few battle scars, I have developed the following twelve tips to ensure a positive outcome.

1. Know the compelling question. When you do a campaign, you need to know the question the campaign will answer. For example, in our 40 Days of Purpose Campaign, the question was, “What on earth am I here for?” The compelling question gives your people a reason to join a small group and attend the corresponding weekend services. It provides your small group leaders with motivation to invite others into their small group. Without a compelling question, the congregation won’t understand the central theme or the reason for the campaign.

2. Align children, student, and adult ministries. A lot of churches that do a campaign miss the alignment by only doing it for the adults. When your children and teens memorize the same Scriptures, read similar themes, do projects together, and listen to the same weekend message, everyone is on the same page. Discussions naturally flow into the home from parent to child and child to parent. Without churchwide alignment, you are unintentionally sending the message that only the adults of the church are important. Don’t make that mistake.

3. Stick to the principles and apply your own methodologies. When aligning your campaign for children and students, adapt the material to their learning level. So if the adults are memorizing a Scripture, the children may learn part of the same Scripture instead of the whole Scripture, because that is appropriate for their level. The same principle should be applied to your entire church. Weekend messages need to be adapted to your church context and culture. Small group questions can be adapted to the needs of the group. If there is a churchwide or small group project, it should stay true to your church culture. For example, if your church has a strong presence in the homeless community, serve those same people with your campaign projects.

4. Language matters. One of the most significant things we learned through recruiting for our campaign was that language matters! Campaign material is delivered through small groups, so it is vital that you have plenty of people ready to lead a small group. It didn’t work well when we asked for lay pastors because the people didn’t feel they were pastors. We then changed the term to shepherd leaders, which failed because they didn’t connect with the term shepherd. Next we tried small group leader, but nobody wanted to be the leader due to perceived inadequacies or lack of time. Then we asked for H.O.S.T.s, and all of a sudden we had plenty of volunteers! Interestingly enough, we never changed the duties of a small group leader, just the language. That was enough. All of the preconceived notions of what it takes to be a leader just fell away. If a H.O.S.T. continues with the group after the campaign, we enter them into our Small Group Leadership Development Pathway (see chapter 13), which provides them with the relationships and resources to nurture and build their leadership skills.

5. Employ various avenues of learning. The campaign strategy uses a common theme that is taught in various ways to help people learn through their particular learning style. People can learn through listening to the weekend services. People can learn through discussing topics in their small groups. People can learn through doing hands-on projects with their small groups. People can learn through memorizing Scripture. And people can learn through reading as they work through the campaign materials in their small groups.

6. Once a year is enough. When you do too many campaigns in a year, two things happen: your volunteers who pulled it off won’t be able to manage doing another campaign so soon, and your congregation won’t experience the anticipation of an upcoming event. At Saddleback we do one campaign a year, and trust me, it comes around again quickly!

7. Provide a clear start and end date. Our campaigns last forty days, which includes six preaching weekends focused on the campaign topic and a forty-day devotional reading, with a couple days of grace! This is a short enough commitment that most people are willing to try it but long enough to instill good habits. When you have a clear start and end date, people are more willing to come along for the ride.

8. Expect high intensity for staff, volunteers, and members. One of the secrets of a successful campaign is sustaining high intensity for forty days and then backing off to allow staff and volunteers time to recover and give members time to process the experience. Let your church calendar return to normal and give your small groups time to stabilize. For a campaign to happen successfully, you must clear the calendar for the duration of that campaign. Stop programs and events that could be distracting—sometimes good programs can stop great things from happening in a campaign. So once the campaign concludes, allow the calendar to get back to normal. Also, a campaign creates many new groups, and when the campaign ends, you need time to assess where those groups are. Some will continue and some will stop, but without the margin and infrastructure to check in on these groups, you will start a lot of groups and lose the same amount.

9. Remember and celebrate! Too often the church does a great job of recruiting and getting the job done but then fails to appropriately celebrate a job well done. After the campaign, be sure to hold a celebration and express your gratitude for all of the hard work done by staff and volunteers. Take time to remember and celebrate God’s work. Share stories of success and gratitude. When you don’t take the time to celebrate, you are increasing the possibility of burnout in your staff and volunteers. In the Bible we read of many instances when God had people stop and remember the miracles he did. Why? Because he knew people forget. When you celebrate, you etch God’s work on your people’s hearts. Often we give little reminders such as key chains so that when people see them, they will be reminded of how God worked through so many people’s lives and then celebrate the campaign into which they put so much time and energy.

10. Plan for after the campaign. It is important to have an infrastructure in place to support your new groups. You don’t have to be an expert; you just have to be one step ahead of that new small group leader. At Saddleback our infrastructure includes community leaders who oversee new small groups and the Small Group Leadership Development Pathway to train small group H.O.S.T.s who choose to continue to lead.

Give your groups a next step. Around the fourth week of the six-week campaign, we encourage groups to determine what their next step will be. Will they continue or part ways? We provide curriculum suggestions and encourage them to get the new material as soon as possible. Very often, just avoiding downtime can make the difference in whether or not a group continues.

11. Give people an out after the campaign is finished. In a campaign it is important to give people permission to leave their group or disband the group altogether. I know this feels counterintuitive, but it will serve you well. Now, let me be clear, I want them to continue, and I want to give them every possible reason to stay together; but on the other hand, I don’t want them to feel guilty if their group doesn’t continue. Why? Because when they do what you have asked, they need to be rewarded and thanked, not be criticized for not continuing. I have learned that when you give people permission to stop meeting at the end of the campaign, they will be there for the next campaign. And during the next campaign, they just might stay with their group.

12. Budget to remove financial obstacles. When we do a campaign, we pay for everything. In order to make a spiritual impact on anyone who joins a small group, we provide the devotional reading books, memory key tags, prayer guides, small group DVDs, and small group study guides. It’s a lot of money up front, but it brings huge dividends on the back side. By investing in your church in this way, it shows your people not only that you care about them but also that you are willing to put your money where your heart is.

As you dive into a campaign, take the time to learn from other churches in your area that have done a campaign. Their experience will save you a tremendous amount of time and energy. You can find other churches through the Small Group Network (www.smallgroupnetwork.com).

Steve Gladen, Small Groups with Purpose: How to Create Healthy Communities (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2013), 213–221.

The Evangelical church IS growing

Josh Hunt — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 16:15:26 GMT

Of course, this conclusion flies directly in the face of the common story line that so many of us have been told time and again from those inside and outside of the church. These scholars do note the rapid rise of those who report they are unaffiliated with any institutional faith today—the infamous and little understood “nones,” which we will examine fully and clarify carefully later—a number that has more than doubled since the late 1980s. However, they also find what they describe as “a patently persistent level of strong affiliation” over the past few decades, demonstrating what they call “a very stable trend line.”

What this means, of course, is that while the number of people who have a lukewarm faith and who are dabblers is declining significantly—and we will see plenty of evidence for this as we go on—robust, diligent discipleship congregations are holding like an anchor with remarkable consistency. In fact, the data show that believers who pray many times a day have increased by more than 8 percent since 1991 and those who attend church services more than once a week rose slightly. Pew Research Center findings show the same thing over the last decade, as we will see shortly. The number of evangelical young adults is also rising, as we shall learn in chapter 7. For those keeping score at home, holding steady and even rising slightly is not declining. That sounds like very good news, but we have not even scratched the surface in our investigation yet.

The Indiana University/Harvard research, in agreement with Pew’s Greg Smith, says that “evangelicals are not on the decline” but actually “grew from 1972 when they were 18 percent of the population, to a steady level of about 28 percent from 1989 to 2016.” This particular “percentage of the population” measure is very significant, and it’s important to clarify its significance. It shows not only growth in terms of real numbers, but enough growth to keep up with or even exceed the rate of population growth. That’s not nothing.

Suppose you were working hard to attract and hold a crowd as a business owner, university president, indie music artist, community volunteer coordinator, or banana stand operator. Whatever line of work you were in, you would be absolutely giddy at experiencing this kind of growth, and you’d be right to be. You could call yourself very successful, and it would be difficult to reasonably challenge you on your sense of accomplishment. This the present state of evangelicalism, and it’s the opposite of what would animate Chicken Little.

In contrast, the Indiana/Harvard research showed that mainline Protestants5 have declined precipitously from 35 percent of the American population in 1972 to 12 percent of the population in 2016. This is Chicken Little territory. The decline of the mainline churches began in 1960s and early 1970s as they started to question and even officially change their positions on historic Christian basics like the existence of miracles, the reality of sin, and the actual atoning death of Christ and His resurrection, as well jettisoning biblical convictions about sex, gender issues, and abortion. People ran for the doors of these churches in mass with every new compromise, and this exodus continues today. Compromising biblical truths was and is a devastating church-growth strategy. It could hardly be worse if these pastors asked their parishioners to leave and never come back.

Because of these changes, the Indiana/Harvard researchers explained that, of people who were affiliated with a church, the only group that increased was those who were more robust and traditional in their beliefs and practices, from 39 percent of all church attenders in 1989 to 47 percent in 2017. Therefore, Christianity in America—and in most other places in the world, as we will see in chapter 6—is growing more vibrant and traditional.

So is Christianity shrinking?

Not if you’re talking about the biblically faithful congregations that call their people to genuine Christian discipleship. Only from the mainline churches do you hear that big sucking sound emanating. Most of these congregations are free falling as if they have a millstone tied to their necks. And the more liberal they are, the faster they plummet.

Glenn T. Stanton, The Myth of the Dying Church: How Christianity Is Actually Thriving in America and the World (New York, NY: Worthy Books, 2019).

The Church is doing better than you think

Josh Hunt — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 22:10:47 GMT

The answer to the question of whether Christianity is shrinking or not is both yes and no. This seemingly contradictory answer is the key to understanding the truth of the current and future state of the church. But for a people of faith committed to truth and used to dealing in the absolute categories of black and white, right and wrong, true and false, how can we accept the right answer being two clear opposites?

Let’s get to examining what the best data actually shows, and we’ll see how the numbers reveal the real guts and truth of the story. In a few words, the story is this:

Some parts of the church are indeed shrinking and some are not at all. Some are doing quite well, even growing. But which parts of the church are shrinking and to what degree? And which churches are doing well?

These are the two fundamental questions. Let me explain our path of exploration in the coming chapters as we examine the research. We will move across the lake from the shore of confusion to the opposite shore of clarity, stepping on the orderly stones that are the findings of the most notable professional research, journal articles, and reports from leading mainstream organizations that track church growth and decline numbers. We won’t rely on news stories or organizations that are identified with a particular faith tradition. We will not be relying on one or two sources, the common problem in most reporting on and retelling of this story. We will be taking a much wider, deeper approach and get up to our elbows in the mixing bowl of this research, but in a very readable, direct, and easy-to-understand way.

To employ another metaphor here, like students on a guided tour, we will stop by, be introduced to, and check in with the essential original voices and leading experts on our topic to see what they have to teach us. This is really the only way we can get the actual, reliable picture of things.

Let’s start by considering the investigative work of two widely respected leaders in this field of study: Greg Smith and Rodney Stark.

Greg Smith has long worked as the associate director of research for the Pew Research Center, one of the most trusted and respected institutions on this topic. In an interview with Christianity Today a few years ago, Smith was asked by Dr. Ed Stetzer of Wheaton College if evangelicalism was dying. He said simply, “Absolutely not,” and went on to explain, “There’s nothing in these data to suggest that Christianity is dying. That Evangelicalism is dying. That Catholicism is dying. That is not the case whatsoever.”

Dr. Stetzer asked Smith specifically about what he calls “a cottage industry in Evangelicalism saying the sky is falling.” Smith responded,

With respect to Evangelicalism in particular I would say, that particularly compared with other Christian traditions in the United States, Evangelicalism is quite strong. It’s holding its own both in terms of its share of the total population. It’s holding its own in terms of the number of Americans who identify with Evangelical Christianity. If you look at Christianity as a whole… the share of Protestants in the United States who are Evangelicals is, if anything, growing.1

If anything, growing. There are few people who know as much about these things as Greg Smith.

Dr. Stetzer also interviewed Professor Rodney Stark, codirector of Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion and the school’s distinguished professor of the social sciences. Professor Stark has been at this work much longer than most, and he has grown very impatient with the “sky is falling” falsehood. He is not shy about voicing that impatience, as you will see. Dr. Stetzer asked him about his perspective on the state of evangelicalism in terms of decline. Stark had this to say: “Well, I think this notion that they’re shrinking is stupid. And it’s fiddling with the data in quite malicious ways. I see no such evidence.”2

What I have called the Chicken Littles, he playfully called the Bad News Bearers, adding, “[They] make a living coming and saying, ‘Church is going to hell… everything’s going.’… And they’re always wrong.” He also complained that “one of the standard ones just drives me nuts is, ‘Young people are leaving the church in droves, what are we going to do?’” He finds no evidence for this, and much to the contrary. We will observe the larger body of research in support of Stark’s conclusions on young adults later. It does not tell a Chicken Little story by any stretch.

Smith and Stark are not the only deeply respected scholars and specialists on this topic. As we will see, there are many more, and they hail from leading research organizations. Two sociologists working jointly—Sean Bock from Harvard and Landon Schnabel from Indiana University—were recently interested in exploring the apparent reality that faith is declining precipitously in the United States. They wanted to test the assumption that our nation is on a trajectory toward staggering secularization like many parts of Western Europe are experiencing. They call this the “secularization thesis,” the idea that modern life, cultural advancement, the abundance of material possessions, and the dominance of a scientific worldview inevitably translate into a culture where religion becomes increasingly irrelevant and relegated to the blue-hair pensioners and a few superstitious, anti-science hangers-on. These two scholars asked whether this was indeed true, and tested this thesis using some sophisticated measures. Their findings? It’s certainly not what most would have guessed. Not at all.

What made their study unique was that they measured not only faith practices and beliefs, things like prayer habits, church attendance, and one’s view of the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible, but also the intensity of faith, the seriousness with which people practiced and believed these things. For instance, they wanted to find out not just whether but how often people pray as a general habit. Only when in crisis or only when it comes to mind? Or do they do so daily as a regular part of their lives? How often do they attend church? Are they only Christmas and Easter types, once or twice a month, or the weekly/more than once a week stalwarts? What is their view of Scripture? Do they read and study the Bible as the actual, trustworthy, authoritative Word of God, or do they see it as merely a good book of inspiration?

The gold of their investigation was being able to distinguish what we can call the dabblers from the diligent disciples. This is important because a major assumption of many is that the more so-called “progressive and enlightened” churches that have changed their beliefs to match the times would be growing. Wanting to keeping current with the modern age, people would certainly migrate toward those congregations that no longer harped on sin and hold that “old idea” of a need for repentance and forgiveness. Surely congregations teaching that miracles are for ages past would hold more attraction to the modern mind, and loosening up on obedience to traditional sexual ethics would be seen as more welcoming and noncondemning. And certainly stringent churches that stress these things would be shrinking, because who wants to hear about all that?

These two scholars’ findings were clear and remarkably counterintuitive. In the introduction of their study, they let their readers know point blank:

We show that rather than religion fading into irrelevance as the secularization thesis would suggest, intense religion—strong affiliation, very frequent practice, literalism and evangelicalism—is persistent, and in fact, only moderate religion is on the decline in the United States.3

Get that. Only moderate religion is on the decline in the US. Their findings show, as they explain, “the United States has demonstrated sustained levels of intense religiosity [of which they mean Christianity primarily] across key measures over the past decades that are unique when compared to other advanced, industrial societies.”4 They go so far as to say that the US is a marked exception and distinguished counterexample to the secularization thesis. In the United States, Christian faith that takes Scripture and the spiritual disciplines seriously has remained vibrant over the past few decades, right up to the present day. Lukewarm faith and practice, however, have been on a marked downward trajectory across every measure they examined.

Glenn T. Stanton, The Myth of the Dying Church: How Christianity Is Actually Thriving in America and the World (New York, NY: Worthy Books, 2019).

Church Growth and Preaching Hell

Josh Hunt — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 17:41:54 GMT

A religious denomination begins as a sect, a small group of passionate believers who set themselves apart from society, like the Puritans who fled England because they refused to conform to the establishment Anglican Church. Once the Puritans settled in Massachusetts, they were no longer outsiders. They were the establishment. The sect grew into the Congregational Church, which dominated New England in the same way that other colonies were dominated by the Episcopal Church (the American branch of Anglicanism). Those mainline churches received government subsidies and could survive without attracting passionate new members.

Their clergymen were well-educated gentlemen, not charismatic rabble-rousers. They preached elegant, cerebral sermons based on the theology they had studied at Harvard and Yale, where rationalism was prized and emotionalism disdained. They had been taught to see God as distant and abstract, a vaguely benevolent deity nothing like the wrathful figure in the Old Testament who condemned sinners to perdition. The sophisticated modern clergyman did not use the pulpit to thunder about eternal damnation. He didn’t necessarily even believe in hell.

The revivalists did—most emphatically. George Whitefield told his American audiences not to be lulled by modern theologians who denied “The Eternity of Hell-Torments,” as he titled a sermon in Georgia. “Woe unto such blind leaders of the blind,” he said, warning that their denial of hell was the surest way to “promote infidelity and profaneness.” He urged sinners to imagine themselves forever tormented by “insulting devils” and “everlasting burnings” and the “never-dying worm of a self-condemning conscience.” That scene was elaborated by Jonathan Edwards in his famous sermon of 1741, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Forsaking the theology he’d been taught at Yale, he compared his listeners in Connecticut to a “loathsome insect” dangling over the pit of hell.

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in. ’Tis a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit,” Edwards warned. “You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder.”

Those sermons appalled the theological establishment. An association of Congregationalist ministers denounced Whitefield for using “his utmost Craft and Cunning, to strike the Passions and engage the Affections of the People.” Harvard’s faculty charged him with the crime of “Enthusiasm.” Ezra Stiles, a Congregationalist minister who went on to become Yale’s president, complained that the revivalists’ strategy was to drive people “seriously, soberly, and solemnly out of their wits.” The mainline churches used their political power in some places to prevent the revivalists from preaching, but it was a losing struggle, especially after the American Revolution produced a nation that did not recognize any official religion. Once the mainline churches lost their privileged status (and subsidies), their preachers had to compete, and the competition was hell—literally.

As a motivational strategy, fire and brimstone prevailed during the First Great Awakening and long afterward. Since the eighteenth century, the rate of church membership has tripled in the United States, which is remarkable by contrast with the centuries-long secular trends in Europe. Why do two-thirds of Americans today belong to a church while so many pews in Europe are empty? In their incisive sociological analysis, The Churching of America, Finke and Stark conclude that it’s not because Americans are an inherently spiritual people or suffer from peculiar cultural anxieties. The difference is that while European governments have continued to officially recognize and subsidize the establishment churches, the United States hasn’t given any church a monopoly.

Once competition began in the eighteenth century, the greatest surge in devotion occurred not in mainline churches but in new Methodist churches continuing the hellfire tradition of Whitefield and Edwards. The Methodist preachers, far from being products of divinity school, were often local residents, unpaid amateurs supervised by visiting circuit riders who themselves lacked seminary training. From a tiny sect in the 1700s, the Methodists grew by 1850 into America’s largest religious denomination—and then they ran into the familiar problem of mainline churches. As the Methodist Church prospered, it established seminaries whose graduates came to preach a gentler message known as the “New School.” Traditionalists complained that the “characteristic idea of this system is benevolence.”

Once again, the benevolent message could not compete with hell. By the end of the nineteenth century Methodists were no longer the largest religious denomination in America. The newly triumphant upstarts were hell-fearing Catholics and Baptists, whose churches grew quickly into the twentieth century. Eventually many of their clergy modernized their message, and they, too, lost ground to revivalist preachers, this time to the evangelical and Pentecostal sects that grew so rapidly in the 1980s and beyond. beyond. As always, the establishment complained about the upstarts’ crude theology, but in the 1980s one mainline clergyman, Bishop Richard Wilke, urged his fellow Methodists to learn from the competition.

“The churches that are drawing people to them believe in sin, hell, and death,” Bishop Wilke explained. “Jesus, who knew what he was talking about, explained them, experienced them, and conquered them. If there is no sin, we do not need a Savior. If we do not need a Savior, we do not need preachers.” Without evil and the threat of hell, preachers would be out of luck, out of relevance, and out of a job. The history of Christianity in America isn’t a controlled experiment, but the data set is impressive: hundreds of millions of people exposed to competing incentives. They…

The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It / John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister

What's an introduction to do

Josh Hunt — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 19:47:27 GMT

The very beginning point of teaching must grab the attention of people. It draws them into what they are about to experience in the Word. The introductory teaching persuades people to pay attention. It convinces them they need to become engaged in the discussion rather than check the weather on their cell phones. One way to do this is in the form of a promise:

If you will give me attention today, I will show you how to forgive when forgiving is hard.
Thirty minutes from now, you will be able to enjoy an absolute assurance of your salvation.
I want to teach you today how you can worry substantially less than you do.
I want to talk to you today about how you can break destructive habits in your life.

Notice a couple of things about these statements:

They are application oriented. We are not out to make smarter sinners. We are out to change behavior.
They have a “what’s in it for me” orientation. This is based on a premise that is at the core of my theology: it is always in our best interest to live the Christian life. It is always good for us to follow God. God is a rewarder. We don’t choose between God and the good life. Following God is the good life. (For more on this, see my book, Obedience.)

The worst kind of introduction

The worst kind of introduction is perhaps the most common: “Open your Bibles today to …” Most teachers who use that kind of introduction have an attendance problem.

This kind of introduction assumes people are interested. Happily, some of them are. I would be. If you used that introduction with me, I’d be fine with it. I’d gladly give you my attention to discover what the Word says in that particular passage.

But, the truth is, most people wouldn’t be that interested. Most people are not staying up nights thinking, “I wonder what John 11 is about.”

Consequently, people don’t give you their full attention. They might look like they are paying attention. They are polite. But their mind is only half there. They are giving you what Linda Stone calls Continuous Partial Attention.6

Effective Bible Teachers want more than continuous partial attention. They want full-bodied, all-out attention. They want people on the edge of their seats. They want people to be fascinated by the gospel. Fascinated. Literally, their attention fastened. A good introduction is where that starts.

The Pre-introduction

Often, although not always, I use an introduction before the introduction. This is about rapport building. This is about connecting. This is about being human.

It is talking about the local high school football game. It is giving an update on the surgery. It might be talking about the weather or the latest news. It is about letting them know you are human and live in the same world as they do.

I am a big fan of video teaching. But, there are some things video can never do. Video cannot connect like a human can. Before you break open the Word, say hello.

Making the gospel attractive

Titus 2:10 says we are to make the gospel attractive. Attractive. The Greek word is kosmeo. It means to adorn. We get words like cosmetics and cosmopolitan from this word. Cosmopolitan Magazine is about being attractive. Let’s tease out this meaning further.

I would like to introduce you to two kinds of word studies. These have only been readily available to the average person in recent years. They taught us to do these studies in Greek class. I remember thinking, “Well, that is really cool, but who has time for that?” Today, there is an app for that. You can do in seconds what it used to take hours to do.

In addition to looking a word up in a dictionary, I’d invite you to look at vertical and horizontal word studies.

A vertical word study looks at how this underlying Greek or Hebrew word is used in this translation in other places. (Stay with me; this is possible with no knowledge of Greek or Hebrew.)
A horizontal word study is when we look at how the various translations translate this word in this verse. Often, there is not a one-to-one relationship between a word in one translation and a word in another translation. Translators speak of a pool of meaning. By looking at a number of translations, we dip into the whole pool.

So, let’s look at this word, kosmeo, as it is translated by the NIV in other places:7

We see that this word has the sense of adorning or decorating the gospel. It is like tasteful makeup on a woman’s face. It accents the beauty that is already there. This is what a good introduction does. Indeed, this is what good teaching does—it accents the full beauty of the gospel.

Let’s look at a horizontal word study of kosmeo. Here is the rendering from a few translations:

So that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. Titus 2:10b (NIV)
Adding luster to the teaching of our Savior God. Titus 2:10b (MSG)
In this way, they will make people want to believe in our Savior and God. Titus 2:10b (TLB)
So that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Titus 2:10b (ESV)
So that in everything they may be an ornament and do credit to the teaching [which is] from and about God our Savior. Titus 2:10b (AMP)
Then everyone will show great respect for what is taught about God our Savior. Titus 2:10b (CEV)
Then they will show the beauty of the teachings about God our Savior in everything they do. Titus 2:10b (GW)

A good introduction—indeed all teaching—shows the beauty of the teachings about God our Savior.

Application-oriented introduction

The introduction may include a number of things:

Stories
Quotes
Statistics
Questions

But the key part of an introduction can be reduced to a promise. It answers the questions, “What will I get if I give you my attention today?” Or, stated differently, “What do you want me to do about what you are talking about?”

Doing is the key thing. James spoke of being doers of the Word and not hearers only. Teachers need to help with that, and it needs to start in the introduction. The Great Commission is about teaching them to obey. It is not about making smarter sinners.

What’s in it for me?

Everyone is tuned in to radio station WIIFM: What’s in it for me?

If you can show people how the teaching today will benefit their life, you will have their undivided attention.

But, isn’t that appealing to selfishness?

The question reveals an underlying assumption. Allow me to reveal it in the form of several questions:

Is it good for us to follow God?
Is it always in our best interest to live the Christian life?
Is God good?
Is following God good for me?

If God is good …

If following God is good …

If obedience to God is always in my best interest …

If it is always good for me to follow God …

Then, there is no conflict. What is most glorifying to God is what is best for me. John Piper has a helpful quote from John Murray on this point:

There is no conflict between gratification of desire and the enhancement of man’s pleasure, on the one hand, and fulfillment of God’s command on the other.… The tension that often exists within us between a sense of duty and wholehearted spontaneity is a tension that arises from sin and a disobedient will. No such tension would have invaded the heart of unfallen man. And the operations of saving grace redirected to the end of removing the tension so that there may be, as there was with man at the beginning, the perfect complementation of duty and pleasure, of commandment and love.8

The introduction needs to spell this out. Reduce it to a sentence. Reduce it to a promise: if you really pay attention today, you will be one step closer to the abundant, John 10:10 life that Jesus promised.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

STRAINING TOWARD THE GOAL

Josh Hunt — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 16:56:17 GMT

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

The word used for “press” in Philippians 3:14 carries in the meaning of “strong exertion.” Every muscle of the runner is burning. He can see the ribbon. He has only a few more feet to go in the race. He must press on.

It is the same in our lives as Christians. There are times when it just gets hard. But it is then that we learn what it means to walk by faith and not by feeling. You can’t live on an emotional high as a Christian. You must pace yourself in this race you are running. You can’t expect that every time you go to church, you will have some great emotional encounter with God. Sometimes you will. Sometimes you won’t. Growing up and learning to walk by faith are part of spiritual maturity.

When you first made a commitment to Christ, you discovered the joy and wonderful peace that comes from being forgiven. But you must realize that this is a walk by faith. You must press on even when it gets hard.

Maybe, as you have been running, you have found yourself in a place where you are dragging burdens, sins, or other things along. Maybe you find that you don’t even know why you are running the race anymore. Maybe you have become discouraged. Look up and remember that it is Jesus whom you are running for. Two thousand years ago, He loved you so much that He went to the cross and died there. He shed His blood for you. Then He rose again from the dead. Because He did that for you, you can live for Him today. He will give you the strength.

Greg Laurie, For Every Season: Daily Devotions (Dana Point, CA: Kerygma, 2011).

Sanctification

Josh Hunt — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 21:18:58 GMT

The subject before us is of such deep and vast importance, that it requires fencing, guarding, clearing up, and marking out on every side. A doctrine which is needful to salvation can never be too sharply developed, or brought too fully into light. To clear away the confusion between doctrines and doctrines, which is so unhappily common among Christians, and to map out the precise relation between truths and truths in religion, is one way to attain accuracy in our theology. I shall therefore not hesitate to lay before my readers a series of connected propositions or statements, drawn from Scripture, which I think will be found useful in defining the exact nature of sanctification.

(1) Sanctification, then, is the invariable result of that vital union with Christ which true faith gives to a Christian.—“He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 15:5.) The branch which bears no fruit is no living branch of the vine. The union with Christ which produces no effect on heart and life is a mere formal union, which is worthless before God. The faith which has not a sanctifying influence on the character is no better than the faith of devils. It is a “dead faith, because it is alone.” It is not the gift of God. It is not the faith of God’s elect. In short, where there is no sanctification of life, there is no real faith in Christ. True faith worketh by love. It constrains a man to live unto the Lord from a deep sense of gratitude for redemption. It makes him feel that he can never do too much for Him that died for him. Being much forgiven, he loves much. He whom the blood cleanses, walks in the light. He who has real lively hope in Christ, purifieth himself even as He is pure. (James 2:17–20; Titus 1:1; Gal. 5:6; 1 John 1:7; 3:3.)

(2) Sanctification, again, is the outcome and inseparable consequence of regeneration. He that is born again and made a new creature, receives a new nature and a new principle, and always lives a new life. A regeneration which a man can have, and yet live carelessly in sin or worldliness, is a regeneration invented by uninspired theologians, but never mentioned in Scripture. On the contrary, St. John expressly says, that “He that is born of God doth not commit sin,—doeth righteousness,—loveth the brethren,—keepeth himself,—and overcometh the world.” (1 John 2:29; 3:9–14; 5:4–18.) In a word, where there is no sanctification there is no regeneration, and where there is no holy life there is no new birth. This is, no doubt, a hard saying to many minds; but, hard or not, it is simple Bible truth. It is written plainly, that he who is born of God is one whose “seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John 3:9.)

(3) Sanctification, again, is the only certain evidence of that indwelling of the Holy Spirit which is essential to salvation. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” (Rom. 8:9.) The Spirit never lies dormant and idle within the soul: He always makes His presence known by the fruit He causes to be borne in heart, character, and life. “The fruit of the Spirit,” says St. Paul, “is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” and such like. (Gal. 5:22.) Where these things are to be found, there is the Spirit: where these things are wanting, men are dead before God. The Spirit is compared to the wind, and, like the wind, He cannot be seen by our bodily eyes. But just as we know there is a wind by the effect it produces on waves, and trees, and smoke, so we may know the Spirit is in a man by the effects He produces in the man’s conduct. It is nonsense to suppose that we have the Spirit, if we do not also “walk in the Spirit.” (Gal. 5:25.) We may depend on it as a positive certainty, that where there is no holy living, there is no Holy Ghost. The seal that the Spirit stamps on Christ’s people is sanctification. As many as are actually “led by the Spirit of God, they,” and they only, “are the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:14.)

(4) Sanctification, again, is the only sure mark of God’s election. The names and number of the elect are a secret thing, no doubt, which God has wisely kept in His own power, and not revealed to man. It is not given to us in this world to study the pages of the book of life, and see if our names are there. But if there is one thing clearly and plainly laid down about election, it is this,—that elect men and women may be known and distinguished by holy lives. It is expressly written that they are “elect through sanctification,—chosen unto salvation through sanctification,—predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son,—and chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should be holy.”—Hence, when St. Paul saw the working “faith” and labouring “love” and patient “hope” of the Thessalonian believers, he says, “I know your election of God.” (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thess. 2:13; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4; 1 Thess. 1:3, 4.) He that boasts of being one of God’s elect, while he is wilfully and habitually living in sin, is only deceiving himself, and talking wicked blasphemy. Of course it is hard to know what people really are, and many who make a fair show outwardly in religion, may turn out at last to be rotten-hearted hypocrites. But where there is not, at least, some appearance of sanctification, we may be quite certain there is no election. The Church Catechism correctly and wisely teaches, that the Holy Ghost “sanctifieth all the elect people of God.”

(5) Sanctification, again, is a thing that will always be seen. Like the Great Head of the Church, from whom it springs, it “cannot be hid.” “Every tree is known by his own fruit.” (Luke 6:44.) A truly sanctified person may be so clothed with humility, that he can see in himself nothing but infirmity and defects. Like Moses, when he came down from the Mount, he may not be conscious that his face shines. Like the righteous, in the mighty parable of the sheep and the goats, he may not see that he has done anything worthy of his Master’s notice and commendation: “When saw we Thee an hungred, and fed Thee?” (Matt. 25:37.) But whether he sees it himself or not, others will always see in him a tone, and taste, and character, and habit of life unlike that of other men. The very idea of a man being “sanctified,” while no holiness can be seen in his life, is flat nonsense and a misuse of words. Light may be very dim; but if there is only a spark in a dark room, it will be seen. Life may be very feeble; but if the pulse only beats a little, it will be felt. It is just the same with a sanctified man: his sanctification will be something felt and seen, though he himself may not understand it. A “saint” in whom nothing can be seen but worldliness or sin, is a kind of monster not recognised in the Bible!

(6) Sanctification, again, is a thing for which every believer is responsible. In saying this I would not be mistaken. I hold as strongly as any one that every man on earth is accountable to God, and that all the lost will be speechless and without excuse at the last day. Every man has power to “lose his own soul.” (Matt. 16:26) But while I hold this, I maintain that believers are eminently and peculiarly responsible, and under a special obligation to live holy lives. They are not as others, dead and blind and unrenewed: they are alive unto God, and have light and knowledge, and a new principle within them. Whose fault is it if they are not holy, but their own? On whom can they throw the blame if they are not sanctified, but themselves? God, who has given them grace and a new heart, and a new nature, has deprived them of all excuse if they do not live for His praise. This is a point which is far too much forgotten. A man who professes to be a true Christian, while he sits still, content with a very low degree of sanctification (if indeed he has any at all), and coolly tells you he “can do nothing,” is a very pitiable sight, and a very ignorant man. Against this delusion let us watch and be on our guard. The Word of God always addresses its precepts to believers as accountable and responsible beings. If the Saviour of sinners gives us renewing grace, and calls us by His Spirit, we may be sure that He expects us to use our grace, and not to go to sleep. It is forgetfulness of this which causes many believers to “grieve the Holy Spirit,” and makes them very useless and uncomfortable Christians.

(7) Sanctification, again, is a thing which admits of growth and degrees. A man may climb from one step to another in holiness, and be far more sanctified at one period of his life than another. More pardoned and more justified than he is when he first believes, he cannot be, though he may feel it more. More sanctified he certainly may be, because every grace in his new character may be strengthened, enlarged, and deepened. This is the evident meaning of our Lord’s last prayer for His disciples, when He used the words, “Sanctify them;” and of St. Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians, “The very God of peace sanctify you.” (John 17:17; 1 Thess. 4:3.) In both cases the expression plainly implies the possibility of increased sanctification; while such an expression as “justify them” is never once in Scripture applied to a believer, because he cannot be more justified than he is. I can find no warrant in Scripture for the doctrine of “imputed sanctification.” It is a doctrine which seems to me to confuse things that differ, and to lead to very evil consequences. Not least, it is a doctrine which is flatly contradicted by the experience of all the most eminent Christians. If there is any point on which God’s holiest saints agree it is this: that they see more, and know more, and feel more, and do more, and repent more, and believe more, as they get on in spiritual life, and in proportion to the closeness of their walk with God. In short, they “grow in grace,” as St. Peter exhorts believers to do; and “abound more and more,” according to the words of St. Paul. (2 Pet. 3:18; 1 Thess. 4:1.)

(8) Sanctification, again, is a thing which depends greatly on a diligent use of Scriptural means. When I speak of “means,” I have in view Bible-reading, private prayer, regular attendance on public worship, regular hearing of God’s Word, and regular reception of the Lord’s Supper. I lay it down as a simple matter of fact, that no one who is careless about such things must ever expect to make much progress in sanctification. I can find no record of any eminent saint who ever neglected them. They are appointed channels through which the Holy Spirit conveys fresh supplies of grace to the soul, and strengthens the work which He has begun in the inward man. Let men call this legal doctrine if they please, but I will never shrink from declaring my belief, that there are no “spiritual gains without pains.” I should as soon expect a farmer to prosper in business who contented himself with sowing his fields and never looking at them till harvest, as expect a believer to attain much holiness who was not diligent about his Bible-reading, his prayers, and the use of his Sundays. Our God is a God who works by means, and He will never bless the soul of that man who pretends to be so high and spiritual that he can get on without them.

(9) Sanctification, again, is a thing which does not prevent a man having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict. By conflict I mean a struggle within the heart between the old nature and the new, the flesh and the spirit, which are to be found together in every believer. (Gal. 5:17.) A deep sense of that struggle, and a vast amount of mental discomfort from it, are no proof that a man is not sanctified. Nay, rather, I believe, they are healthy symptoms of our condition, and prove that we are not dead, but alive. A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. He may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace. In saying this, I do not forget that I am contradicting the views of some well-meaning Christians, who hold the doctrine called “sinless perfection.” I cannot help that. I believe that what I say is confirmed by the language of St. Paul in the seventh chapter of Romans. That chapter I commend to the careful study of all my readers. I am quite satisfied that it does not describe the experience of an unconverted man, or of a young and unestablished Christian: but of an old experienced saint in close communion with God. None but such a man could say, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” (Rom. 7:22.) I believe, furthermore, that what I say is proved by the experience of all the most eminent servants of Christ that have ever lived. The full proof is to be seen in their journals, their autobiographies, and their lives.—Believing all this, I shall never hesitate to tell people that inward conflict is no proof that a man is not holy, and that they must not think they are not sanctified because they do not feel entirely free from inward struggle. Such freedom we shall doubtless have in heaven; but we shall never enjoy it in this world. The heart of the best Christian, even at his best, is a field occupied by two rival camps, and the “company of two armies.” (Cant. 6:13.) Let the words of the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Articles be well considered by all Churchmen: “The infection of nature doth remain in them that are regenerated.” “Although baptized and born again in Christ, we offend in many things; and if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”*

(10) Sanctification, again, is a thing which cannot justify a man, and yet it pleases God. This may seem wonderful, and yet it is true. The holiest actions of the holiest saint that ever lived are all more or less full of defects and imperfections. They are either wrong in their motive or defective in their performance, and in themselves are nothing better than “splendid sins,” deserving God’s wrath and condemnation. To suppose that such actions can stand the severity of God’s judgment, atone for sin, and merit heaven, is simply absurd. “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.”—“We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Rom. 3:20–28.) The only righteousness in which we can appear before God is the righteousness of another,—even the perfect righteousness of our Substitute and Representative, Jesus Christ the Lord. His work, and not our work, is our only title to heaven. This is a truth which we should be ready to die to maintain.—For all this, however, the Bible distinctly teaches that the holy actions of a sanctified man, although imperfect, are pleasing in the sight of God. “With such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Heb. 13:16.) “Obey your parents, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.” (Col. 3:20.) “We do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3:22.) Let this never be forgotten, for it is a very comfortable doctrine. Just as a parent is pleased with the efforts of his little child to please him, though it be only by picking a daisy or walking across a room, so is our Father in heaven pleased with the poor performances of His believing children. He looks at the motive, principle, and intention of their actions, and not merely at their quantity and quality. He regards them as members of His own dear Son, and for His sake, wherever there is a single eye, He is well-pleased. Those Churchmen who dispute this would do well to study the Twelfth Article of the Church of England.

(11) Sanctification, again, is a thing which will be found absolutely necessary as a witness to our character in the great day of judgment. It will be utterly useless to plead that we believed in Christ, unless our faith has had some sanctifying effect, and been seen in our lives. Evidence, evidence, evidence, will be the one thing wanted when the great white throne is set, when the books are opened, when the graves give up their tenants, when the dead are arraigned before the bar of God. Without some evidence that our faith in Christ was real and genuine, we shall only rise again to be condemned. I can find no evidence that will be admitted in that day, except sanctification. The question will not be how we talked and what we professed, but how we lived and what we did. Let no man deceive himself on this point. If anything is certain about the future, it is certain that there will be a judgment; and if anything is certain about judgment, it is certain that men’s “works” and “doings” will be considered and examined in it. (John 5:29; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:13.) He that supposes works are of no importance, because they cannot justify us, is a very ignorant Christian. Unless he opens his eyes, he will find to his cost that if he comes to the bar of God without some evidence of grace, he had better never have been born.

(12) Sanctification, in the last place, is absolutely necessary, in order to train and prepare us for heaven. Most men hope to go to heaven when they die; but few, it may be feared, take the trouble to consider whether they would enjoy heaven if they got there. Heaven is essentially a holy place; its inhabitants are all holy; its occupations are all holy. To be really happy in heaven, it is clear and plain that we must be somewhat trained and made ready for heaven while we are on earth. The notion of a purgatory after death, which shall turn sinners into saints, is a lying invention of man, and is nowhere taught in the Bible. We must be saints before we die, if we are to be saints afterwards in glory. The favourite idea of many, that dying men need nothing except absolution and forgiveness of sins to fit them for their great change, is a profound delusion. We need the work of the Holy Spirit as well as the work of Christ; we need renewal of the heart as well as the atoning blood; we need to be sanctified as well as to be justified. It is common to hear people saying on their death-beds, “I only want the Lord to forgive me my sins, and take me to rest.” But those who say such things forget that the rest of heaven would be utterly useless if we had no heart to enjoy it! What could an unsanctified man do in heaven, if by any chance he got there? Let that question be fairly looked in the face, and fairly answered. No man can possibly be happy in a place where he is not in his element, and where all around him is not congenial to his tastes, habits, and character. When an eagle is happy in an iron cage, when a sheep is happy in the water, when an owl is happy in the blaze of noonday sun, when a fish is happy on the dry land,—then, and not till then, will I admit that the unsanctified man could be happy in heaven.*

I lay down these twelve propositions about sanctification with a firm persuasion that they are true, and I ask all who read these pages to ponder them well. Each of them would admit of being expanded and handled more fully, and all of them deserve private thought and consideration. Some of them may be disputed and contradicted; but I doubt whether any of them can be overthrown or proved untrue. I only ask for them a fair and impartial hearing. I believe in my conscience that they are likely to assist men in attaining clear views of sanctification.

J. C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots (London: William Hunt and Company, 1889), 25–35.

Before you teach

Josh Hunt — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 14:10:51 GMT

Preparation is the key to almost anything. There is an old saying: success equals preparation plus opportunity. Teaching is no exception. Effective Bible Teachers prepare effectively. Ineffective Bible Teachers wait til the day before.

Read

Effective Bible Teaching starts with reading, rereading, and rereading again the Bible text.

Start early. Start the day after. If you want to be really good, read a few weeks ahead. I think you do well to read mostly in one translation. By doing this, your mind will near-memorize the text based on the rhythm of the words.

Occasionally read in other translations. Notice the differences.

Encourage your people to read. At the beginning of every series, my normal is to say, “If you are not reading anything else these days, join me in reading the book of James as we study this together.” Most people need continual encouragement to read their Bibles. Nothing predicts spiritual growth like individuals getting into the Word for themselves.

You might, in fact, spend a little time in class talking about what people read. Ask: what did you learn about God? What did you learn about Christian living?

Most people say you ought to separate your daily quiet time from your time in preparation. The idea is you shouldn’t always be reading the Bible for what it says to others. You should read the Bible for what it says to you.

I’d invite you to turn that idea on its head. Start with reading the Bible for what it says to you. Then share this with others. We only have so much time. I don’t think it is necessarily a bad idea to read the text you are teaching on in your quiet time. For many Effective Bible Teachers, what they are teaching is an all-consuming life passion. Pray about that.

Read the text. Read it slowly. I sometimes read it backwards—start with the last verse, read a verse at a time from the end to the beginning. Read some context—a few chapters before and after. Read ahead into what you will be studying over the next few weeks. Effective Bible Teachers exude a familiarity with the text that can only come from living with it.

Study

Study is essentially bombarding the text with questions. I tend to go too quickly to the commentaries. Maybe you do too. If you want to be an Effective Bible Teacher you ought to say, “I noticed as I meditated on this text …” more often than you say, “The commentaries say …”

In the writing world, we like to speak of the six writer’s friends. These are also the friends of Effective Bible Teachers:

• Who?

• What?

• Where?

• When?

• Why?

• How?

You might read through the text six times with these questions in mind. First read with the “Who?” question in mind. Notice all the people in the passage. Ask, “What are they doing? What are they feeling? Why are they doing it? Where is this? When was this? How long ago?” Bombard the text with questions. Look for answers yourself before you depend on the commentaries.

This is not to say you shouldn’t consult the commentaries. Dr. Curtis Vaughn taught me Greek. I remember him talking about a preacher he heard once who said, “I have consulted no man’s books. I have looked at no man’s commentaries. I have not depended on the words of man. I have only consulted the Word of God in prayer for today’s sermon.” Sounds spiritual, doesn’t it?

He might as well have said, “I don’t really care what God has revealed to others about this text. I only care about what God has revealed to me.”

Here is an insight: you are not the smartest person, nor the most spiritual person to ever have studied the Word. To cut yourself off from the insights of spiritual giants down through the ages is just plain dumb. Your teaching and your people will suffer for it.

Again, we come to the word balance. Effective Bible Teachers prepare with a Bible in one hand and a commentary in the other.

Do your own study. Ask your own questions. Look for your own answers. Pray for your own insights. Then, read the best insights from others. What a wonderful word: both.

Apply

Study is about bombarding the text with questions and looking for answers—first your own answers, then the answers of others. The most important question is this:

Lord, what would you have me do about this passage?

Effective Bible Teachers are about making doers of the Word and not hearers only. They know it starts with them. Effective Bible Teachers often say, “As I studied this text, I was convicted that I need to …”

Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Effective Bible Teachers say the same. They set an example for their people to follow.

The example of obedience is current. It is this week. Your people want to know what Jesus is doing in your life this week. Effective Bible Teachers are being changed by the Word this week.

Effective Bible Teachers ask people to drink from a moving stream. God’s work in their life is current. The constant prayer of the Effective Bible teacher is, “Lord, what would you have me do in responsive obedience to Your Word?”

It can be no other way. Imagine the opposite. Imagine a teacher who spends four or five or six hours studying, digging, preparing and yet, is not changed by the Word. What hope do they have of seeing others’ lives changed?

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

Teaching when you are not teaching

Josh Hunt — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 14:29:31 GMT

There has never been a better time to be a Bible Teacher than today. This is true on several levels. For one thing, we have incredible tools at our fingertips that make Bible Study so much easier. Word studies that used to require Greek training, expensive books, and lots of time can be done with a few clicks on an IPhone—assuming you have the Logos app.

I want to focus in this short chapter on how technology helps us to prepare people for learning. (In another chapter, we will focus on how it helps us to shepherd the group.)

Why do people need to be prepared for learning? Howard Hendricks put it this way:

The Law of Readiness is this: The teaching-learning process will be most effective when both student and teacher are adequately prepared. It highlights one of the great problems for teachers: Their students come to class cold.5

Do your students come in cold, or do they come in ready to learn—eager to discuss the topic of the day? Here is some good news: the Internet can help.

It could be as simple as an email asking them a question or making a request.

This week we will be studying worry. Do a little Googling around to see what scientists have found about the destructive cost of worry.
I am really excited about this week’s lesson. (You are, aren’t you?) We will be looking at the story of when Israel conquered Jericho. See what you can find about what archeology has discovered on Jericho.
Check out this video on the tomb of Lazarus. http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_n6RKhWqs4 Did you know it was still there?
Ask a friend what he thinks it takes to go to heaven when you die.
Who can bring snacks this week?
Be in prayer for Bob and Tina this week. Bob’s dad is in the hospital.

Just letting your group know you are excited about what you are learning and are eager to share can create a sense of excitement and anticipation. Obviously, you only want to do this sincerely.

It is a common thing for me to get really fired up when studying the Bible. You probably feel this way at times as well. Not a bad idea to fire off a quick email to your group letting them know of your excitement.

Sometimes the world tosses you a bone. Think back when Rob Bell released his controversial book, Love Wins. Nothing will stimulate learning like a little controversy. You might send out some excerpts and say you will be discussing this on Sunday.

The Shack was another book that grabbed our attention recently. It is also a good example of a book with some controversy. Stir up the controversy by saying you will be arguing about this on Sunday.

Sometimes, you will want to email individuals. Perhaps you have some readers in your group. If you are doing a study of Moses, you might ask them to read along in Chuck Swindoll’s excellent book by the same title.

A lot of people receive four forms of communication on the same device: email, text, Twitter posts, and Facebook updates. You might take advantage of all four. A simple text that says: “Fired up about this week’s lesson on forgiveness. You don’t want to miss it!” could really boost learning readiness.

You might want to start a discussion on your group’s Facebook group. You do have Facebook group, don’t you? If not, they are free and easy to set up. Get your group talking on Facebook outside of class and see if it doesn’t impact your discussion inside of class.

Sometimes you will want to call someone—perhaps your teacher in training. Every group should have a teacher in training who substitutes on a regular basis. Call him up and ask him to do a little research on part of the lesson you will be discussing. Have him teach part of the lesson based on his research.

Sometimes you want to have a face-to-face meeting. Here is a rule of thumb: every teacher should share a meal with every person in his/her class at least once a year. Tonight we will be going out to dinner with a couple from our Tuesday night group. Group time will always be richer because of it.

One more approach. Email your group and ask them to bring something to class. We did this at a fellowship for my home group. People brought little pieces of memorabilia that revealed something of themselves. It was a touching moment.

Class doesn’t begin when class begins. Keep up with people during the week. Use email. Use Facebook. Use Twitter. Text. Connect. Keep up. Assign. This is life together. It has never been easier.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher, 2013.

Why We Need Effective Bible Teachers

Josh Hunt — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 13:16:40 GMT

Bill Hybels has a saying that I just love: “We are going to teach our way out of this problem.” Here is what he means.

Suppose you have a giving problem in your church. You are not meeting budget. You are not able to meet expenses. You have bills that are unpaid. You have cut back everywhere possible, but there are still bills to be paid.

More than that, there are missed opportunities. There are ministries to launch. There are needs that need to be met. The fields are white unto harvest if you could just get the money to buy the tractors. How do you solve this problem?

You could organize a campaign. You could hire a consultant. You could put up posters and send out letters. Those things may have their place. Bill Hybels would suggest you do something else: teach your way out of this problem. Whatever problems you have in your church, Effective Bible Teaching is a big part of the solution.

Perhaps the need is not so much money as volunteers. Every church I know could use an infusion of volunteers. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful; the workers are few. The bottleneck of the evangelistic / disciple-making process has always been and always will be workers.

Big churches need more workers. I had a man in a large church say to me once, “Do you have any idea how many workers you need to staff a Sunday School of 3500 people?”

Small churches need more workers. I pastor a very small church in the country. It is what we used to call a preaching point. Twenty or thirty people—mostly farmers—gather each week to worship and study the Word of God. Do you know what the need is at our small church?

Workers.

And how do we get more workers? Jesus said the answer is prayer. (Matthew 9:37–38) I don’t take that to mean that we are to pray and do nothing else. I take it to mean that nothing else will matter until we pray. In the next breath, Jesus said, “Go! I am sending you out …” I see two things in that passage: pray and send out.

There is a third thing that will help: teach. Teach on the joy of serving. Teach on spiritual gifts. Teach on laying down your life. Teach on finding life by losing yourself in the service to others.

One way to implement this is to organize a church wide campaign where you coordinate three things around the theme you are trying to emphasize:

Sermons
Bible teaching in small groups
Daily quiet time

The classic example of this is the Purpose Driven Life Campaign. It is a model of what can be done by organizing sermons, Bible teaching in small groups and daily quiet times around one theme. (By the way—I have on occasion helped churches with the Bible lessons in a campaign like this. Contact me if you are interested.) josh@joshhunt.com

Does your church have a giving problem? Teach your way out of it.

Does your church have a lack of workers problem? Teach your way out of it.

Whatever problem your church faces, you would do well to follow the advice of Bill Hybels: teach your way out of it.

Let’s zoom back the lens. Think about the capital-C Church as a whole. Here are four problems we need to teach our way out of.

Ignorance

Numerous studies have demonstrated the lack of Bible knowledge both in and out of the church. I had a man say to me once: “Joseph … he had that coat of many colors, right?”

“Right.”

“And that was the father of Jesus?” We desperately need Effective Bible Teachers.

The Pew Research Center did a survey of basic knowledge of the Bible, Christianity, and world religions. Questions included naming the four gospels and whether or not the Golden Rule was one of the Ten Commandments. Curious thing about the results: atheists did better than church goers. To be fair, this was a survey of religious knowledge, not just Bible knowledge. Church goers did do better on the Bible questions. Everyone flunked.

Church in decline

I have heard this stat for years: 75% of churches are plateaued or declining. Here is the latest: Based on our research of 557 churches from 2004 to 2010, nine out of ten churches in America are declining or growing at a pace that is slower than that of their communities. Simply stated, churches are losing ground in their own backyards.1 Surely Effective Bible Teaching would help with that.

With young people, the situation is even worse.

Another way of looking at it is generationally. About two-thirds of the Builder generation, those born before 1946, are Christians. But only 15 percent of the Millennials are Christians. The Millennials are the largest generation in America’s history with almost eighty million members. They were born between 1980 and 2000. And we have all but lost that generation.2

Surely Effective Bible Teaching would help.

Do church goers believe differently?

If we could get them to church, would it matter? Let’s look at this in two ways: first, we will look at what church goers believe. Then, we will take a look at how they behave.

Brad Waggoner reported the findings of a survey of church goers in his book, The Shape of Faith to Come. Here are some highlights of his findings:

“The Bible is the written Word of God and is totally accurate in all that it teaches.” About half strongly agreed.
“Christians must continually work toward their salvation or risk losing it.” Only 23% got it right.
“If a person is sincerely seeking God, he/she can obtain eternal life through religions other than Christianity?” Only 32% got the right answer, disagreeing strongly.
“Every person is born a sinner due to the sin of Adam being passed on to all persons.” About half got this right and half got this wrong.3

Notice these are central doctrines of the faith and the survey is among church goers. Overall grade of church goers seems to be about 50%. That was flunking when I was in school.

Do church goers behave differently?

We are actually doing better than some people report.

It has been widely reported that there is no difference between the behavior of Christians and the behavior of non-Christians. That is not exactly right. Here is the more accurately stated truth: there is little difference in behavior between those who claim to be Christians and those who don’t. Key words: “claim to be Christians.” When we dig a little deeper and compare people who …

1) Claim to be Christians

2) Read their Bibles

3) Go to church each week

with people who don’t do these things, some significant differences start to show up. For example:

Christians live together outside of marriage about half as often as do non-Christians.
Those who don’t go to church were about 50% more likely to divorce compared with church goers.
Christians are about half as likely to commit acts of domestic violence.
People who attend church regularly are half as likely to commit adultery.
Not only did Protestants commit less crime, but also the Protestants who attended church on a weekly basis did so far less than other Protestants. For example, 4% of the weekly attendees had been arrested, compared to 8% of the monthly attendees, 12% of the yearly attendees, and 15% of those who never attend.4

In every arena, active church attendance tends to predict good behavior, and absence of church attendance tends to predict bad behavior.

Still, the differences are not as great as any of us would like to see. Effective Teaching can make a difference. Imagine if everyone who attended church was engaged in thoughtful, convicting, Spirit-anointed teaching.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

The Effective Bible Teacher

Josh Hunt — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 16:59:13 GMT

We desperately need an army of Effective Bible Teachers. What is an Effective Bible Teacher?

An Effective Bible Teacher teaches so that people live according to the Bible. Effective Bible Teachers create doers of the Word and not hearers only. Effective Bible Teachers make disciples.

Effective Bible Teachers result in classes that pray, people who serve, and individuals who read their Bibles and follow what it says.

Effective Bible Teachers create people who love the Lord God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Effective Bible Teachers lead people to know their spiritual gifts and serve according to their gifting. Effective Bible Teachers teach people to abide in Christ.

Effective Bible Teachers love the people in their group. They hang out with them. They serve them. They have them in their homes. They are with them.

Effective Bible Teachers lead people to love. They lead people to lay down their lives in service to others. They lead people to care.

Effective Bible Teachers lead people to love the Word as they love the Word. The Psalmist said it is sweeter than honey. In another place, “Oh how I love your law.” It was not mere duty and obligation. It was a delight.

Effective Bible Teachers make a difference. Their classes are different because of the way they teach. Their people are different because of their influence on the lives of individual members. Their corner of the world is different because it is infected by people who are salt and light.

People who listen to Effective Bible Teachers love it. They can feel their hearts changed each week as they are exposed to the effective teaching of the Word of God. They look forward to getting together. They rarely miss.

When they are in the group, they don’t look at their watches. They don’t fiddle with their keys. They don’t day-dream. They are engaged, interested, thinking, participating, disagreeing. They often find themselves with their hand up. Sometimes they blurt out things because they just feel they have to participate. They have experienced the truth of the Proverb that says:

The tongue of the wise makes knowledge attractive. Proverbs 15:2a (HCSB)

The Living Bible is characteristically fresh:

A wise teacher makes learning a joy. Proverbs 15:2 (TLB)

Things are quite different in the group that does not have an Effective Bible Teacher. Attendance is sporadic. People often arrive late. They look at their feet a lot. There is not much energy in the room. People rarely speak up unless called upon. They never write anything down.

We need an army of Effective Bible Teachers. It does not matter if they teach in a home group or in an on-campus Sunday School class. What matters is that the teacher is an Effective Bible Teacher. It doesn’t matter if they lead a children’s class or an adult class. Obviously, specific methods would have to be different in each case. What matters is that the teaching is effective.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

The Heart of a Teacher

Josh Hunt — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 14:13:43 GMT

I think it is an unfortunate thing that you are called a teacher. Since you are called a teacher, you might have the idea that your job is to teach. I have never talked to a Pastor or Small Group Minister anywhere that felt that the sole job of a teacher was to teach.

You are a shepherd. You are a coach. You are a mentor. You are a friend. You are the pastor of a microcosm of the church.

Your job is not to just deliver information, you are to pray for, care about, visit in the hospital, remember birthdays, hug the babies, and love the people. You are to take on the attitude that Paul had toward the Thessalonians:

But we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 1 Thes. 2:7–8, 11 [NIV]

What is a group, anyway?

The church exists on several levels:
World-wide invisible church where Billy Graham and James Dobson serve on staff
Local church
Micro-church. This is a small group or Sunday School class.

In the New Testament we read where the church met in temple courts and from house to house (Acts 5:42). We tend to focus on the geography—where they met—but I want us to focus on the type of group. These were small groups and large groups and the church needs both.

Notice it was the church that met house to house. I read in my quiet time this morning about “Nympha and the church in her house.” Col. 4:15 [NIV] Again, don’t focus on where they met. Note that this was the church. This was not a group of people from the church. It was not an organization of the church. It was the church.

We commonly see a different perspective from this today as we hear people say, “Are you going to Sunday School today, or just church?” Do you hear what the question is implying? The worship service is church. Sunday School, well, that is optional. This is not the New Testament perspective.

It would be more biblical to say, “Are you going to big church today or little church or both? Are you going to all of church or part of church?” Church is when we meet in small groups.

I would argue that most of what it means to really be the church—most of the one another stuff happens in, through and around small groups. Most of the loving one another, serving one another, bearing with one another and so forth happens in the micro-church, not at the congregational level.

At the micro-church level, you are the pastor

Just as your pastor spends part of his time in content preparation and delivery, you need to spend part of your time in content preparation and delivery. But, that is not all you are called to do. You are called to pastor that micro-church. You are called to make the group of people into a microcosm of the church.

The heart of a teacher, then, is the heart of a pastor.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 125–126.

Can you have accountability in an open group?

Josh Hunt — Sun, 28 Mar 2021 13:15:21 GMT

This question is mentioned last because it is last in terms of logical order. But, it may happen first in the class, and it may be the most important question you ask. Accountability questions go like this:

What did you do about what you heard last week?

The sad truth is, most of us didn’t do anything. We say that small groups are about changing lives, but are they really changing very much? Here is the question: how much do you think the average small group member has changed because of their small group in the past six months? How many could name specific, observable change that has take place in the last six months. Write your answer here:

Let’s be honest. In what ways has your life changed in the last six months because of something that happened in your small group? Write your answer here:

In what ways have you seen positive, specific changes in the lives of your students because of something that happened in group in the last six months? Write your answer here:

Did you struggle to come up with anything? Congratulations! You have a normal group. In my experience, this is typical. Sad, but pretty common.

A new vision for your group

What if we went at group a different way. What if, instead of teaching on a variety of topics and texts that went into detail of various word studies and background and what not—all good stuff. What if we went at it this way. What if we were to consider a number of possible goals for the next three to six months for our class members. Consider these possibilities.

We want our group members to have a daily quiet time.
We want our group members to memorize one verse a week and be able to recall the last twelve verses.
We want our members to be able to tell the story of the Old Testament without notes in about five or ten minutes.
We want our group members to follow biblical practices of handling money. We want them to have less debt six months from now than they have today.
We want our group members to know their gifts and be ministering according to their giftedness.

We could go on and on with this list, but I think you get the idea. Now. Pick one. Pick one goal for the next three months. Let’s say we pick the first one: we want our group members to have a daily quiet time.

Let’s have some fun. Let’s imagine that I could pay you a million dollars if three months from now eighty percent of your members were having a quiet time eighty percent of the time. (And, no, you can’t pay them part of your million.) What would you do?

What I would do would have a lot to do with accountability.

I would come up with thirteen topics that had to do with the goal of getting everyone to have a quiet time. These topics might include:

How to have a quiet time
Quiet time in the life of Jesus
Overcoming obstacles to having a quiet time
Sweet hour of prayer: learning to love prayer
Why God sometimes says no
The reliability of the Word
The treasure of the Word
Praying the Lord’s prayer
Prayer is not just about asking
Three good Bible reading plans
The power of habit
Biblical meditation
Scripture memory and prayer
The benefits and limitations of discipline
When Bible reading seems boring

Next, I would develop lessons on each of these topics. That is the easy part. The real key is this: I would be willing to set the lessons aside in favor of accountability. Every week I would prepare a lesson, but I would start the group by asking how we did this week in our quiet time. I would model this by having a consistent quiet time myself and sharing with the group how God spoke to me in my quiet time this week. Then I would ask how God spoke to them this week. I would let them share. If the conversation got good, I would let them share for a long time. I might even set aside my lesson if the conversation got good enough.

I would fully expect that in the early weeks few people might be having a quiet time. (This would vary quit a bit depending on the maturity of the group.) As each week went by, I would see a few more people having a quiet time, and those that are having a quiet time would get gradually more consistent. Accountability is the key to seeing this happen.

I would not get lazy and just not prepare a lesson on the hope that the conversation would get good enough. I would prepare a lesson each week, then listen and use my judgment, listening for the prompting of the Holy Spirit as to how much sharing and how much teaching would be useful to the group this week.

We would also spend a little time each week talking about why we are not having a quiet time. We would brainstorm together ways to overcome obstacles to having a quiet time. We would rehearse the benefits of having a quiet time based on the joy that we are all experiencing in our time alone with God.

This scenario is not theory to me. I have done it many times and I can tell you it is not that difficult to get 80% of your people having a quiet time 80% of the time if you hold them accountable.

I believe you could do this with most any discipleship goal you could imagine. Pick one area of life change that you are after. Go after it for as long as it takes. Hold people accountable. Watch the results before your eyes. Where you don’t have results, ask why. Discover obstacles. Remove obstacles. Solve problems. Find solutions. Provide encouragement.

It is this process that is at heart of life changing groups like Weight Watchers. They hold me accountable. We all know how to loose weight. Weight Watchers may teach some helpful things on how to loose weight but the main thing they do is provide an atmosphere of accountability.

Most of us know what we ought to do. We ought to read our Bibles. We ought to pray. We ought to give. We ought to live in authentic community and deep fellowship with one another. We ought to know our gifts and serve in the area of our giftedness. We ought to, we ought to we ought to, but many don’t. Why? It is not because they do not know. It is because they are not held accountable.

Can we do this in an open group?

There are two kinds of groups: open groups and closed groups. Open groups are ya’ll come groups. They are open to outsiders. They are for outreach. Closed groups—sometimes called discipleship groups—are for developing believers.

Many believe we can have accountability in a discipleship group, but not in a Sunday School-style open group.

It is true that you can set the bar too high. You can set the bar so high that it intimidates and runs off new comers. Imagine you are in a group that is holding one another accountable for scripture memory. At the beginning of the group, everyone gets into pairs and each person rattles off a dozen or so verses-near word-perfectly. This is great for discipleship, but not so good for outreach.

Maybe you can’t set the bar that high, but you can have some accountability, even in open groups. I did a series on the book of Proverbs once. We started with the observation that there are thirty-one chapters in Proverbs and thirty-one days in a long month. I suggested that if you were not reading anything else, you might consider reading the Proverb of the day. Each week I shared my own reading, and asked the group if they had read any from the Proverb of the day that week. By the end of the course everyone was reading the Proverb of the day.

But, here is the real point. This is accountability that does not run off newcomers. If you had visited the group two months into it you would have found that many of us were sharing from our reading of the Proverb of the day. Is this intimidating? Not for most people. Accountability can be done in an open group.

Conclusion

Accountability is the missing ingredient in most groups. Most people need accountability. Most church-goers know what they should do. They don’t do it because they are not being held accountable. You can do accountability in an open group. The bar cannot be too high, but you can do accountability in an open group. It is not likely that we will ever make disciples without accountability.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 119–124.

Why duty is not enough

Josh Hunt — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 18:47:35 GMT

Consider the analogy of a wedding anniversary. Mine is on December 21. Suppose on this day I bring home a dozen long-stemmed roses for Noël. When she meets me at the door, I hold out the roses, and she says, “O Johnny, they’re beautiful; thank you” and gives me a big hug. Then suppose I hold up my hand and say matter-of-factly, “Don’t mention it; it’s my duty.”

What happens? Is not the exercise of duty a noble thing? Do not we honor those we dutifully serve? Not much. Not if there’s no heart in it. Dutiful roses are a contradiction in terms. If I am not moved by a spontaneous affection for her as a person, the roses do not honor her. In fact, they belittle her. They are a very thin covering for the fact that she does not have the worth or beauty in my eyes to kindle affection. All I can muster is a calculated expression of marital duty.

Here is the way Edward John Carnell puts it:

Suppose a husband asks his wife if he must kiss her good night. Her answer is, “You must, but not that kind of a must.” What she means is this: “Unless a spontaneous affection for my person motivates you, your overtures are stripped of all moral value.”6

The fact is, many of us have failed to see that duty toward God can never be restricted to outward action. Yes, we must worship Him. “But not that kind of must.” What kind then? The kind C. S. Lewis described to Sheldon Vanauken: “It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”7

The real duty of worship is not the outward duty to say or do the liturgy. It is the inward duty, the command: “Delight yourself in the LORD”! (Psalm 37:4). “Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice!” (Psalm 32:11).

The reason this is the real duty of worship is that it honors God, while the empty performance of ritual does not. If I take my wife out for the evening on our anniversary and she asks me, “Why do you do this?” the answer that honors her most is “Because nothing makes me happier tonight than to be with you.”

“It’s my duty” is a dishonor to her.

“It’s my joy” is an honor.

There it is! The feast of Christian Hedonism. How shall we honor God in worship? By saying, “It’s my duty”? Or by saying, “It’s my joy”?

Worship is a way of reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth. Now we see that the mirror that catches the rays of His radiance and reflects them back in worship is the joyful heart. Another way of saying this is to say

The chief end of man is to glorify God
by
enjoying Him forever.

John Piper, Desiring God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2003), 93–94.

Five Reasons We Don’t Evangelize

Josh Hunt — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 17:53:43 GMT

By Mike McKinley

The New Testament compels God’s people to take the gospel out into the world. Jesus gave his disciples a standing order to go and make disciples (Matt. 28:19). He told them that they would become fishers of men (Matt. 4:17). Peter advised the churches of Asia Minor to be ready with an answer when people asked them about their hope (1 Pet. 3:15).

But it seems like something has gone wrong. Many Christians do not live like fishers of men. Not many people ask us about the hope that we have in Christ, and when they do we’re not really ready to give an answer. Evangelical churches talk a lot about evangelism, but according to popular surveys and anecdotal impressions most church members don’t share their faith very often.

WHY DON’T WE EVANGELIZE?

I’d like to suggest five reasons that churches and church members don’t share the gospel as part of their normal course of life. Other articles in this Journal suggest ways to remedy this situation, but for now let’s stick with diagnosing the problem.

1. Churches Isolate Christians from unbelievers.

First, churches isolate Christians from unbelievers. Simply put, a lot of Christians don’t know any unbelievers. Though our daily lives put us into regular contact with many people who don’t know Jesus, it’s easy to go through life without having close relationships with any of them.

Churches enable this isolation in a couple ways. Many churches run a host of weeknight programs and then define being a good church member in terms of attendance at those programs. As a result, the calendars of many Christians are filled up with church activities and there is little time to have neighbors and co-workers into their homes.

In addition, some congregations cultivate hostility toward the world. As our culture becomes more explicitly hostile to Christianity and biblical morality, it’s easy to allow a bunker mentality to set in. When that happens, the outside world becomes a bogeyman and the way for God’s people to be holy is to keep their distance from it. So Christians live lives on parallel tracks from the world, with their own schools and businesses and sports leagues and scouting programs, but very few chances to build relationships with unbelievers.

2. We believe that evangelism is extraordinary.

A second reason Christians don’t evangelize is that we believe it’s extraordinary. We suspect that evangelism is only for those who have the gift of evangelism, or for pastors and other professional Christians. And so they simply don’t feel like they are capable of sharing the gospel. From time to time people in my congregation will bring their friends or family to me so that I can tell them about Jesus, and I have to challenge them to step up and do it themselves! After all, in Acts 8:1–4 it’s not the apostles but the “normal” Christians who take the message about Jesus out of Jerusalem and into the wider world.

3. Churches don’t talk about the cost of following Jesus.

Third, our churches don’t talk about the cost of following Jesus. Yet evangelism will be costly. There’s really no way to tell people that you believe God took on human flesh by being birthed by a virgin and then, after dying on a cross, rose from the dead and soared back up to heaven without at least running the risk of losing their favor. But that’s okay. The apostle Paul says that God intentionally saves us in a way that will seem foolish to the “wise” of our world (1 Cor. 1:18–29). Our message will not be well received by those who are perishing, but will be like a stench in their nostrils (2 Cor. 2:14–16).

If I understand Paul correctly, it’s actually God’s plan for you to suffer some as you share the gospel. If you don’t agree, read through the book of Acts and just make a note of every time someone shares the gospel and something bad happens to them.

But many churches never confront their people with the reality that following Christ will cost them. We teach them that God is all about them and their sense of personal wellbeing. So when it comes time to pay the price and share the gospel, many of us simply aren’t willing to lose our reputations.

4. We look for immediate results.

Fourth, we look for immediate results. Of course, it’s easy to become discouraged about our evangelism. Maybe we read a book or listened to a sermon and went out and shared our faith, only to grow discouraged when nothing visibly happened. I think many Christians have simply given up on evangelism because they made an effort and didn’t see any results.

But we simply aren’t in a position to judge what God is doing in any given situation. It may be that in God’s plan we are supposed to be the first in a long line of people who evangelize a person before they come to Christ. I can think of plenty of examples of evangelistic conversations and efforts that seemed like a waste at the time. It was not until much later that I found out that the person had come to Christ.

The gospel is the power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16), and the word of God is alive and powerful (Heb. 4:12–13). We must cultivate confidence that the Lord who causes the growth will accomplish his redemption. He will save souls. He often does not do it according to our timetables, and he may not choose the people we would choose. But he will use us if we are faithful.

5. We aren’t clear on the message.

A final reason we don’t evangelize is that we aren’t clear on the message. When someone asks to join our church, one of the things that I ask is for them to briefly summarize the gospel message (think 60 seconds). And I am consistently surprised by how many Christians find it difficult to do that. It’s not that they don’t believe the gospel—they do.

It’s not that they are ignorant—many of them know their Bibles very well. And while they might be nervous or surprised by the question, it’s still a disturbing trend. There’s no way to share the gospel if you aren’t prepared to share the gospel.

Mike McKinley, “Five Reasons We Don’t Evangelize,” 9Marks Journal (2013): 24–26.

Asking for Commitment

Josh Hunt — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 15:32:24 GMT

All lessons end in the same place. Regardless of the topic, no matter the text, all lessons end with the same question:

What do you want to do about what you heard today?

There are several key words in this sentence. Let’s look at a few of them.

What do YOU want to do about what you heard today?

Application is general. We have been there: what are ten ways we could apply this to our lives. The freedom from commitment is important at that stage because it frees the mind to be creative. By thinking of all the ways we could apply, we are not burdened down by having to ask if we want to do this or that. But, somewhere along the way, we have to narrow the focus. We need to pick one or two things from the list that we want to do.

Commitment is personal. It is not general. It is me and God and what am I going to do. Not “What should Christians do to clean up the environment?” Not, “What should politically active people do about abortion?” Not, “What should the church do to be more effective evangelistically. The question is: what are YOU going to do about what you heard today?

What do you WANT to do about what you heard today?

Based on the cost/benefit that we have looked at today, what do you want to do? Not …

What do you think you should do?
What does your wife want you to do?
What do good Christians do?

The question is, “What do you want to do?”

In the long run, people do what they want. Christian teaching is about changing what people want to do. If we don’t change what they want to do, we don’t change them enough. Effective teaching gets people in touch with their God-given passions.

Good passions must overcome bad passion. We overcome evil with good.

We overcome stinginess by getting people in touch with their desire to be a generous person. Don’t you want to be a generous person? Aren’t all the people you admire in this world generous people?
We overcome inappropriate sexual desire by getting people in touch with their desire to be pure. How do you feel about adulterers? Do you want to be one? Do you want your kids to think of you that way?
We overcome laziness by embracing the benefits of diligence. Every goal we have takes work. I want to do some things. I want to accomplish some things. Laziness won’t get me there.

Effective teaching gets people in touch with what they want—really want to do with their lives. Effective teaching changes people’s “wanter.”

What do you want to DO about what you heard today?

It isn’t about what you think or whether you agree or what your opinion is. The question is, “What are you going to do about it?” There are two ways to go at this.

Baby steps

Sometimes we fail to live the Christian life because it is so daunting. We have been fat and out of shape our whole lives and now you tell me to make a decision to live a healthy life? Really?

Sometimes, you do better to ask for baby steps.

Could you cut out French Fries?
Could you take a fifteen minute walk before work?
Could you, just for this week, have fruit around the house as a snack?

Did you see the movie What About Bob? This was the mantra of the character played by Bill Murray: Baby steps; baby steps.

Small difference can make a big difference over time. Tiny, incremental differences can make a huge difference. One percent improvement per week in almost anything will make radical differences in a year. The problem is we sometimes don’t change at all. I know churches that have not changed in years. Their service is the same. The music is the same. The building is the same. Everything is the same. Small changes can make a big difference if consistently implemented.

Small changes are doable. Small changes don’t scare us. Small changes we can handle. But, not too small. Remember the narrow way.

If the change is too small it doesn’t challenge us and we don’t find any motivation for it. The challenge to loose one pound this year may be doable, but it doesn’t motivate us. Find the narrow way. Find a challenge that is big enough to challenge, but small enough to be within our grasp.

Ask for the big order

Sometimes, we don’t need to ask for baby steps at all. Sometimes we need to ask for the big order. Sometimes we need to make the big ask. Generally speaking, most Sunday School teachers are too timid. They don’t make the big ask.

Change is sometimes incremental, like erosion. But, often times change is all-at-once, like an earthquake. Suddenly everything is different.

I have heard teachers make compelling arguments for tithing for example. They provide the biblical exposition. They talk of the reasonableness of it. They speak of the cost and the benefit. Everything is moving along nicely until it comes time to land the plane. The closing goes like this: “Maybe some of you have heard what we talked about today and it is too much for you. You can’t imagine giving 10% of your income away. You have too much debt, too much financial pressure and you just can’t get there. Here is what I recommend. Start giving something today. Something. Anything. Some small little something. One year from now, make a commitment to start giving 1% of your income, then 2% a year later, and so on. Ten years from now, you will be tithing.”

I have asked hundreds of teachers if they tithe and if that is how they got to tithing. It has happened, but it is pretty rare. Most people who tithe got there because someone made the big ask. Someone asked for them to give not 10% to God by 100%. The 10% is just a reminder that it all belongs to God.

What do you want to do about what you heard TODAY?

You can’t change everything all at once. You can’t ask people to get in shape, start having a quiet time, start sharing their faith, start tithing and discover their spiritual gift all at once. It is what I call the dead bug syndrome: if you ask me for too much all at once I freeze up and just lie there like a dead bug with my arms and legs up in the air.

The question is not, “What do you want to do about all the commands in the Bible?” The question is, “What do you want to do about what you heard TODAY.”

Matthew 18 says, “If your brother sins against you …” Notice that “sins” is singular. One sin. Deal with one sin at a time. If you ask me to be more grateful, more generous, more kind and more diligent all in one day, I just freeze up like a dead bug.

It is not all about doing

Christian living is not all about doing right. It is also about feeling right and believing right. The commitment question, then, could be about any of these:

What do you want to do about what you heard today? Or
What beliefs do you want to turn from based on what we have talked about today?
What feelings do you want to cultivate? Do you want to become a person who feels more grateful or content or loving?

Conclusion

It is often said that effective teaching is all about application. That is not exactly right. Application is a necessary first step, and a step that a lot of teachers don’t take. But the next step is even more important: the commitment question.

Based on what we have said in this chapter, how do you want to change your teaching this weekend? Be specific and personal.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 113–117.

Why groups don't double

Josh Hunt — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 14:52:11 GMT

I work full time training and challenging Sunday School teachers to double every two years or less. One question I have asked myself a million times is, “Why doesn’t it happen already? Why doesn’t it happen routinely? Why doesn’t it happen all the time?

I can show you examples of where doubling groups is happening routinely, and it is resulting in explosive growth. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that there is an unprecedented movement of doubling groups going on right now. God is up to something in a big way.

Henry Blackaby taught us that if you want to follow God what you must do is discover where God is at work and join Him in what He is doing. One thing God is doing is orchestrating a global movement of doubling groups. I could write a book on that. In fact, I have written a book on that, but it is not the topic of this book. The question is, why doesn’t it happen all the time?

When I ask this question, most people can think of one or two answers. I want to illustrate how asking, pushing, and asking some more can reveal more and more obstacles in the way of any goal, using the goal of doubling groups as an example.

1. We don’t know how

My core assumption for many years was that teachers did not know how to double. I spent all my time teaching a five step strategy on how to double a class:

Teach a half-way decent lesson each and every week. Nothing less will do. You don’t have to be Chuck Swindoll. It does have to be half way decent.

Invite every member and every prospect to every fellowship every month. I teach a party-driven strategy. I have seen it happen more times than I could count that if we can get them to the party, we could not keep them from class.

Give Friday nights to Jesus to an informal time of Diet Coke, coffee cake and card playing.

Encourage the group toward ministry. We need everyone in the group involved in this process of doubling groups.

Reproduce your group. Doubling a group is not so much about going from ten to twenty as much as it is about going from one group to two.

There is a five step strategy for doubling groups. I have taught this hundreds of times to tens of thousands of teachers. Why isn’t it happening all the time? Is it just that we don’t know how? Or, are there other reasons?

2. We didn’t realize the significance

Another reason groups are not doubling is we don’t think of the significance. We thought doubling was about taking my happy group of thirty and splitting it up into two grumpy groups of ten. We didn’t realize that a group of ten that doubles every eighteen months or less can reach a thousand people in ten years. Go ahead, check out the math for yourself.

3. We didn’t think it was possible

Reaching a thousand people in ten years doesn’t sound possible. It doesn’t sound realistic. In my seminars I tell story after story of where it really it is happening.

4. None of our fellow teachers are doubling

We are profoundly influenced by what social scientists call social proof—in lay terms—peer pressure. We think of it affecting kids, but there is a preponderance of evidence that suggests that everyone is strongly influenced by the people in our reference group. For most teachers, the teachers in their reference group don’t double, so they don’t double. Recently I have been video taping the stories of teachers who have doubled in order to overcome this obstacle.

5. The pastor doesn’t model it

I heard an Andy Stanley sermon recently where he stood before his people and said again as he has said many times,

“Our group started up three weeks ago. [Their groups take a summer break at Northpoint. This message was delivered late summer—August, I think. So, what he means, in context is, “our group started up from our summer break.”] We are dividing this fall. Sandra says every time, “This is the best group we have ever had, I wish it never had to end.” And, it has been an incredible, incredible group I wish it wouldn’t come to an end, but every eighteen months or so, my wife and I, we divide our group and start new groups, because we are so committed to this.

As I reflected on this, it occurred to me that this is the only time I have ever heard a pastor say this. I have never heard a pastor stand before his people and say, “I am in a group that is committed to doubling; I want you to be in a group that is committed to doubling.”

Surely one of the reasons this is not happening already is because pastors are not modeling and vision casting about doubling groups. Nothing is important till the pastor says it is important.

Why don’t pastors say it is important?

6. Pastors are told to think about the stage

Most conferences for pastors emphasize what pastors do. They emphasize the preaching. Or, the talk about what kind of music we should have. They talk about the stage. They talk about what pastors should do. Pastors are not being taught to stand before their group and say, “I am in a group that is doubling; I want you to be in a group that is doubling.”

7. We think it will all work out anyway

There is a common sentiment that “If we don’t do what we are supposed to do, God will raise someone else up and it will all get done anyway.” I don’t have time to go into it now, but let me just say, I disagree with that statement.5 There may be some things that God will raise up someone else to do, but I believe there are many things that if I don’t do them they just won’t get done.

8. We think it will compete with our happiness

“But I am happy as I am.” You will be happier if you are in a movement of doubling groups.

9. We have other things that God has called us to do

I hesitate to admit this, but there might be other callings besides doubling a group for some people. Doubling a group might not be the calling for some.

This may be true in some cases, it may be true in many cases. But being part of a group is basic to the Christian life. Being part of a group that wants to live out the five purposes of the church is basic. A common, bread and butter strategy for many is to be in a group that doubles.

10. We are too busy

I have a shocking answer to this one: don’t spend so much time at church. Many church members are spending Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night at church, and we can’t figure out how to make time to give Friday nights to Jesus. Here is a thought: cut something out. Don’t go on Sunday night. Stay home on Wednesday night.

Rick Warren taught us that there are five purposes of the church and we do well to giving some thought to balancing them all. Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night are about discipleship and worship and fellowship. We might do well to cut out one of those nights and spend it on ministry and evangelism.

If I were your pastor, I would invite you to move this up, way up, in your priority structure. I would invite you to make it your second church priority. First, is Sunday morning. Second is giving Friday nights to Jesus. Then, if you have time you can come on Sunday night or Wednesday night.

Another option is to repurpose Sunday night. Make it a night of outreach fellowships where each class has a party and they invite recent visitors, absentees and prospects to the dinner.

11. Life gets in the way

Why don’t we double? Life. Kids. Soccer. Bills. Lawns. Work. Life gets in the way.

12. It just doesn’t matter to us

This is the one I don’t know how to get past. I don’t know how to make people care. Sadly, in many cases this is the problem.

Conclusion

When I asked the question, “Why aren’t we doubling already, you probably thought you knew the answer. It probably didn’t feel like all that of significant of a question. The more you keep asking, “Why? Why? Why? Why is that true, why not?” the more obstacles you will uncover. Unless we uncover those obstacles, we won’t remove them and they will block our progress.

We will have to deal with all of those obstacles if we want to see a doubling group movement.

It is true in every arena. What are the obstacles to having a daily quiet time. Make a long list. Add some more things to it. Think about it some more. Make it longer. Then, address each of those issues. This is the only way we will get people in a daily quiet time.

Two follow-up questions to what are the obstacles questions work like this:

Which of these are the biggest obstacles for you personally?
How can we remove these obstacles?

Pushing harder is seldom the answer in any arena. You have to get the rocks out of the way. Once you do, you come to understand the words of Jesus when he spoke of an easy yoke.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 105–111.

The power of an example

Josh Hunt — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 10:06:55 GMT

There is nothing like an example.

Obviously, you could just tell them:

Here are five steps to being consistent in your daily quiet time
Here are three keys to effective financial management
Here are four principles that will help us to raise godly children

You could just tell them, but it is inherently more interesting to ask them. Let them tell their story. Let them share.

How did you come to enjoy consistency in your daily quite time?
What has God taught you about effective financial management?
What do you think it takes to raise Godly children?

If you have some points and you want to make sure they are covered, keep the list in front of you. If your group does not mention one of the things on the list, you can participate in the conversation. Add your point. You will be surprised how seldom this is necessary. You will also be surprised how often people will come up with some truly brilliant answers that are not on your list.

But, testimony questions do more than make class more interesting. They make class more life-changing.

How God changes us

Anyone interested in teaching would do well to give some careful thought to how God changes people. Check the spiritual temperature of the average church goer and you will see that we are not doing as well at this as most of us would like. We are not creating fire-breathing, God-loving, Bible-reading, money-sharing, people-serving disciples. At least not consistently.

The question is why? How does God change people and how are we missing it?

Let’s look at some of the popular approaches and some strengths and weaknesses of each.

Discipleship by hanging around

This is the most common approach to discipleship. It assumes that if people hang around church long enough, they will become disciples.

This is not altogether untrue. If people hang around church, they will hear some teaching, hopefully some good teaching. This teaching will transform their thinking. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

They will not only be taught they will be loved. Love changes people. They will be challenged to act. They will be given opportunities to serve. Lots of good things will happen if people will hang around at church.

I was talking to a friend recently who was bemoaning the fact that we don’t have in our churches a systematic and thought-through process of turning sinners into saints. We have not thought through a simple path to move people from where they are to becoming fully devoted followers of Christ. I pushed back: “That may be true, but the odd thing is this: you and I consider ourselves to be disciples and somehow we got here. Somehow we became disciples and we didn’t have a clearly delineated plan to become disciples, yet, we became disciples. Somehow our messy approach does produce results.

Results, but probably not as consistently as most people would like.

Behavior modification

Somewhere along the line we realize that teaching is about application. It is about making doers of the word and not hearers only. We must constantly ask our listeners, “What do you want to do about what you heard today?” Without a rigorous and consistent emphasis on application we run a great risk of, on a good day, making smarter sinners, and, on a bad day, doing no good at all. On a really bad day, we turn people toward becoming Pharisees. Application is a critical component of all effective teaching. Most teaching would greatly improve by doubling or quadrupling the emphasis on application.

But, this approach to teaching has a problem. If we are not careful, we are simply saying to people, “You are sinning and you need to quit!”

You need to be consistent in your quiet time.
You need to quit eating so much and exercise more.
You need to find a place to serve according to your giftedness.
You really need to quit smoking.

That last one provides a good illustration. You need to quit smoking. Of course they need to quit smoking. Don’t you think they know they need to quit smoking? One problem: they can’t quit smoking. And they can’t figure out how to be consistent in their quiet time either. And they can’t figure out how to forgive in the really important matters. The list goes on. They would like to, they just don’t seem to be able to. They have tried many times, but discipline alludes them.

This raises another question: what is the difference between this kind of emphasis on application and old-fashioned worldly behavior modification? To hear some people teach, we ought to be able to live the Christian life without God: just try hard, work at it, be disciplined.

Others teach a more passive approach: let go and let God. Just get out of the way and let God work through you. Whatever else we say about Christian living, a casual reading of the New Testament would reveal it is not passive. Paul spoke of striving, running, pushing, stretching. These are not passive concepts.

Beliefs drive behavior

There is a simple and easy-to-understand reason we do what we do. We do what we do because we believe it is in our best interest to do so. We are irrevocably hard-wired to pursue what we believe to be in our best interest. Beliefs drive behavior. There is a world of difference between disciplining yourself to have a quiet time and coming to understand what the hymn writer had in mind when he wrote the words, “Sweet hour of prayer.” Prayer either become a sweet time for us or we don’t do it. Which is it for you?

Behavior modification can never work without belief modification. We must come to believe something different and we will come to behave differently. Beliefs always drive behavior.

Next question: what drives beliefs?

Beliefs are supported by the people in our reference group We tend to believe what the people in our group believe. We tend to believe what our reference groups believes.

A great deal of research has also been done on the concept of social proof-the idea that most people follow the crowd.

One researcher discovered that if he artificially increased the number of times a song was downloaded, that song was downloaded even more. People like to buy what everyone else is buying—that is why we pay attention to the best sellers lists.
Candid Camera featured an episode called, “face the rear” where an unsuspecting man gets onto an empty elevator. Soon, the elevator begins to fill up. What the man doesn’t know is that everyone in the elevator were part of the Candid Camera cast. They were all instructed to face the rear of the elevator when they boarded. After the fifth person faced the rear, the original man also faced the rear.
One experiment featured a number of versions all centered around people coming into a doctor’s office. Everyone in the waiting room waits quietly for a while, then gets up and does something bizarre. First, one at a time, they get up, grab a pencil, and break it. One by one, each person does this, until, you guessed it, the original man gets up and breaks a pencil as well.
In a similar experiment, people in the doctor’s office got up and tore off a page from a calendar. Sure enough, the original man gets up and tears off a page as well.
In the most extreme example, people were instructed to sit quietly for a while, then stand up and undress down to their underwear. One by one, everyone in the room undressed to their underwear. (They were all men.) Unbelievably, the subject of the experiment does so as well.

Think about your own life …

When did you start using a DVD player, when you saw it in a store? When you read technical reviews? When all your friends did? When you could no longer rent or buy VHS tapes?
When did you start using email? When you read the specs or when a friend told you about it?
If you were to move to a new town and were looking for a church, what would be more likely to persuade you, a billboard or the recommendation of a friend?

The odd thing is, it doesn’t feel like this to us. If I asked you, “Do you make decisions based primarily on the merits of the issue at hand, weighing out the pros and cons for yourself, or do you just follow the crowd?” Most people will say they do not follow the crowd, they make independent, objective and thoughtful decisions. The research strongly suggests, however that most people are not reading the information about what to buy and wear and where to buy what they wear. Most people talk to their friends.

Imagine this

Imagine three classrooms. The same question is asked in each: How did you learn to eat healthfully and exercise regularly?

Room #1:

In room #1 you find a room full of overweight and unhealthy people. They laugh out loud at the question.

Room #2:

This room is the exact opposite. It is filled with muscular, athletic, health-nuts. They jump on the question, all trying to out-do each other with the best story. They all exercise for more than an hour a day and the consistently eat healthful foods. They make references to books and magazine articles and web sites that you have never heard of.

Room #3:

This room is filled with normal people: people like you. They are about your age, your build, your stage in life. There is a slight pause after the question is raised, then one person, to your right, speaks up. “It was about five years ago for me. My dad died of a heart attack at age fifty-eight. I want to live long enough to see my grandkids grow up. I started exercising and eating better about five years ago. I don’t do it perfectly, but I do far better than I did. I have lost about thirty pounds and have kept it off for five years now. My deal is tennis. I had to find an exercise I enjoyed. I joined a local tennis club and play about three or four times a week. I feel better, and my wife tells me I look better.”

Let’s imagine five other people speak up with similar testimonies. One after another someone speaks up and talks about how they won the battle of the bulge and how they are so much happier now. These are not marathon-running jocks. They are just normal people like you that have found a way to joyfully work exercise into their lives. They have come to love eating right and their bodies show it.

How do you feel after leaving room #1?

How do you feel after leaving room #2?

How do you feel after leaving room #3?

Room #4

Now, imagine a fourth room. In this room, there are no testimonies. No one talks about how they are doing. The teacher give some helpful information on steps to healthy living. They are all steps you heard before: eat right, get enough exercise, etc. All stuff you have heard before. All stuff you could have taught. All stuff you know you should do. All stuff you don’t do.

How do you feel after leaving room #4?

Conclusion

If you are normal, one of the most persuasive influences in our life is the influence of our reference group. The question for most of us is not so much about what is right or what we believe as much as it is about what the people in our group practice. By accenting the positive behavior of some in your group, you draw the rest of the group along.

Some people in your group are having a quiet time, let them share.
Some people are ministering according to their giftedness, let them share.
Some are tithing and beyond. Let them share.
Some are exercising and eating right. Let them share.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 97–104.

Two Magic Questions

Josh Hunt — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 15:57:40 GMT

These two magic questions are based on two deeply held convictions. I have talked to thousands of believers about these convictions, and they all agree with them. But, they stand in stark contrast to the conversations that often go on in small groups. Here are the convictions:

It is always in our best interest to live the Christian life.
We are irrevocably hard-wired to pursue what we believe to be in our best interest. In the long run, we will do what we believe to be in our best interest. This is why our belief is so important to the Christian faith.

I have asked thousands of believers if they agree with the first statement. They all agree. I press them: always? Are there ever any exceptions? Won’t you pay more taxes? Won’t you get there later? Mightn’t a little lie get you out of a bind from time to time? Is it always in your best interest to live the Christian life?

Over the long run, it is. In the short run, it might cost you. In the short run it might be painful, but it is always in our best interest to follow God in the long run.

The Bible says, “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:3 [NIV] Not burdensome. In the long run, it is always in our best interest to live the Christian life.

In Deuteronomy it says, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.” Deut. 30:15 [NIV] If you want life, here is one word formula: obedience. If you don’t care about life, go the other way, choose disobedience. But, the end is death.

Stating the same thing from the back side, it goes like this: Self-discipline is generally over-rated in Christian teaching. Not that there is not a place of self-discipline. There is. But, it is like a spare tire. Sometimes you need a spare tire. Spare tires are good. But, if you try to live your whole life on a spare tire, you will soon be in trouble.

Self-discipline, by which I mean forcing yourself to do what you basically do not want to do is over-rated. It is a spare tire. Sometimes, you and I will need to do that. But if we try to live our whole life forcing ourselves to do what we basically don’t want to do, eventually we will get tired and we do what we want to do.

You must come to love the Christian life, or you will never come to live the Christian life. You must discover what the hymn writer had in mind when he wrote, “Sweet hour of prayer” or you are likely not praying very well. We either learn to “love to tell the story” or we don’t tell the story much. We must love it, or we will never live it.

This is not only my opinion, but also the opinion of smart people. One of them is C. S. Lewis. Observe what he says about self-discipline, or, in his words, self-denial.

The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965], pp. 1–2.)1

The reference to Kant, by the way, is explained by Ayn Rand this way:

Ayn Rand (novelist and atheistic philosopher): “An action is moral, said Kant, only if one has no desire to perform it, but performs it out of a sense of duty and derives no benefit from it of any sort, neither material nor spiritual. A benefit destroys the moral value of an action. (Thus if one has no desire to be evil, one cannot be good, if one has, one can.).” (For the Intellectual, New York: Signet, 1961, p.32)2

Why the juxtaposition?

It is always in our best interest to live the Christian life. Why then, do we so often hear teaching along these lines:

Choose God’s way, not your way!
It is not about you. It is about pleasing and glorifying God.

If it is in our best interest to live the Christian life, it seems this creates an artificial tension. It creates an imaginary choice that, on the surface, sounds spiritual: chose God’s way, not your way! Sounds good, but, if we are thinking rightly we understand that God’s way is always good for me. It is always in my best interest to live the Christian life. Choosing God’s way is the best thing I can do for me. If I want the best life for me, I will always choose God’s way.

In a way, if I were truly pursuing my self-interest, and were thinking rightly about it, I would always pursue obedience. This is what John Piper means when he says, “let your passion be single.” It is one single desire to please God and to please myself. Here is Piper’s way of saying it:

A Summary of Christian Hedonism in Five Statements

The longing to be happy is a universal human experience, and it is good, not sinful.
We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction.
The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God.
The happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it expands to meet the needs of others in the manifold ways of love.
To the extent we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or, to put it positively: the pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue.3

Another saint that saw this truth was George Muller:

The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit (Autobiography of George Mueller, compiled by Fred Bergen, [London: J. Nisbet Co., 1906], pp. 152–154].4

An everyday example

Most of us struggle to one degree or another with issues of health—eating healthful foods, exercising and maintaining our weight. Have you ever known someone that didn’t seem to struggle?

I have a friend that doesn’t seem to struggle with these issues. I have known him for twenty-five years and for twenty-five years he has exercised at least five times a week. We have gone out to eat hundreds of times over the years and nine times out of ten he gets salad or grilled chicken and broccoli. He is slim, trim and in-shape.

Do you know anyone like that? How do they feel about fatty foods? How do they feel about healthful foods? How do they feel about exercise? My friend tells me he just loves this warm feeling he has in his muscles after a good work-out. (I don’t actually know what that feeling is!)

People that win the war of healthful living always feel this way. They love it. They love eating healthful food. They love exercise. We either come to love it, or we never do it consistently.

I had another friend who represents the opposite. He told me he had just LOST FORTY POUNDS going through the Weigh-Down workshop. We were sharing a meal and one of those greasy spoon diners in central Texas. The parking lot was packed. He explained to me that people came from all over to enjoy the incredible chicken-fried steak they had at this place. He described it as being bigger than Texas—a big old fried steak with greasy gravy all over it and mashed potatoes and greasy gravy all over that and it was like heart attack on a plate but it was sooooooo good! What would my friend do? He was torn. He wanted the chicken fried steak with the greasy gravy and mashed potatoes and greasy gravy all over that, but he should have grilled chicken and broccoli.

Now, the real question is not what did he do that day. The real question is this. What chances do you give my friend of keeping that weight off? What chances do you give him of being slim, trim and in shape a year later?

I give him no chance at all. Why? What does he believe to be in his best interest? He believes that life is about eating chicken fried steak with grease gravy but he should eat grilled chicken and broccoli. And as long as he believes that, in the long run he will do what he believes is in his best interest. He is hard wired for that.

It is like the auto-pilot on a plane. You can set an auto-pilot to take you from Dallas to Chicago. You can turn the stick on the plane and force it to go South instead. But, eventually, you will get tired and the plane will make its way North again. So it is with our desires. We can force ourselves to do what we don’t want to do for a time, but eventually, what we want to do wins out. Eventually we do what we want.

I knew a woman once that was deeply in love with a man that was not her husband. The man was married as well. They were both active church members in the same church. This is the way she saw life. “I know I should cut off this relationship, but it just feels like life to me. I know pursuing that relationship doesn’t honor God, and God would be happier with me if I would break it off, but he just makes me feel so alive. I should choose God’s way, but I want so badly to choose my way.”

As long as she feels this way, there is not enough will power in the world to keep them apart. Eventually we all do what we believe to be in our best interest. We must come to love the Christian life, or we will never come to live the Christian life.

An extreme example

“Always?” you might be wondering. Is it always in your best interest to live the Christian life? Aren’t there some exceptions?

Take the case of Cassie Bernall. She was one of the High School students who was gunned down in Littleton, Colorado. Before he shot her, her killer pointed a gun in her face and asked her a simple question: Do you believe in God? (The forensic evidence suggested the gun was touching her face when he pulled the trigger.) Cassie had a simple choice. It is fairly clear what God would have her do. The Bible says, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:26 [NIV] God’s calling on her life is pretty easy to understand at the point.

I have a biography on Cassie’s life. The title is She Said Yes. She said yes, and he blew her head off with the gun pushing against her face.

One might be tempted to ask, “Mightn’t it been in her best interest to not be so bold? Mightn’t it be in her best interest to cave? Mightn’t it have been in her best interest to say, ‘I don’t want any trouble. Please spare my life.’?”

The Bible teaches that reality is like a line that stretches forever and ever.

Reality

Not just to the edge of this page, but forever. All of time can be pictured as a dot that sits on the line.

All of time sits on that dot—from Adam and Eve to the disasters to Abraham to Jesus to Columbus to you and I and our great-great-great grand kids if Christ waits that long. All of time fits in the dot and the lines lasts forever.

Those who are martyred for their faith will receive a greater reward in heaven—throughout the whole line—than will the rest of us. (Revelation 4)

I am not exactly sure what is involved in that greater reward, but I picture it is\n somewhat material terms:

When we go to a concert, Cassie will get a front row seat and a back stage pass. We might be sitting in the balcony.
When we get in line to eat, she will get in the front of the line.
When we go on a trip, she will get to sit in those big seats up front.

That may not be exactly right, but the Bible does teach she will get a greater reward in heaven. And heaven is the line. It is forever. Ten million years from now, she is still getting in the front of the line.

I think if Cassie could listen in on this, she would say, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, it is always in your best interest to live the Christian life over the long run. In the short run it might cost you and cost you dearly. In the long run, you will always be glad you lived the Christian life.”

Making the two magic questions work

It is always in our best interest to live the Christian life. It is always in our best interest to:

Forgive when we are tempted to hang onto our bitterness.
Serve when we would rather not.
Give when we would rather spend on ourselves.
Pray when we would rather sleep in.

Your job, as a teacher is to get your students in touch with this. Your job is to make them believe it. We do this by asking two magic questions:

How will it benefit you to live for God?
What will it cost you if you don’t live for God?

So, imagine several topics where this might work:

Forgiving:

How does it benefit the forgiver to forgive?
What does it cost us if we don’t forgive?

Serving

How does it help us to help others?
How does selfishness cost us?

Giving

How is it that “it will be given to us” as we give? (Luke 6:38)
How do the stingy harm themselves?

Prayer

Describe a time when prayer became for you a sweet hour.
How would you describe what happens to our soul as we neglect prayer?

Why don’t we get this?

You might think that if we are naturally predisposed to pursue what is in our best interest, and if it is always in our best interest to live the Christian life, that we would naturally and normally—somewhat automatically—live the Christian life. Why don’t we?

Why don’t we live the Christian life easily if we tend to pursue what is good for us and it is good for us to follow God? I have asked a number of groups this question. The most lucid answer I have had came from a pastor, “Because people are stupid, that’s why!” Well, that pretty well says it.

2 Corinthians 4:4 teaches that the evil one blinds our eyes. He makes what is bad for us look good. He puts the poison in sugar. People are blinded. The people you teach are blinded. Your job is to open their eyes. Your job is to convince them to the core of their beings that is always, always, always in our best interest to live the Christian life.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 87–96.

Application questions: THE KEY to effective teaching

Josh Hunt — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 14:50:25 GMT

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. James 1:22 [NAB]

The goal of Christian teaching is not to cover the material, or to dispense information or to make smarter sinners. The goal is to make saints. The goal is to make disciples. “Doers of the word and not hearers only.” The goal is application. The goal is changed lives.

I work full-time persuading and training groups to double every two years or less. The more I do it, the more I am convinced that the problem with Sunday School is not a Sunday School problem. The problem is we have failed to create soldiers. We have failed to create saints. We have failed to create disciples.

“But we are comfortable.”

I am fond of pointing out that a group of ten that doubles every eighteen months will reach a thousand people in ten years. We can do that by growing a group by 40% every nine months, or going from 10 to 14 in nine months. In looking at whether or not this is possible, I often ask groups, “Could you do it if I offered you a million dollars to get it done?” We could do it, oh, we could do it. The question is, do we want to? The most common reaction to this challenge is not that it is not realistic or that it can’t be done. It is this: “But we are comfortable.”

Quite honestly, I can’t believe that believers have the nerve to say that out loud. Tell me it is not possible. Tell me I am a dreamer. Tell me it is not strategic. Tell me you have a better plan. But, don’ tell me you agree that we could reach a thousand people in the next ten years but you would put your comfort above that.

This is not a Sunday School problem. This is a values problem. This is a discipleship problem. This is an application problem. We are not creating doers of the word.

I thought it was all about …

Here is another response I received once to the vision of doubling groups reaching a thousand people in the next ten years by doubling every eighteen months, “But, I thought Sunday School was all about me going deep with a handful of people and developing relationships and getting close and cultivating intimacy and how are we going to do that if we split up our groups every eighteen months?”

I didn’t say it, but here is what I was thinking. That is just it, isn’t it? It is not all about you. It is about God. It is about a cause. It is about the advancement of the kingdom. It is about God being glorified and thanked and acknowledged and enjoyed and treated better than He is treated in your neighborhood and mine. It is about the lost missing spending an eternity in hell separated from God and instead spending eternity with God enjoying his pleasures forevermore. In light of that, going deep with some friends pales in comparison.

And, it is not like you have to say good bye to all your friends. A dirty little secret of the doubling group strategy is we get to take our best friends with us. And, there is no rule that says you can’t see people who are not in your group outside of class.

God wants to give us life and give it to us to the full. He wants to thrill us, to fill us, to forgive us, to give us peace and joy and abundance. But, we have to do it His way. His way is all about losing ourselves in the cause of advancing the kingdom.

Again, this is not a Sunday School problem. It is a discipleship problem. It is an application problem. It is doer of the Word problem.

We are not willing to do that

A man spoke to me before a conference once. “I don’t think we are going to be able to double our class.” “Why not?” “Well I am in a room that holds twenty chairs and we have eighteen of them filled on an average Sunday.” “Have you thought about dividing your class? Have you thought about moving nine of the men down the hall to start a new group?” I will never forget his response: “Oh no, we are not going there. My pastor has talked to me about that. We have talked about that. We are not willing to do that.”

Willing.

The word rings in my ears. Willing. We are not willing to do that. I have been thinking about this for a long time, and here is the conclusion I have come to: that is a phrase that no Christian ought to ever say to the Lord about anything: “We are not willing to do that.”

Somewhere along the line in our journey we face a door I call the door of Lordship. We go through this door and acknowledge that God is God and I am not. He is boss and I am not. He is Master; I am slave. Christian living is all lived on the other side of that door. It is all lived on the other side of the door of Lordship.

Before we walk through that door, it is walking in the flesh. It is a life of religion. There is no abundance. There is no joy. There is no fulfillment. There is no fruit. Christian living is all lived on the other side of the door of Lordship.

The issue is not that we cannot figure out how to double a class in two years or less. The issue is we are not willing to do so. It is not a Sunday School problem. It is an application problem. It is an obedience problem.

How to ask effective application questions

The key to making application questions work is to distinguish them from commitment questions. In a way, commitment questions are the point, and we will get there soon.

At this point, we are not actually asking people to do anything. We are asking them what they could do. We are asking how someone might apply this to their lives.

In my seminars I teach on a party driving strategy. It is a strategy modeled by Levi:

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. Luke 5:27–29 [NIV]

It is commanded in several places in scripture:

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 1 Peter 4:9 [NIV]
Get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night. Romans 12:13b [NLT]
When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends. Luke 14:12b [NIV]

Often, I will conclude this section of the seminar with an application question: what are twenty ways you could do this? What are twenty kinds of banquets, dinners or parties you could have and invite outsiders to attend?

The list might look something like this:

New years eve party

Super bowl party

Valentines Day party

Labor Day party

July 4 party

Fall Family Festival

Memorial Day Party

Shopping trip

Guys night out

Ladies night out

Back yard barbeque

Bowling party

Baseball game

Dinner and a movie

Card night

Game night

Fishing trip

Camping trip

Here is the key point: I have not asked them to actually do any of these parties. I have only asked them to make a list. I have only asked them how they could apply the principle of offering hospitality.

Husbands, love your wives

The Bible commands husbands to love their wives (Ephesians 5:25–27). Here is an application question that flows from that: What are ten ways a husband could love his wife? Or, perhaps you could divide the men and women up. Let them both come up with a list. See how many the women come up with that the men cannot even think of. Answers might include:

Take out the trash

Watch the kids

Send cards

Send flowers

Set up a date night

Remember our anniversary

Non-sexual physical affection

Long, unhurried walks

Again, the point here is that you have not yet asked the men to do anything. You have only asked them to think to things they could do.

By separating the application questions from the commitment questions, you unleash everyone’s creativity. They are not evaluating each item and deciding whether or not they will do it. In the next section we will talk about the benefits of doing this application and the cost of not doing it. When we finish with that, they will be far more motivated to do some of these things. For now, we just want to brainstorm as many applications as possible.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 81–86.

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

Josh Hunt — Sun, 21 Mar 2021 13:29:41 GMT

Fifteen years ago, Christian Smith and his fellow researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill took a close look at the religious beliefs held by American teenagers—they found that the faith held and described by most adolescents came down to something the researchers identified as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”

As described by Smith and his team, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) consists of beliefs like these: A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth; that god wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about one’s self, and God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when needed to resolve a problem. Finally, good people go to heaven when they die.

That, in sum, is the creed to which much adolescent faith can be reduced. After conducting more than three thousand interviews with American adolescents, the researchers reported that, when it came to the most crucial questions of faith and beliefs, many adolescents responded with a shrug and “whatever.”

As a matter of fact, the researchers, whose report is summarized in Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Eyes of American Teenagers by Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton, found that American teenagers are incredibly inarticulate about their religious beliefs, and most are virtually unable to offer any serious theological understanding. As Smith reported,

To the extent that the teens we interviewed did manage to articulate what they understood and believed religiously, it became clear that most religious teenagers either do not really comprehend what their own religious traditions say they are supposed to believe, or they do understand it and simply do not care to believe it. Either way, it is apparent that most religiously affiliated U.S. teens are not particularly interested in espousing and upholding the beliefs of their faith traditions, or that their communities of faith are failing in attempts to educate their youth, or both.1

Their research continued to highlight, “For most teens, nobody has to do anything in life, including anything to do with religion. ‘Whatever’ is just fine, if that’s what a person wants.”

The casual “whatever” that marks so much of the American moral and theological landscapes—adolescent and otherwise—is a substitute for serious and responsible thinking. More importantly, it is a verbal cover for an embrace of relativism. Accordingly, “most religious teenager’s opinions and views—one can hardly call them worldviews—are vague, limited, and often quite at variance with the actual teachings of their own religion.”

The kind of responses found among many teenagers indicates a vast emptiness at the heart of their understanding. Yet teenagers are not inarticulate in general. As the researchers found, “Many teenagers know abundant details about the lives of favorite musicians and television stars or about what it takes to get into a good college, but most are not very clear on who Moses and Jesus were. This suggests that a strong, visible, salient, or intentional faith is not operating in the foreground of most teenager’s lives.”

One other aspect of this study deserves attention at this point: the researchers, who conducted thousands of hours of interviews with a carefully identified spectrum of teenagers, discovered that for many of these teens, the interview itself was the first time they had ever discussed a theological question with an adult. What does this say about our churches? What does this say about this generation of parents? What does this tell us about the gathering storm of secularism, already drenching the upcoming generations with ambivalent theological beliefs?

In the end, this study indicated that American teenagers are heavily influenced by the ideology of individualism that has so profoundly shaped the larger culture. This bleeds over into a reflexive non-judgmentalism and a reluctance to suggest that anyone might actually be wrong in matters of faith and belief. Yet paradoxically, these teenagers are unable to live with a full-blown relativism, for the researchers note that many responses fall along very moralistic lines—but teenagers reserve their most non-judgmental attitudes for matters of theological conviction and belief. Some go so far as to suggest that there are no “right” answers in matters of doctrine and theological conviction.

The researchers concluded that MTD promotes “a moralistic approach to life. It teaches that central to living a good and happy life is being a good, moral person. That means being nice, kind, pleasant, respectful, responsible, at work on self-improvement, taking care of one’s health, and doing one’s best to be successful.” In a very real sense, that appears to be true of the faith commitment, insofar as this can be described as a faith commitment, held by a large percentage of Americans. These individuals, whatever their age, believe that religion should be centered in being “nice”—a posture that many believe is directly violated by assertions of strong theological conviction.

MTD is also about “providing therapeutic benefits to its adherents.” As the researchers explained,

This is not a religion of repentance from sin, of keeping the Sabbath, of living as a servant of a sovereign divinity, of steadfastly saying one’s prayers, of faithfully observing high holy days, of building character through suffering, of basking in God’s love and grace, of spending oneself in gratitude and love for the cause of social justice, et cetera. Rather, what appears to be the actual dominant religion among U.S. teenagers is centrally about feeling good, happy, secure, at peace. It is about attaining subjective well-being, being able to resolve problems, and getting along amiably with other people.

Smith and his colleagues recognize that the deity behind Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is very much like the deistic God of the eighteenth-century philosophers. This is not the God who thunders from the mountain, nor a God who will serve as judge. This undemanding deity is more interested in solving our problems and in making us happy: “In short, God is something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist: he is always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, professionally helps his people to feel better about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in the process.”

Obviously, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is not an organized faith. This belief system has no denominational headquarters and no mailing address. Nevertheless, it has millions and millions of devotees across the United States and other advanced cultures, where subtle cultural shifts have produced a context in which belief in such an undemanding deity makes sense. Furthermore, this deity does not challenge the most basic self-centered assumptions of our postmodern age. Particularly when it comes to so-called lifestyle issues, this God is exceedingly tolerant, and this religion is radically undemanding.

As sociologists, Smith and his team suggest that this Moralistic Therapeutic Deism may now constitute something like a dominant civil religion or the underlying belief system for the culture at large. Thus, this basic conception may be analogous to what other researchers have identified as “lived religion” as experienced by the mainstream culture.

Moving to even deeper issues, these researches claim that MTD is “colonizing” Christianity itself, as this new civil religion seduces converts who never have to leave their congregations and Christian identification as they embrace this new faith and all of its undemanding dimensions.

Consider this remarkable assessment:

Other more accomplished scholars in these areas will have to examine and evaluate these possibilities in greater depth. But we can say here that we have come with some confidence to believe that a significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually [only] tenuously Christian in any sense that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition, but is rather substantially morphed into Christianity’s misbegotten step-cousin, Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

They argue that this distortion of Christianity has taken root not only in the minds of individuals but also “within the structures of at least some Christian organizations and institutions.”

This radical transformation of Christian theology and Christian belief replaces the sovereignty of God with the sovereignty of the self. In this therapeutic age, human problems are reduced to pathologies in need of a treatment plan. Sin is simply excluded from the picture, and doctrines as central as the wrath and justice of God are discarded as out of step with the times and unhelpful to the project of self-actualization.

All this means is that teenagers have been listening carefully. They have been observing their parents in the larger culture with diligence and insight. They understand just how little their parents really believe and just how much many of their churches and Christian institutions have accommodated themselves to the dominant culture. They sense the degree to which theological conviction has been sacrificed on the altar of individualism and a relativistic understanding of truth. They have learned from their elders that self-improvement is the one great moral imperative to which all are accountable, and they have observed the fact that the highest aspiration of those who shape this culture is to find happiness, security, and meaning in life.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Gathering Storm: Secularism, Culture, and the Church (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2020).

Exposure to the gap

Josh Hunt — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 16:25:41 GMT

The questions up to this point help to establish the high bar. They answer the question, “What does God want us to do?” From this point, we turn a corner. We want to talk now about how we are doing. We want to talk about the gap between how we are doing and how God would have us to live.

Exposure to the gap can be contrasted with what I call, “yup-yup” teaching. This is teaching where we just affirm what we already believe. The teacher presents truth and everyone nods and says “yup-yup.” There is more to good teaching than that. Somewhere along the line we need to communicate, “You are sinning and you need to quit.” Of course, I don’t recommend using those words, but we much communicate the message of the gap between God’s high and holy calling for out lives and how we are living right now.

But, don’t people know that they have a gap? Well, no, as a matter of fact, they don’t.

Why people don’t see the gap

There are two reasons people don’t see the gap: pride and denial. Denial says we don’t think about the gaps. Pride says that when we do, we tend to minimize them.

This tendency to think about ourselves in a more flattering light than is warranted is well documented in psychology. It is called the self-serving bias. Here are some examples.

Researchers surveyed 829,000 High School Students and asked them if they were above or below average in terms of their ability to get along with others. Obviously, 50% are below average. 0% rated themselves as below average. 25% thought they were in the top 1%.

Most drivers think they are above-average drivers including drivers who have been hospitalized for a crash that they caused.
George Barna found that 90% of all pastors rated themselves as above-average in teaching and preaching. These are people who have to preach on Romans 12:3, which says, “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought.”
94% of college faculty members think they are above average teachers.
When the concept of self-serving bias is explained to people, most people rate themselves as above-average in not falling prey to the self-serving bias.

The gap exists, but we don’t see it. Where are you at questions can help us cut through the denial and the self-serving bias.

Making “Where are you at?” questions work

Most people think of themselves as normal. So, one of the easiest ways to start with where are you at questions is to ask about normal people:

How often do most people have a quiet time?
What percentage of their income do most people give?
What percentage of the people who were in church this morning could name their spiritual gifts?

When people answer these questions, they will generally—though not always—be talking about themselves. From here, you can pull the noose.

What about the people in this room, how common is it for us to share our faith?
How would you say we are doing as a group in terms of creating authentic community?
What keeps this group from doubling every two years or less?

From here, we can pull the noose even tighter:

What about you, when is the last time you and your wife had a date night?
What fears keep you from abundant Christian living?
If you knew Christ were coming in twenty-four hours, what would you need to do to be ready?

From here, the questions will go into 1) application: what could we do to close the gap? 2) motivation: what are the benefits of closing the gap? and what will it cost you if you don’t? and 3) commitment: what do you want to do about what you heard today?

Before we get into these next three steps, let’s explore a little more carefully the hidden benefit—the magic of the where-are-you-at question.

The hidden benefit

The Bible says: Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

It is interesting to me what this verse does not say. It does not say that healing comes from trying hard, or being disciplined or even letting go and letting God. This verse teaches us that healing comes as we confess our sins. As we acknowledge the gap, the gap gets smaller. There is something magical about acknowledging the gap.

I take a pretty broad definition of sin. The Bible speaks of sin as everything that falls short of God’s glorious ideal. Anything in your life and mine that is not glorious and ideal is my sin. My debt, my anger, my depression, my purposelessness, my prayerlessness and everything else in my life that is not glorious and ideal is my sin. It could be the sin that I committed, or it could be the sins committed against me. Christian counselors and participants in the recovery movement will attest that great healing comes to us as we confess sins committed against us. The odd thing is, I don’t necessarily need a solution. I just need someone to whom I can confess my sins.

In the Bible we call this person a priest. A priest is one who represents God to me and represents me to God. I think one of the reasons we miss this point is out of a misguided reaction against the Catholic application of James 5:16. The Catholic approach is to go to a priest. Now, let’s think about this.

True or False:
We don’t need a priest.

I have asked this question to hundreds of groups. Ninety-five percent get it wrong. The correct answer is False. We do need a priest. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. Now, if we believe in the priesthood of all believers, it stands to reason that we need these priests for something. Our difference with the Catholics is not about whether or not we need a priest, it is about who the priests are. We believe that all believers are priests. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 [NIV]

It is true that we can go individually and directly to God. We don’t need an intermediary. But, there is great healing in confessing our sins to one another.

Ted Haggard needed a priest

Ted Haggard was the pastor of New Life Church-a true mega-church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was the president of the National

Association of Evangelicals. He was an author, a leader, and a hero of mine. I had enjoyed several of his books and had conducted an interview with him. I really was in rapport with his approach to small groups and ministry.

But Ted Haggard had a problem. This is a little difficult for us to relate to because we may not have the same particular flavor of problem. But, at the end of the day, we are just talking about different flavors. Ted Haggard’s flavor of temptation was, he wanted to be with a man.

One winter day, Ted’s life came crumbling down when a male prostitute in Denver accused him of having a three-year professional relationship with him. His story was that he had not known who Ted was through most of that relationship. Not until he saw Ted on T.V. did he realize that Ted was a famous preacher. Ted was publically opposed to homosexuality. The hypocrisy of it drove him crazy. It drove him to get on T.V. and tell the world about their relationship.

It was quite the scandal. For a day or two Ted denied it. But the Bible says, “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” Luke 12:3 Things have a way of coming out. Secrets have a way of being told. For a day or two, Ted denied it, but then, he had to come clean. The following is an excerpt from a statement he had read before his church. Read carefully:

The public person I was wasn’t a lie; it was just incomplete. When I stopped communicating about my problems, the darkness increased and finally dominated me. As a result, I did things that were contrary to everything I believe.

What is amazing to me about this statement is the implication of the second sentence: “When I stopped communicating about my problems.” Stopped communicating. This implies that there had been a time when he had someone in his life that he could communicate with about this. That is amazing. Who does a pastor go to and talk about the fact that he longs to be with a man?

Sin is a tricky thing. Sometimes, we are relieved of sin all at once. Sometimes, presto, we are saved and it is gone. Sometimes, however, we struggle. Sometimes we struggle our whole life. Sometimes God leaves the thorn in the flesh with us. Sometimes God takes away the load. Sometimes, He gives us a stronger back. Sometimes we have to fight and resist and keep fighting and keep resisting.

As long as Ted had someone—a priest—that he could talk to about his sin, talking pushed back the darkness. But, “When I stopped communicating about my problems, the darkness increased and finally dominated me.” Having a priest in his life—someone he could talk to about what was not perfect—created a bubble inside which he could walk and breathe. When he stopped talking, the bubble collapsed.

What is a small group?

A small group is not a miniature worship service with a miniature pulpit and a miniature preacher. A small group is a church of a different sort. It is an interactive group. It is a participatory group. It is a one another group. It is a place where we can get honest. It is a place where the masks can come off. It is a place where we can come clean. It is a place where we can get real. It is a place where we can confess our sins. It is a place where we can find healing.

Not that all this confession will happen in group per se. Much of it will happen outside of group. The group time is only one part of group. The whole idea of group is to develop relationship where people get together outside of group. In these relationships the masks come off. Honesty develops. We get real. We get well.

Where are you at questions pave the way. They begin the process in class that continues in relationships in the rest of life.

The key to making it work

But, “I ask and they don’t get honest” you might be thinking. Here is the key: you get honest. You take off your mask. Quit pretending you have it all together. It is amazing how when one person gets honest, the whole atmosphere of the group changes.

We must do this carefully. It is possible to share too much with too many too quickly and do more harm than good. There is a place and time to keep a secret. There is such a thing as too much information.

I was in a church service once where a gal came forward during the invitation. She was crying. “I just need to confess my sin to the body of Christ. I need to get something off my chest.” The pastor handed her the microphone. Not a good call, in this case. “I just need to confess my sin to the body of Christ. I need to get something off my chest. I have been guilty of sexual immorality with John Smith.” John [not his real name] was sitting about three rows back. I had the feeling he was not in the mood to have his sins confessed.

There is a line in a old hymn that goes, “Plunge in today and be made complete.” Sometimes we do well to do that—plunge in. Sometimes, we do well to take a different approach—wade in slowly. Did you see the movie What About Bob? Baby steps. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Most classes I have been in, however, err on the other side. They are too superficial. Too much pretending. Too fake. The key is for one person—normally the leader—to get real, take off his or her mask and get honest.

Let the magic begin.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 73–80.

Men Are God's Methods

Josh Hunt — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 20:46:02 GMT

WE are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.” The dispensation that heralded and prepared the way for Christ was bound up in that man John. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” The world’s salvation comes out of that cradled Son. When Paul appeals to the personal character of the men who rooted the gospel in the world, he solves the mystery of their success. The glory and efficiency of the gospel is staked on the men who proclaim it. When God declares that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him,” he declares the necessity of men and his dependence on them as a channel through which to exert his power upon the world. This vital, urgent truth is one that this age of machinery is apt to forget. The forgetting of it is as baneful on the work of God as would be the striking of the sun from his sphere. Darkness, confusion, and death would ensue.

Edward Bounds, Complete Works of E. M. Bounds on Prayer: Eight Volumes (WORDsearch, 2013).

The Heart of the Lesson: Jump-ball Question

Josh Hunt — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:21:17 GMT

Truth is often a careful mid-point between two extremes. The great fallacy for most of us is not to believe a lie, but to believe one truth too much, to the exclusion of an opposite truth.

Jesus spoke of the narrow way. I believe the reason He spoke of the narrow way is because it is so easy to go too far this way or that. The narrow way is in the middle of the broad way. The narrow way is walking the center stripe down the middle of the road. There are often a thousand ways to go wrong. Only careful wisdom will keep us on the right way, the narrow way, the center strip.

Before I get too far into this discussion, let me illustrate how this works. I have often done it this way in seminars. I divide the crowd into two groups—men and women works. I ask the men to look at this verse and be prepared to answer the accompanying question:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28–30 [NIV]

According to this verse, is Christian living easy or hard?

Then, I have the men close their eyes, while the women look at this verse and the same question:

“We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. Acts 14:22b [NIV]

According to this verse, is Christian living easy or hard?

Then, in one voice I have them answer together. On three, is Christian living easy or hard? One … two … three … The room fills with a conflicting sound. Half the room says “easy” while the other half says, “hard.”

Actually, it is not split quite evenly. Usually, about three fourths of the room says, “hard” while only one fourth says, “easy.” This is because people are letting their own experience shape their thinking. They are not answering according to the verse I gave them, they are answering according to their experience. Many have found Christian living to be hard, very hard.

This demonstrates something rather profound about the modern church. Christian living is hard for us. Even though Jesus said His yoke is easy, most Christians find it hard. And, even with the verse right in front of them, they will say that Christian living is hard. We have not found the narrow way.

Christian living is either easy or impossible, because it isn’t you living it. It is Christ living his life through you.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 [NIV]
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philip. 2:13 [NIV]
To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. Colossians 1:29 (NIV)

Allow me to make this very real for you. Think of a day when you lived the Christian life reasonably well. Think of a day when you walked in the Spirit, when you abided in Christ, when you were living a fruit of the spirit life. If you can’t think of a day, think of an hour, or a moment. Can you think of a time? (I hope you are thinking of right now.) On that day or hour or moment when you lived the Christ life, was it easy or hard?

Christian living is easy when you are living it. When the Spirit is flowing through you. When the Wind of the Spirit fills your sails, it is easy. Peter spoke of the men who wrote the Bible as being carried along. (2 Peter 1:21) It is not hard to be carried. Someone else is doing the work. We can’t be carried as perfectly as the men who wrote the Bible, but we can be carried along by the Spirit.

I believe the reason many of our churches are failing is because they have not taken on Jesus’ easy yoke. They have taken on the yoke of law. They have taken on the yoke of duty. They have taken on the yoke of religion. For if we put on Jesus’ yoke we will find it as Jesus described: easy. Christian living is either easy or impossible. It is easy because it isn’t you living it; it is Christ living his life through you.

If you have found Christian living to be a struggle, if you have found it to be a pain, if it is for you a duty or an obligation or ought-to and should-have and you-better, you have taken on the wrong yoke. That is the yoke of religion. That is the yoke of law. Take off that yoke. Put on Jesus’ yoke. It fits. It is easy. It is a yoke of grace and acceptance and love and mercy and forgiveness and being carried along by the Holy Spirit.

That will preach, and it is all true. But. It is not the only thing that is true. This is also true: we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. He never promised us a rose garden, or, if He did, we must remember that roses have thorns. Jesus suffered and we will suffer. He was called the man of sorrow and if we follow His way we will have sorrows. He will discipline us as children he loves. The world is a painful place. The storms come—to the just and the unjust, the storms come. It is sometimes a hard place.

Jump ball questions get us in touch with both sides. They help us find the narrow way.

The narrow way, in this case is understanding that, in a way, Christianity is both easy and hard. Christ lives his life through us and it is a matter of getting out of the way and letting Him live His life. But, it is not completely passive. Consider these verses that speak of working hard to live the Christian life:

We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 1 Cor. 4:12 [NIV]
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 2 Peter 1:5 [NIV]
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, Col. 3:23 [NIV]

These two verses, that straddle a chapter break bring together the balance: To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. Col. 1:29–2:1 [NIV]

Who is struggling and with whose energy? Is Christian living active or passive? Is it letting go and letting God, or is it working hard?

Yes.

Christian living is both active and passive. It is working hard and letting go and letting God have His way. The narrow way understand both. The jump-ball question gets us in touch with the tension.

Sovereignty versus free will

The classic example of this tension is the issue of predestination versus free will. I grew up in a Baptist home and a Baptist church and came to believe the middle of the road Baptist perspective on this matter. Baptists are not in universal agreement on this matter, but there is a big middle that is in approximate agreement. I thought everyone who was a real Christian saw it this way, and only fringe groups saw it any other way.

As it turns out, Baptist, as best I can tell, are kind of an anomaly. The world has been divided down predestination/free-will lines, and Baptist don’t fit neatly into either category.

Down through the centuries, the church could be divided along the two lines that go like this:

Calvinist love these verses:

You did not choose me, but I chose you. John 15:16a [NIV]
It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. Romans 9:16 [NIV]
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, Ephes. 2:1 [NIV] (Implication: dead men can choose Christ. They have to be regenerated from the outside.
These verses are all about before salvation. There are corresponding verses that Calvinist love for after salvation.
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philip. 1:6 [NIV]
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. John 10:28–29 [NIV]

Arminians don’t like to talk about those verses. They like to talk about these verses:

And then, whoever calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.’ Acts 2:21 [TEV]
Whoever will CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE Lord WILL BE SAVED. Romans 10:13 [NASB]
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 [NIV]
And, consistent with the free-will approach, Arminians believe that if you get saved and you don’t like it, you can leave. It is a kind of money-back guarantee. They are very comfortable with the verses that say, “If we disown him, he will also disown us.” 2 Tim. 2:12b [NIV] or, as other translations have it, “If we deny Him, He also will deny us.” 2 Tim. 2:12b [NASB]

So, we can divide these beliefs into a matrix:

	Arminian	Calvinistic
Before salvation	Whosoever will may come.	You did not choose me; I choose you.
After salvation	If we deny Him, He will deny us.	He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.

I have no desire to enter this debate. Brothers have been debating this issue since the time of Paul and will be debating till Christ’s return. My point is this: if you push any one of those beliefs into the corner, you get stupidity.

Let’s take the lower right-hand box as an example. I heard an interview one time where a man was asked about his theology at this point. “Do you believe in once saved, always saved”?

“Oh yes, I believe it so strongly that I believe that once you place your faith in Christ you could backslide and wander from God or even outright reject God and say to Him, ‘I don’t want your salvation. I don’t want to be a Christian. I no longer believe.’ and God will hold you by the nap of your neck and say, ‘Sorry. You wanted in. You can’t get out.’ ”

I asked my dad, who believes in the security of our salvation, about this. “Is that right, Dad?” We can shake our fist in the face of God and say, “I don’t want your salvation. And God will hold us and say, ‘Too bad, you wanted in; you can’t get out’?” My dad wisely responded, “I wouldn’t try that if I were you, Son.”

My Dad understood the narrow way. He understood that we have security in our salvation and we can rest in our relationship with God. But, there is a reason the Bible includes the warnings that those who endure to the end will be saved.

If you push any one of those four quadrants to the corner, you get stupidity.

You may not believe, as the Calvinist do that your salvation was predetermined before the start of time, but I hope you understand there was more going on than you just being able to see a good deal and being smart enough to get in on it. God was acting on you from the outside. He was doing for you what you could not do for yourself.

You may believe that God has determined who will be saved, but don’t believe as strongly as those who opposed William Carey, the father of the modern missions movement, and said, “Sit down, young man, if God wants to save the heathen in India, he will do it without your help or mine.” That is Calvinism pushed to the corners and Calvinism pushed too far.

You may think you can lose your salvation, but I hope you see that possibility as a rather extreme case. Isaiah 49:15 asks, “Can a mother forget her baby?” The answer is, “Not usually.” There is an extremely strong bond between a parent and a child. But, you have known situations as I have where a parent did forget their child. Still, the point is, it is rare. I hope you have the confidence in God and understand that you would have to be extremely and openly rebellious toward God in a rather sustained way for Him to put you out.

When you push any one of the doctrines to its corner, you end up with heresy. What you end up with is stupidity.

Faith and works

Another place where the tension is been hotly debated is over the issue of faith and works. If you are, as I am, on the protestant/evangelical side of things, you are probably uncomfortable with this statement:

Faith by itself,
if it is not accompanied by action,
is dead.

We read a statement like that and it sounds vaguely familiar so we don’t want to reject it outright, but we sure want to say, “Yeah, but …” We don’t embrace it in the same way we embrace the verse that says, “not by works, so that no one can boast.” We have not memorized James 2:17 as we have memorized Ephesians 2:9. We are out of balance. We have lost the narrow way. When we read Ephesians 2:9 we pound the pulpit and raise our voices. When we read James 2:17, we mumble.

We need to get comfortable with the fact that there is no salvation without works. That kind of faith—the works-free kind does not save. Works don’t save, but there is no salvation without them. Do you feel the tension? That is the narrow way. “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” James 2:22 [NIV]

Jesus taught that “by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:16) Some have preached a gospel that suggests you can live like the devil and end up with the angels as long as you do this transaction called being saved. The Bible does not teach that. But, it is not about behaving our way into heaven, either. It is about walking the narrow way.

Jump ball questions get us in touch with the narrow way. They get us in touch with the tension. Most people don’t believe a lie so much that they believe the truth in an out of balance way. They have missed the narrow way. The jump ball questions helps to get the group back into the center.

Sunday School is famous for giving oversimplified answers to complex questions. A “Sunday School” answer does not mean a profound, thoughtful answer. It means an overly simplistic answer to a complex question. Answers like:

We are saved by grace through faith apart from works and that is that.
Once saved and always saved.
Let go and let God.
It is not about you.

The truth is, there is more to it than that. The truth is more complex than that. The truth is:

We are saved by grace through faith apart from works, but it is always the kind of faith that is accompanied by works.
Once saved always saved, but those who endure to the end are the ones that are truly saved and if we disown Him, He will disown us.
Let go and let God. “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:29 (NIV)
It is not about you, but God does offer you an abundant life. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 [NIV]

All through the Bible we find this tension. Jump-ball questions get us in touch with the tension.

We need to teach people to think, to argue, to defend their position, to balance opposing ideas. I heard a Christian counselor say recently he has never seen a single example where a couple disagreed over a parenting strategy and the best answer was on one side or the other. The best answer was always the narrow way somewhere in between. One parent wants to be more strict. The other wants to be more lenient. The narrow way is in between.

Chuck Swindoll’s Pastoral accountability questions

1. Have you been with a woman anywhere this past week that might be seen as compromising?

2. Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?

3. Have you exposed yourself to any sexually explicit material?

4. Have you spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?

5. Have you given priority time to your family?

6. Have you fulfilled the mandates of your calling?

7. Have you just lied to me?

Wesley’s Band Meeting Questions

1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?

2. What temptations have you been met with?

3. How were you delivered?

4. What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?

5. Have you nothing you desire to keep secret?

James Dobson tells the true story of women who have embraced the biblical teaching of submission and embraced the biblical teaching on servanthood and putting the needs of others first and when their husbands suggested that they should invite another women to join them in their bedroom the women did it. They did it in the name of obedience to the command of God to be submissive. They did it in the name of obedience to the biblical principle of servanthood. When you push servanthood that far, you sled right past the truth into the lap of stupidity.

Some, on the other hand want to erase the biblical injunction for wives to submit to their husband. They speak of mutual submission so loudly so as to erase all distinction between men and women. This is missing the narrow way on the other side. There is a difference.

We are giving our classes answers when what we need to be giving them is questions. Hard questions. Difficult questions that have no Sunday School answers.

When you got it right

You know you got it right when people are still engaged at the end of the hour. You know you got it right when people are arguing and raising their voices and you have to tell them the hour is late. You know you got it right when they call you three days later and say, “I have been thinking about what we talked about and, have you ever thought about this …?”

You know you got it right when you have to remind people that we must disagree agreeably and that we are called upon to live lives where our gentleness is evident to all.

Most Bible Studies are too polite. They are too placid. They are too predictable. They are too sleepy. I love to walk into a class full of Baptists parroting the party line about once-saved-always-saved with this kind of yup-yup tone and just read one verse, “If we disown Him, He will disown us.”

Silence.

Then someone will speak up and say, “I don’t believe that.”

“It is in the Book.”

“Where?” Now we are about to have a conversation. Now, things are going to get interesting. Now a fight just might break out.

Every truth has a balancing truth, including this one

You can take this truth too far. You can believe this too much. You can take it so far that you believe everything and hold to nothing. Taken too far, your theology is all about yeah-but and you never say with Luther, “Here I stand. God help me. I can do no other.”

Some things don’t have any balancing truth. They just are. Jesus is Lord. God is God. The Bible is truth. These are just truth. We need balance, but not too much balance. Every truth has a balancing truth, including this one. The jump-ball question gets us in touch with that. The lead us to the narrow way.

John Wesley’s Small Group Questions

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better that I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?

2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

3. Do I confidentially pass onto another what was told me in confidence?

4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?

5. Am I self-conscious, self pitying, or self-justifying?

6. Did the Bible live in me today?

7. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?

8. Am I enjoying prayer?

9. When did I last speak to someone about my faith?

10. Do I pray about the money I spend?

11. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?

12. Do I disobey God in anything?

13. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?

14. Am I defeated in any part of my life?

15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?

16. How do I spend my spare time?

17. Am I proud?

18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisee who despised the publican?

19. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I going to do about it?

20. Do I grumble and complain constantly?

21. Is Christ real to me?

Note: John Wesley is the father of the Methodist Church.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 59–72.

Making the truth, “Truth that matters”: “How did they feel?” Questions

Josh Hunt — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 17:52:11 GMT

There is a difference between truth and truth that matters. How-did-they-feel questions are one of the best way to make the truth truth that matters.

I saw a great example of the difference between truth and truth that matters recently. My wife’s cousin recently quit smoking. She is a middle-aged adult who has been smoking since she was a teenager and suddenly, she quit.

Why do you think this happened? The truth suddenly became truth that matters. Do you think she finally discovered the warning label on the side of the cigarette box? Do you think she read an article about how smoking can kill you? No. Her brother died of smoking-related problems. She watched her brother die and the cause was smoking and she knew it and the truth became truth that matters.

The people you teach would probably agree that the stories of Samson and Deborah and David and Paul and all the rest are true. But, quite honestly, they don’t matter much to them. It is not truth that matters. Your job is to make the truth truth that matters. One of the best ways to do that is through How-did-they-feel questions.

How-did-they-feel questions makes the truth come alive. It connects us emotionally with the characters in the story. It bridges the two or three thousand year gap between us and the story and makes us feel the truth, not just know the truth. The emotional connection is the human connection. How-did-they-feel questions makes the truth real. It makes the truth truth that matters.

Modernize the story

In order to make the question work, sometimes it is useful to modernize the story. This is not to change the essential message of the story, but to tell it as it might happen today. If it is a parable of Jesus, we tell it as he might tell it today.

If I am teaching on the story of the prodigal son, I might paraphrase it along these lines:

Imagine a son, say he is nineteen years old and he knows that his dad will leave him something in his will, but he doesn’t want to wait that long. So, he asks for his check now. (It never occurs to him that the dad might need the money because that is the way teenagers think.) Unbelievably, the dad writes him a check. Let’s imagine the dad has some money and he writes the son a check for half a million dollars. Wow! He never had a Christmas like this before.

He takes the money and runs. He buys a fast sports car and heads out to Las Vegas, Nevada. He starts spending. He spends the money on wine, women, song, gambling, seafood buffets and Celine Dion tickets. After a while he runs out of money. About the same time that he runs out of money, there is an economic down turn. Unemployment skyrockets to double digits. He can’t find a job anywhere.

Finally, he gets a job washing dishes at one of the casinos. He can barely make ends meet. He doesn’t have any skill to get a better paying job and expenses are high in Las Vegas. One day, he is so hungry that he finds himself instinctively grabbing some of the uneaten food that he is about to drop down the garbage disposal—scraps that someone left on their plate.

Then it hits him. “My dad treats his employees better than this. I could swallow my pride and go home and my dad would take me in and he would give me a job and I could do better than this. At least I would have decent food and a decent place to stay.”

He does it. He starts heading home. I have never been to Israel, but people who have tell me it looks a lot like New Mexico, where I live. There is not a lot of rain where I live and, consequently, not many trees to block the view. You can see a long, long way—fifty miles or more on a clear day. People who have been to Israel tell me that Israel is a lot that way. There is a place in the story where it says, “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him.” Now, it doesn’t say this, but it stands to reason that if the father could see the son when the son was a long way off, the son could also see the father when he was a long way off. In fact, because the father did not know when the son was coming, but the son did know where his house was, it stands to reason that the son could see the father’s house long before the father could see the boy.

I live in the valley of the Rio Grande River. When you enter the city from the West, there is a particular place where you cross a ridge and the whole valley opens up before you. The Organ Mountains are in the distance and you can see the whole city all at once. At night, it looks like a string of Christmas lights laying in a pile. Imagine the son coming on a scene like that. He can see the area of town that is his neighborhood, though he cannot yet make out the house. How is he feeling in that moment? What is going through his head? What is he thinking about?

I have asked this question to many groups and the answers are as different as they are accurate. The son was feeling all kinds of things:

Fear
Dread
Worry
Shame
Guilt
Embarrassment
Hope
Anticipation
Homesick
Joy

It is a classic picture of mixed emotions. I think he was feeling a lot of negative emotions. I think he was worried and ashamed. But, I don’t think worry and shame would have driven him there. I think he was also feeling some positive emotions—hope and anticipation. Life had gotten pretty bad for him and he was hopeful that it was about to get better.

Now, let’s think about this story from the other side. Let’s think about it from the Dad’s perspective. Do you remember what the text says the dad did when the dad saw the boy?

He ran.

He ran. We know from studying history that middle-aged men did not do a lot of running back in the day. They were dignified. They were sophisticated. They were in charge. They delegated. They pointed. They didn’t run.

I’d encourage you to do some reading in this history and in the commentaries, but then, just think about real life. If you are a middle aged man (or woman) think about this: when was the last time you ran? Not just hustled a bit—ran. When is the last time you got into an all-out run? When is the last time you ran as fast as you can run?

For most of us, it has been a while. Most of us, when we get into the middle aged years of life don’t do a lot of running. Little kids do a lot of running, but we don’t run much once we reach middle age. There are exceptions, of course, but generally, middle aged men don’t run. They didn’t run then and they don’t run now. The text says the dad ran.

I have probably watched one too many Hollywood movies, but I picture this scene in slow motion. The dad running toward the boy. A look of confusion on the boy’s face. Why is he running? Is he mad? Is he going to yell at me and tell me to get off his property? No. He is smiling. The dad is smiling the biggest, most welcoming smile he has ever seen. The son starts to run too. The camera pans back and forth from father to son as they get closer together.

Then they embrace. Oh, do they embrace. The father hugs the son and the spin around and spin around and spin around. Then, I see the father stopping, putting one hand on each of the sons shoulders, taking a good look at him and saying, “Somebody hire a band. Someone call a caterer. Shut down the store. We are going to have the biggest party this town has ever seen.”

How do you think the son was feeling then?

However you describe that feeling—loved, accepted, excited, forgiven, whole—that is how God wants you to live your life. He wants you to walk each day in the Father’s embrace. He wants to baptize you in the Father’s acceptance. He wants to surround you with his love.

Has the truth that God loves you become a little more truth that matters to you?

How did they feel questions do that for us. They make the truth come alive. They make it human. They make it personal. They make it today. They make it real. They make it matter.

How to make How-did-they-feel questions work

How-did-they-feel questions work best (as in the case above) when there is more than one right answer. The son was both excitedly anticipating being home and at the same time dreadful, fearful and guilt-ridden.

I was working recently on a lesson on the trial of Jesus. Matthew 26:3: “Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” Matthew 26:62–63 records, “But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’ ” (NIV) Here is the question. How is the high priest feeling about this time? Some right answers include angry, frustrated, smug, shocked, exasperated, worried. I wonder if the chief priests knew their evidence was thin and they were secretly worried that they might not pull this thing off? Here is follow up question: How would the chief priests felt at the end of the day if the trial had gone the other way? Imagine that Jesus had been vindicated by Rome and the charges were dropped and he got off with little more than a hand slap. How would the high priests have felt then?

Here is another example from a recent lesson. The story is that of David and his rebellious son Absalom who is trying to take over his father’s kingdom by force. Consider this text:

Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword.” 2 Samuel 15:14 (NIV)

How is David feeling in this moment? Or, how are David’s feelings different from that of his men at this moment? They are both feeling fear, and perhaps anger. But David is feeling some other things. This is his son. He is mad at him, but he still loves him. He is feeling love in the middle of it all. Perhaps he is feeling guilt for not raising him better, or self-doubt. No doubt he is feeling a profound sadness. It is this mixture of emotions that makes the How-did-they-feel question work.

Consider this poignant passage a bit later:

David mustered the men who were with him and appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 18:2 David sent the troops out—a third under the command of Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. The king told the troops, “I myself will surely march out with you.” 18:3 But the men said, “You must not go out; if we are forced to flee, they won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care; but you are worth ten thousand of us. It would be better now for you to give us support from the city.” 18:4 The king answered, “I will do whatever seems best to you.” So the king stood beside the gate while all the men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands. 18:5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders. 2 Samuel 18:1–5 (NIV)

Note verse 4. How is David feeling as he stood beside the gate? How is he feeling when he said, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake”?

Sometimes, the What-are-they-feeling questions have great importance. Consider the case of Judas in Matthew 27:

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. Matthew 27:3–5 (NIV)

Here is my question: What is Judas feeling here? Is this true repentance? Was he saved? Will we see Judas in heaven? He clearly takes full responsibility for his actions. He does not blame or make excuses. Does it take more than this kind of confession to receive forgiveness?

How-did-they-feel questions are one of the best ways to make the truth truth that matters. They make the story come alive. They build a bridge back through time to that two and three thousand year old story and make the truth human. We feel connected. It is the emotional connection that makes the text real.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 51–58.

Going Deeper: What does the text mean?

Josh Hunt — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 14:49:01 GMT

What-does-the-text-mean questions are the heart of what is usually thought of as Bible study. What-does-the-text-mean questions are the most commonly used kind of questions in Bible study groups, and are the ones you are most familiar with.

Let’s look at a few examples. Imagine you are exploring Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Word questions:

What does the word workmanship mean in verse 10?

One key issue with all these question is this. These words actually mean something. We can’t just make up things we think they mean, or wish they mean. Bible study is not about pooled ignorance. Have you been to those classes? “Well, I think it means this.” “No. I think it means that.” “Well, I like to believe in a God who is nicer than that.” “Yeah, I like to believe in God that doesn’t get angry.”

God is who He is and us believing or not certain things about Him doesn’t change who He is. These words mean what they mean. We can’t just declare that we see it another way and suddenly make it so.

So, you might be thinking, “Why don’t I just tell them, since I know what the words mean?” Sometimes, you might want to do that. But, it is inherently more interesting to let the group share. And, if you are teaching adults who have been studying the Bible for a time, they will often have good answers. It is more interesting to ask them than to share all the answers yourself. A rule of thumb is, the teacher in a small group should not talk more than half the time.

Translation questions:

How does your translation deal with the word workmanship?

Of course, I would have some examples of translations ready that tease out the various meanings of the word. In this case, I might have some of the following translations: [emphasis added]

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephes. 2:10 [NLT]
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them. Ephes. 2:10 [NAB]
We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life. Ephesians 2:10 (NJB)

English language users are blessed with such a depth of translations. One of the best sources of information as to what a word means is simply to look it up in several translations.

Bible software makes this easy. If you can afford it, you would do well to spring for some Bible software at some point. There are two big benefits: it makes finding verses quicker, and it allows for searches that would be almost impossible without Bible software. For example, you can look for every time the words faith and love appear in the same verse. Then, when you find the verses you can put fifteen translations on the screen at once.

That would take so long as to be impractical without Bible software, but with it, it is quick and easy.

I took every Greek class available to me in seminary—some twenty eight hours of Greek. One of the things I learned in all that was to have a great appreciation for the work done by translators. We really do have some fine translations. And, having so many available to us helps us to really understand the full circle of meaning that a word contains.

Our translations are so good, in fact that I am very leery when I hear someone say this, “What this word really means is_______. Now, you won’t find this in any of the translations, but the real meaning is thus and so.” If I have fifteen English translations of the Bible and not one of them draws out the meaning this teacher is describing, I am very leery as to whether that is the real meaning.

Study Bible questions:

Does anyone have a Study Bible that has note on verse 10?

Here is the note from the Life Application Bible:

We are God’s workmanship (work of art, masterpiece). Our salvation is something only God can do. It is his powerful, creative work in us. If God considers us his works of art, we dare not treat ourselves or others with disrespect or as inferior work.—Life Application Bible Notes

One of the benefits of this kind of question is that it shows people that good Bible tools are accessible. It shows them that they can get answers for themselves. It encourages them to get and use a Study Bible.

Remember the old adage: give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. You want to teach people to fish. You want to teach them to study and learn the Bible for themselves. Model for them that good Bible study tools make the meaning of the Bible accessible and one of those tools is a good study Bible.

Dictionary questions:

How does a dictionary define workmanship, masterpiece and handiwork? Workmanship: the art or skill of a workman; also the quality imparted to a thing in the process of making a vase of exquisite workmanship.

Masterpiece: a work done with extraordinary skill; especially a supreme intellectual or artistic achievement.
Handiwork: work done by the hands. Work done personally.

There is, of course, one danger in looking at dictionary definitions—these are definitions of translated words. That is every word has a circle of meaning. It is not just one point, but a pool of meanings. The Greek word behind workmanship means a certain things approximated by any of the words above. The words above have their own circle of meaning which is going to be approximately right, but might go outside of the circle of meaning of the original word. This is why we send our preachers to seminary to study Greek and Hebrew. The good news is, there are great tools available for people who have not studied Greek and Hebrew that make the original language accessible. Bible software makes it easy.

Here is the point. Looking at English dictionary definitions can be informative and illustrative, but not authoritative. Because an English language dictionary says a certain word means a certain thing, that meaning may not be contained in the original Greek or Hebrew word.

Greek and Hebrew definitions

Unless you are teaching a group of seminary students, they likely will not have brought “Little Kittel” under their arm, but it is still possible to look at Greek and Hebrew definitions. You can look these up through Bible software or online and bring the notes to class. In most cases, this will get into more detail than is necessary or useful for your group. Little Kittel for this word, for example, contains 3500 words and would fill fifteen pages of this book at this size of type. That is probably more information than you need. And, that is Little Kittel—the abridged version. The full version is ten times that!

Again, your English translations have done a good job and will generally provide all the information you need.

Cross-references

What other verses talk about this? Do you have cross references in your Bible? What verses do they point us to?

One of the best ways to discover what a word means is to see how it is used in other contexts. A great example is Ephesians 4:12 [NASB], “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;” The word translated “equipping” is also found in Matthew 4:21, translated here, “mending.” “And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.” Matthew 4:21 [NASB] Whatever the disciples were doing to the nets is what pastors are to do for their people—prepare them for works of service. (Again, let me make a plug for getting some Bible software. I was able to find this reference in about two minutes using tools that are accessible to people without knowledge of Greek or Hebrew.)

Again, a real key is to show how the Bible can be accessible. We need to be careful as we do Bible study that we do it in such a way that demonstrates that people can find this information themselves. Have them look in their Bibles. Probably some in your group have Bibles with cross references and don’t know how they are used. The teaching is doing double duty at this point—teaching the lesson and also teaching how to learn.

Synonyms

What are some synonyms for workmanship?

The word here is the word we get our word poem from. What are some other examples of creative expression? We could say, “We are God’s poem” or “We are God’s _________.”

Opposite

Often, we can shed great light on a word by talking about what it is not. “What is the opposite of the idea of workmanship?” might be an example here.

Here are some other examples:

We are told not to grumble. What is the opposite of grumbling?
What is the opposite of love? (Point: it may not be hatred, but apathy.)
What is the opposite of poor in spirit?
What is the opposite of being filled with the Spirit?

I used this kind of question recently in a lesson that included Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (NIV) You can predict the question: what is the opposite of thinking about these things?

Curriculum / Commentary

Did anyone read anything from the curriculum this week? What did it say about this verse?

Obviously, you will want to know that the curriculm did say something interesting about this verse. This kind of question encourages people to read outside of class—a great practice for people to get into. If they did not read, you might ask them to open up the book and find it for themselves.

Balancing truth

We will explore this in some detail later, but truth is often a magical mid-point between two extremes. I had one pastor, Dr. Frank Zamora, that used to say it this way, “It is not thesis, or antithesis, but syntheses.” In this case we might ask a question that goes like this:

Is it healthy and good that I would get up every morning and look myself in the eye and say, “I am God’s masterpiece. I am God’s workmanship. I am the expressive work of God’s creative hand. I am really special. I am really something.” Can I take this too far?

In my opinion, you can, and that is the balancing truth. We are to be confident, but not confident in a way that makes us think too highly of ourselves. Rather we want a confidence that gives us the freedom to forget out about ourselves.

If I am wearing some high-water pants, I may lose confidence and be self-absorbed as a result. The goal is not for me to get clothing that makes me think, “Look at me!” but to get clothing that makes me comfortable enough so that I can forget about it. So it is with confidence. We want enough to give us the freedom to think of God and others, but not so much that we focus on what an incredible masterpiece of God we are.

Sermons

Have you heard any sermons on this passage? Have you read any books that talked about this? Have you done any Bible Studies in the past on this?

What did you learn? The older and more mature the group, the more they will be able to help you with this.

Illustrations

Have you heard any illustrations that explain this passage?

A picture is worth a thousand words and a great metaphor, illustration of story can make the text come alive.

I have used one story about the sanctity of life that, for me, puts to rest the argument. It goes like this: Imagine you are hunting and you see something moving behind the trees. You are pretty sure it is a deer–99% sure. But, if there is a 1% chance that it is a person. Would you pull the trigger? Even if we could be 99% that human life did not start before birth, that is not good enough. If there is only a chance—a small chance—that it is a human life, then everyone agrees that human life must be protected.

Paraphrase

How would you say this in your own words?

One of the great things about teaching from the King James is that you get to do a lot of this. If you teach from a newer translation, of course, the text does not need as much explaining.

Explain it

How would you explain this to an eight year old?

There is a great misunderstanding that deep Bible study is confusing. We sometimes think that the more complicated it is, the more spiritual it is. We speak of esoteric when the word deep would do. We confuse deep with muddy.

I have never been accused of being deep in any teaching I have ever done anywhere. People often say my teaching is practical, but never deep. I count that as a compliment. I have often heard teaching by others that some described as deep, but I thought was just confusing. I don’t know that the communicator intended that, but whether or not he did, the result is the same. Strive to be clear. Be satisfied with being simple.

What is the context?

What light do the verses before and after shed on this verse? Many difficult passages of the Bible can be understood much more clearly if we just read them in their context. “Go and do likewise” doesn’t mean much without a context.

Theology

How does 2 Timothy 2:12 relate to the doctrine of the eternal security of the saints—the doctrine that teaches once saved, always saved? Here is the verse:

If we endure,

we will also reign with him.

If we disown him,

he will also disown us; 2 Tim. 2:12 [NIV]

I tend to let the Bible speak for itself on these kinds of passages. I might ask the question, “According to 2 Timothy 2:12, what happens if we disown Christ?” If the answer disagrees with our theology, so be it.

I might also teach the opposite side of the Calvinistic equation. If we are looking at John 15, I might ask, “Did the disciples make a choice to follow Christ, or were they chosen?” or, “What about us, did we chose to follow Christ or were we chosen?” Here is the verse:

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” John 15:16 (NIV)

This may seem contradictory, but my theory is, study the Bible, let the Bible say what the Bible says and let the chips fall where they may.

Locations on a map

Do you have a map in the back of your Bible? Locate Ephesus on a map.

I love maps. I love looking at maps and studying maps. I find it interesting to think about where Paul was and where Ephesus was and what the geography was and how long it took to get there. You might want to match up a map of Israel with a map of your area to compare distances. I wouldn’t spend too much time on this, but it is useful to explore locations on a map.

Benefits of What-does-the-text-mean? Questions

The Bible is, at times, difficult to understand. But, not so difficult that we cannot come to an understanding of it, often with just the use of a few well-worded questions. Sometimes, we just read the Bible too fast, or are too familiar with a passage to really see its meaning.

The Bible is limitless in its depth. It is easy enough for a child to understand, but we can spend the rest of our lives plunging its depths.

Calvin Miller has a great story about this in the book Depths of God:

Like all visitors to the Reef, I was a first overwhelmed by the odd sensation of standing up—only ankle deep—seventy or ninety miles out in the middle of the ocean. It was for me the odd sensation that Peter must have felt when he walked on the Sea of Galilee.

But once my “ankle-deep-wonder” had passed, I remembered why I had made the trip. I was with my wife and son. My son had come to scuba dive while my wife and I snorkeled. Snorkeling is a pastime more than a sport. For while my son plunged deeply beneath clear waters to bury himself in the wonder of the mysterious ocean depths, my wife and I, wearing masks, only floated on the surface facedown.

In some ways what we were all seeing looked the same. But my wife and I literally sunburned our backs in our surface study of the reef, while our son plumbed its wonders.

Miller goes on to explain that both he and his son can tell you about that day and both can say they have been to the Great Barrier Reef. But his knowledge is only surface while his son’s understanding has great depth.

What-does-the-text-mean questions help us to plumb the wonder of God’s word.

Limitations of What-does-the-text-mean? Questions

What-does-the-text-mean question have an important part in Bible study. Without meaning, there is no application and no life change. The Bible is, at times, difficult to understand and its depths are unlimited. Still, it is possible that we spend too much time here.

The point of Bible study is not to make smarter sinners. It is to make saints. The Bible warns that knowledge puffs up. If we are not careful, the very thing that is supposed to make us more mature can harm us. We need to study the Bible. We need to understand its meaning, but we need to move on to application.

In my opinion, most groups spend too much time in What-does-the-text-mean questions. We squeeze its meaning to death without ever asking, “What are we going to do about it”?

Sometimes, in fact, What-does-the-text-mean questions are altogether unnecessary and just get in the way. I was just working on a lesson on Philippians 2:4 “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (NIV) We might spend a question or two drawing out the fact that the text says, “not only to your own interest”—implying that we are to take responsibility for our own lives and, in that sense, looking after our own interest. But, we need to move on pretty quickly from this to applying this passage. This passage is not hard to understand the meaning. We will spend the rest of our lives learning to apply the meaning.

If I didn’t know my Sunday School teacher as well as I do, I couldn’t get away with this, but I tried to drive this point home to him recently. We were having a lively discussion of the text, and it was all very interesting, but time was getting away from us. We had about five minutes left. I raised my hand and posed this question: “In about five minutes we are all going to be walking out that door. What are you wanting us to do about what we learned today?”

My teacher has often reminded me of this comment. As the lesson is winding down he will say, “This is all very interesting, but I know what Josh is thinking. What are we going to do about what we talked about today? What is going to change because of what we talked about today?”

Whether they verbalize it or not, your people are asking the same thing: “Teacher, what do you want us to do about what we talked about today?”

What-does-the-text-mean is an important question. Important, because it lays the foundation to what we will talk about next. Talk about what the text means. But, don’t stop there. What everyone wants to know and needs to know is, what do you want me to do about what I heard today?

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 37–49.

The first five minutes, part 2

Josh Hunt — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 14:24:57 GMT

Start on time.

That may sound trivial, or persnickety, or overly formal for a group. Whatever. Start on time.

“But, if we were to do that, half our group isn’t there and they would miss it.” Start on time. One of the reasons people show up late to church events is the leadership is in the habit of starting late. We reward the people who are late by accommodating their lateness. We punish the people who are on time by not starting on time.

I would not have thought this was any big deal if it were not for my wife. She does training with me. She trains children and preschool workers, while I train adult workers. She has a talk called K.I.D.T.E.A.C.H. The “A” in this acrostic “Arrive early.” When she first told me that I thought it was a little trivial. But, based on the feedback she has gotten from church leaders across the country, I have come to see the importance of bringing this up. She has told me story after story after story of people who have come up to her after conferences and thanked her for bringing the time issue up. “It is a real problem around here. Teachers don’t show up on time.”

All of the things we talked about in the last chapter can only happen if we are there on time—early in fact. Often visitors are nervous about being able to find their way so they show up early. It is pretty bad if they show up before the people who are in charge. Show up early. Start on time.

Life exposure question

I always start a group the same way—with what I call a life exposure question. The life exposure question does not have to do with the Bible; it has to do with life. It opens the window of each person’s life and lets us peer in. Here are some examples from some recent lessons I have written for The Lesson Vault:

Let’s each share our name and one favorite fruit. No one gets to repeat a fruit. (The question relates to that day’s study and this verse: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” John 15:16 (NIV)
Let’s each share our name and how many Christians you work with, or how the people you work with feel about Christians. (The lesson that day had to do with being persecuted. This verse sets the stage for that discussion.)
Share your name and one time you have been robbed. (The lesson included John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV)

As you can see, I try to relate the life exposure question to the lesson of the day. This allows the life exposure to do double duty. The life exposure question can fulfill two purposes at the same time—it exposes a bit of the group’s life to each other, and it helps to teach the lesson itself. (Another example of double duty is using biblical illustrations to make a point. By using a biblical illustration from another place in the Bible, you illustrate your point, while at the same time reminding the group of a biblical story.)

Sometimes, I can’t think of a question that relates to the lesson, so we can’t come up with a question that can do double duty. In this case, I resort to a totally trivial question:

Share your name and your favorite restaurant.
Share your name and your favorite fast-food restaurant.
Share your name and your favorite burger.

Notice, we always start with “share your name and.” If the group is doing any kind of outreach, there will be people there who do not know each other. Or, more likely, they kinda know each other, but they can’t remember that name. If you feel strongly that you don’t need to do this, I have a thought for you to consider: maybe you need to do more outreach. If everyone there knows the name of everyone there, it is time to go out and get some new people. The best way to do that is through parties. Have a party once a month and invite every member and every prospect. That is a great idea, but not the subject of this book.

Benefits of life-exposure questions

They get everyone talking

I often encourage groups to engage in a question and answer style of teaching, rather than a lecture style. Sometimes, people object. Their objections go something like this. “But our group doesn’t talk. They don’t like talking. They like hearing me talk. They are a listening kind of group and I am a lecturing kind of teacher. We are a match made in heaven. I talk. They listen.”

Or, sometimes people will say, “I tried to get my group talking; they just didn’t want to open up. It was awkward.”

Here is what I have found. If you can get everyone’s mouth open in the first part of the hour, it goes a long way toward creating a discussion during the rest of the hour. Sometimes, you get their mouths open and you can’t get them shut, but that is a topic for another day. Life-exposure questions get groups talking.

They create connections

I have seen it happen a million times. We ask a question like, “Share your name and where you were born.” Someone says, “I am Bob and I was born in Baltimore.” Some shy person from across the room will say, “No way! I was born in Baltimore. Aren’t the crabs the best there?” “Absolutely, best crabs on the eastern shore. What is your favorite crab place?” About this time you might have to encourage the group to continue this crab conversation after class.

Over time, these little connections turn a group of strangers into a group of friends. It doesn’t happen in a day. It doesn’t happen in a week, but, week after week, layer upon layer, this kind of experience creates a groupness. It creates a bond, a sense that we know each other and love each other and know one another’s stories. We feel connected.

They allow everyone to participate

When we get into the Bible study itself, some will be hesitant to participate. Perhaps they don’t know very much, or they are just especially sensitive about being wrong. For a hundred reasons, it is difficult to get 100% participation during the Bible study time itself, although we push in that direction. But, during this time, everyone can participate. Everyone may not know the meaning of the word perdition, but everyone knows where they were born.

Making Life-exposure questions work

Pace

You want these to go quickly. Spend five minutes—max—on this question. If your group is so big you can’t get to everyone in five minutes, you might consider creating another group, but, again, that is a topic of another book. This question needs to go fast.

Modeling

We get fast by modeling fast. I’d start this way, “Let’s all go around the room, sharing our name and favorite restaurant. I am Josh and my favorite restaurant is any Mexican food restaurant. Next.” By modeling fast, you give everyone the hint that you don’t want the complete Zagat’s guide restaurants in your town. The life-exposure question is important, but it is important that it be done quickly.

Safe

I would prepare this question ahead of time, rather than dreaming it up on the fly. The reason is safety. Make sure this question is safe and won’t embarrass anyone. You want to make sure that this question can’t go wrong. Please learn from my mistakes on this.

I was teaching a single’s group once and came up with this question off the top of my head: “Let’s all share our name and how old you were when you first kissed someone of the opposite sex. Not your sister or your mother, but an honest to goodness romantic kiss.” My line of thought with that question was that singles don’t do a lot of kissing, so maybe they would enjoy talking about it. And, we did have some fun. One gal was four and we kidded her playfully. One guy was nineteen and we ribbed him a bit. Then we got to one gal, and, (how do I say this gracefully?) not the prettiest gal in the room. In the south they would say it this way, “Bless her heart, she was not much of a looker.” In the South you can say anything about anyone, no matter how blunt or rude as long as you proceed it with, “Bless her heart.”

Anyway, this gal, bless her heart, not the prettiest in the room confessed, “I am twenty-nine and I have never been kissed.” Ouch.

I hurt her. I crushed her. If she is in a group twenty years from now and the question was, “Who can tell us about a moment when you were really embarrassed,” that moment in my group would come to mind. Learn from my mistakes. Think through these questions ahead of time.

Let me ask you to work on this a bit by filling out the following chart:

Question	What is wrong with it
State your name and where you graduated from high school.
State your name and what is your favorite book.

How did you do? Here is my answer. The first question is bad because there may be someone in the room that didn’t graduate from High School, but they don’t particularly want to talk about it. You can get at roughly the same information by asking the group, “State your name and where did you live during your teenagers years.” They may not have graduated, but they did live somewhere.

The second question is a bad one because, sad to say, most people don’t read. Most people have not read a book in years, and many have never read a book. This is a point of embarrassment to many people because, although they don’t read, they feel like they should.

I remember getting my hair cut one time and had just stopped by a book store and picked up a new book. I was fired up about it and was reading while I was getting my hair cut. I was reading until the lady cutting my hair began to confess her guilt. “I feel so badly. I should read more. I hardly ever read. I know I should.” I am not sure why people feel they should read but don’t read. All I know is that is fairly common for people to feel badly about the fact that they don’t read.

Why not prayer?

You might notice that I didn’t suggest we start the group time with prayer. This may seem odd to some. Here is what experience has taught me. If you start with prayer requests, it can take a long time, especially as the group gets to know one another well. If you are not careful you can spend half the hour talking about prayer requests. This kind of thing can ruin your group. (Notice, I did not say too much prayer can ruin your group; I said too much talking about prayer requests can ruin your group.) We want to spend some time discussing prayer requests, but not half the time. Thoughtful people will get restless and anxious for us to get to the lesson.

The solution to this dilemma is as simple as it is effective. Do prayer requests last. Leave five or ten minutes at the end for prayer requests and prayer. People are not nearly as apt to talk and talk and talk about prayer requests at the end of the hour as they are at the beginning of the hour. My practice, then, is to do prayer requests and prayer last.

The first five minutes set the tone for the rest of group time. The first five minutes after people walk in should be filled with greetings, introductions and small-talk. The first five minutes of the group time itself should be around a life exposure question—each person peeling back the layer of their lives just a bit. With this beginning, we are ready to get into the Bible study.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 19–25.

The first five minutes of your small group

Josh Hunt — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 16:19:30 GMT

The beginning sets the tone for the whole. Like Scott Peck’s classic beginning line of The Road Less Traveled, “Life is Difficult.” We wanted to believe it was easy, or you could make it easy, or easier in three easy steps.

Or, Rick Warren’s beginning line of The Purpose Driven Life, “It is not about you.” That gets to the heart of the matter, doesn’t it?

Or how about this beginning line: The beginning sets the tone for the whole.

Well, I don’t suspect this book will become a classic on par with The Road Less Traveled or The Purpose Driven Life. I just want to make the point that the beginning sets the tone for the whole.

The first five minutes of your group time sets the tone for the whole. People tend to make up their mind about how they are going to feel about class in the first five minutes and then spend the rest of the hour trying to defend why that idea is right.

“The first five minutes” can be taken two ways and we will deal with each one separately:

The first five minutes when people walk into group, and
The first five minutes when the actual group time begins

Both of these times are extremely important. The first we will deal with in this chapter, the second will have a chapter of its own.

The first five minutes when people walk into the group

When was the last time you walked into a group as a stranger? Do you remember how it feels? Do you remember how it feels to not know where to sit, what to do, where to go, who is in charge, what is going on?

If it has been a long time, or maybe you cannot remember, I recommend you visit another church. If you want to be really brave, visit a church that is not part of your denomination, a church that is very different from yours. Walk in and get in touch with what it feels like to be a stranger.

You might think this issue is not important enough to warrant going to all this fuss about. Jesus counted the issue of strangers and how they are treated as very important. It is one of the things that separate the sheep from the goats. Circle the word “stranger” every time it occurs in this passage:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:34–46 [NIV]

Imagine Jesus visited your group. How would you treat Him? Jesus taught us to treat every visitor that way, because how we treat them is how we are treating Him.

The writer of Hebrews taught us that by being careful of the way we treat strangers, we are, at times, entertaining angels:

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2 [NIV]

How we greet one another is elevated in the Bible to the position of a command. Four times in the New Testament we are commanded to greet one another properly:

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings. Romans 16:16 [NIV]
All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 1 Cor. 16:20 [NIV]
Greet one another with a holy kiss. 2 Cor. 13:12 [NIV]
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. 1 Peter 5:14 [NIV]

It is easy to miss the import of these commands because we get hung up on the cultural style of what is appropriate. Our mind gets distracted by the visual imagery of kissing each other at the door and the political correctness of that in a world like ours and what would happen if, and … we miss the whole point. The point is that God counted it so important that we greet each other appropriately that he elevated it to the level of a command and repeated it four times.

I have had more than a few people irritated at me over the years. I remember talking to a friend once about someone else who was irritated at me. (Probably a better idea to talk with the person who was irritated.) Anyway, I asked my friend what their beef was. “Well,” my friend hesitated. “They said you didn’t say ‘Hi!’ to them when you walked down the hall. You didn’t greet them. You just ignored them. They knew you would never do this to one of your friends, but to them, you didn’t say a word. It made them feel small. It made them feel like they were not important to you.”

“I am spacey,” I protested. But, as much as I have tried to defend my spacey-ness and this is a trivial matter and as much as I have tried to convince myself that they are just too sensitive, I have to admit that the Bible is on their side. The Bible commands that we take seriously how we greet one another. Back in the day, that meant a warm kiss. Maybe it means something else in our day. Whatever else it means, it means that the greeting in the first minute when people show up is very important.

The way we treat strangers is important to God and it is important to people. How we treat strangers—visitors to our group—may have more to do with whether or not they come back and the growth of the group than anything else. It may be more important than the quality of the teaching or how hard you work at your outreach program.

Here are three things you can do to insure that your visitors are treated as you would treat Jesus if he visited your class.

Make someone in charge

Everyone’s responsibility is no one’s responsibility. In order to insure that every visitor is treated well, make it someone’s job. Have someone stationed by the door prepared to greet everyone who walks in and especially to welcome strangers. Wal-Mart does it. You should too. It could be the teacher, but it is probably preferable that it be someone else. Get the friendliest, happiest, most welcoming person in the room to be in charge of greeting people.

Refreshments

People don’t know what to do when they first come in, and they are uncomfortable doing nothing. Give them something to do—eat. Give them something to eat. Eating relaxes people and puts them at ease. It gives them something to do and relieves the awkwardness.

Providing refreshments each week is easy enough to do. First, someone needs to be in charge. Not in charge of making refreshments every week, but in charge of seeing that it is taken care of. About every two months, they can pass around a sign up list with dates for people to volunteer. If it is a large class, you may need several to volunteer each week. A friendly e-mail reminder to the people who have signed up each week would go along way toward insuring that it is done.

Introductions and chit-chat

After a visitor is greeted at the door and shown the refreshments, the next step is introductions. It is not necessary to introduce them to everyone in the group; just a few people. Sit them next to someone and say, “Bob and Cheryl, this is Tom and Betty. Make them feel welcome, will you?” It is important at this point that Bob and Cheryl make them feel welcome.

How do they do that? Ask lots of questions—questions about Tom and Betty. Questions that are of interest, but not too personal. Good questions are the key to good group life. Questions like:

Is this your first time be with us?
How did you hear about our church (or group)?
What kind of work are you in?
How long have you lived here?
Do you have family in the area?
Do you have kids?

If the Bob and Cheryl in your group are not naturally good at this, you might coach them to have a list of questions in their mind. It will serve them well, not only in this situation, but in a million situations where they met new people. Better yet, if the Bob and Cheryls of your group are not naturally good at this, you might sit Tom and Betty next to someone else. Let’s put our best foot forward. First impressions matter.

This chit-chat ought to continue right up until when the group itself starts, or, when Bob and Cheryl sense that Tom or Betty have had enough chit-chat. There is a fine line between friendliness and nosiness.

From time to time—maybe about once a quarter, you might do a group evaluation of this process. Make sure you have a greeter and refreshments, and then ask. Openly, publically ask members how they felt the first week they were greeted. Hopefully, they will report that they felt great and the group was welcoming and inviting. A report like that will go a long way toward encouraging the group to keep up the good work.

You might think that all this is automatic and trivial and happens all the time and does not warrant writing about. If you had visited as many classes as I have, you wouldn’t feel that way. Visitors are often routinely ignored.

Treat your visitors well. The first five minutes set the tone for the rest of the class.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 11–17.

Why are good questions the best way to teach?

Josh Hunt — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 23:40:17 GMT

There are basically three ways to teach adults:

Lecture
Fun and games
Question and answer

Lecture is a good method, especially in certain special circumstances.

If you need to communicate a good deal of information quickly. Lecture can be a very efficient way of communicating.
If there is only one person in the room that knows the truth. Group life should not be about the pooling of ignorance. I have seen groups fish for the right answer for days when there is just one person who knows. Say it.
In short bursts. Every lesson ought to have some lecture. In my online lessons I will often put footnotes to the teachers and say, “Preach a little on that.” Every lesson ought to have a bit of the prophetic voice of someone saying, “Thus saith the Lord!”
If the material is somewhat complex one voice will often make it clearer than a group of voices discussing.
If you only have an expert in the room for a limited amount of time. I remember hearing Dr. Curtis Vaughan speak one time in El Paso, TX. Dr. Vaughan taught me Greek in seminary and I have enormous respect for his knowledge. I remember people asking a question about a word that was completely out of context and off the top of his head he would say, “On page 1232 of Kittel, volume 4, it says …” Anyway, at this meeting in El Paso, he gave his presentation, then opened it up for discussion. Discussion? Dr. Curtis Vaughan is in the room. I don’t want to hear us dummies speak. I want to hear Dr. Vaughan. Let him lecture till the cows come home!

There is a place for lecture, but lecture has its limitations, especially in a group setting. I can think of two primary limitations of the lecture method.

Lecture is an extremely difficult method

If you take up piano, you will learn that some songs are more difficult to play than others. If you ever play cards you know that some hands are more difficult to play than others. If you take up golf you soon realize that some courses and some holes are much more difficult than others. The lecture is an extremely difficult method to perfect. If you disagree with the thesis of this book, that Good Questions are the best way to teach adults, allow me to gently warn you. If you choose to lecture, you are dealing yourself a very difficult hand to play. It is extremely difficult to present a forty-five minute, interesting and life-changing lecture each week. Extremely difficult. Let me invite you to humbly consider the fact that you might be boring people. Do you have anyone in your life who would tell you? Most people will be polite. There is a chance—a good chance—that if you adopt the lecture method each week that your group is bored and won’t tell you.

I know what you are thinking. “Not me. Other people might be boring, but not me.” We all fall victim to a tendency to evaluate ourselves more highly than is warranted. Even pastors who preach on humility fall victim to this tendency. Ninety-percent of preachers describe themselves as above average. One hundred percent of teenagers think they are above average. There is a good chance you see yourself as above average. Be careful. Romans 12 warns us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. It is very difficult to teach an interesting, life-changing lesson every week if you use primarily lecture. You might be boring.

Lecture doesn’t do a lot to create community

Even if you do get it right and your lectures are interesting, stimulating, funny and life-changing, there is still a problem.

Lecture does not stimulate relationship-building.

It does not create community. It does not allow us to get to know one another.

Church is not just about getting to know God and learning to live the Christian life individually and privately. It is not just about a vertical relationship with God. It is also about a horizontal relationship with one another. Lectures don’t help us do that much. Conversations do.

The truth is, we need both lecture and conversations. But we get lecture in the worship service. We get lecture in the sermon. Group time is about relationship building. It is about community. Discussion based teaching helps us do that.

David Francis, head of Sunday School for Lifeway Christian Resources, told me that according to their research, in most churches Sunday School is not a small group time at all. It is a mid-sized group time. It is a stand-and-deliver-a-lecture time. It is sit-in-straight-rows-and-listen-to-a-talk. It is mini-sermon time.

If this is true, it follows that many believers have never really experienced group life. They have experienced sit-in-straight-rows-and-listen-to-a-lecture, but they have not experienced group life. They have not experienced one another life. The skillful use of good questions helps us create group life.

Relationships are about conversations. Good questions create conversations. Good questions make class interesting. Good questions stimulate life-change. Good questions create community.

Fun and games have limited usefulness with adults

By fun and games I mean everything from watching a video to acting out a drama to cutting pictures out of magazines to listening to songs to taking a field trip. It is everything we do that is creative and unusual.

Some of this is great. Variety is the spice of life. It makes group life fun … to a point. But, I think you can do too much of this with adults. Too much and adults get to feeling like, “Where is the beef?” I am not sure that kids would ever feel this way, but adults will.

Admittedly, this is rarely a problem. It is rarely a problem that groups are too creative, too lively, or too much fun. But, my point is that these creative elements make a good garnish for the lesson, but a poor entrée.

I remember attending a retreat once where the leaders had us listening to secular songs and comparing the theology of these songs to what we understood to be biblical theology. They had even printed out the words to make it easier for us. It was fun for a while. It was interesting and helpful for the first song or two, but we did this for an hour or more. After while, I got to feeling, like, “Does anyone around here have a Bible? Any chance we could open the Bible and read a bit and talk about what it means to us and how we could apply it to our lives?”

I think most adults are this way. We are O. K. with doing some creative activities. Some. Some creative activities. We will go along for a time. But, after a time, we want someone to open the Bible and get into it.

Good questions strike a happy balance between lecture and fun and games

Good questions have groups talking. Good questions are interesting. Good questions challenge the way we think. Good questions challenge the way we live. Good questions guide us off the broad way into the narrow way. Good questions challenge our assumptions. Good questions help us get to know one another. They test our knowledge. They create community. Good questions are the best bread-and-butter way to teach adults.

There is a place for lecture. When an expert is in the room we do well to lecture. In short bursts lecture can be effective. But not too much.

There is a place for creative activities. There is a place for the unusual. But, enough is enough.

Good questions are the core, the centerpiece, the meat and potatoes of good teaching in a small group or Sunday School class.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 5–9.

TEACHING BY DISCUSSION

Josh Hunt — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 14:14:38 GMT

Teacher Tips by Jerry Bowling

Discussion-based teaching methods can be a vital tool in the Bible teacher’s repertoire—but only if the teacher knows the why and how of their use. When unskilled, undirected discussion takes place in the Bible classroom, the result is often merely a common pooling of ignorance and/or a “what it means to me” approach to Scripture that bypasses the original intent of the author. But that need not happen!

The Why

Bible-class leaders who are skillful at using discussion methods cultivate openness and vulnerability in ways that lecture methods simply cannot. As the teacher figuratively steps down from a lecture-based position of authority, the vulnerability he or she reveals in discussion-based classes encourages openness and vulnerability on the part of learners as well.

Lecture-based methods focus almost exclusively on the transmission of facts. Discussion-based methods take this a step further by exploring how those scriptural facts and truth can and do interact with “real life.” Discussion methods help learners process their experiences as they explore successes and failures in connecting their inner lives with the Bible. In short, discussion-based teaching supports internalization of spiritual values as those values drive behavior.

The How

Discussion-based teaching requires that teachers be prepared to focus Bible lessons on the context of life today, particularly the “gray areas.” For example, the scriptural prohibitions against stealing and lying are clear enough (Exodus 20:15; Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:25, 28; etc.). But what counts as “stealing” in the everyday gray areas of life? For example, if I make a one-minute personal phone call while at work, have I stolen from my employer? Or if I exaggerate or slightly misrepresent facts in a conversation to spare the feeling of a friend, have I sinned? As gray-area issues are wrestled with, learners realize they are not alone in such struggles.

One way the teacher encourages such discussion is by creating space where students can feel safe talking about their inner values that drive their outward behavior. No one is pressured to do so, of course. But the teacher who does so personally sets the example for learners to do so as well.

Confronting fear about changing methods is perhaps the hardest step for a teacher to take in making a successful transition into using discussion methods. Teachers need to address any resistance or reluctance they may have about their willingness to do so. Bible teachers do well to remember that learning entails change and that the prospect of such change is particularly intimidating for some to undertake.

Praying for God’s wisdom (James 1:5) is the best place to begin stretching beyond the comfortable and familiar. And God may be calling you to do just that!

The limited space here does not allow fullest discussion of how-tos. Many additional ideas in this regard are easily found on the internet.

Reflecting on Your Role as Teacher

Adopting a discussion method will require you to reflect on your role as teacher. A critical competency for teaching via discussion is that you will be assisting learners to take responsibility and become self-directing in maturing spiritually as you model that yourself. You will model not only expertise in Bible content, but also an interpersonal “fellow struggler” rapport with your learners.

Jerry Bowling, “Teaching by Discussion,” in The NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2020–2021, ed. Ronald L. Nickelson, Jane Ann Kenney, and Margaret K. Williams, vol. 27 (Colorado Springs, CO: Standard Publishing, 2020–2021), 120.

An informed Group makes for interesting discussion

Josh Hunt — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 14:53:23 GMT

EMPOWER CO-LEARNING

Teacher Tips by Jerry Bowling

Facilitating discussions in Bible study can anticipate, invite, and empower meaningful co-learning. Discussion as a learning tool can draw all students in a class into participation such that they feel they share a vital role in the lesson. As they discuss a Bible passage together, learners help others who are present grasp God’s truth and integrate it into life. That’s co-learning.

Preparing for Discussion

Teachers can empower co-learning when they prepare for it. Advance preparation for co-learning discussion comes in various forms: previewing resources such as blogs, Bible dictionaries, or videos; inviting students to bring their own questions; anticipating counterarguments; reflecting on the sets of questions in this teacher guide; etc. Successful discussion begins with good preparation!

To foster meaningful discussion in upcoming class sessions, teachers can communicate details about lessons through e-mail, social media, or web links. All this advance preparation will serve to engage the prior knowledge that students bring to the classroom, inspire deeper faith integration, and foster further reflection. The result will be enhanced discipleship.

Importance of Ground Rules

Ground rules are a simple set of agreed upon assumptions that clarify and guide the use of discussion. Having explicit ground rules is a fundamental prerequisite for Bible class discussions. Teachers can, of course, elect to introduce their own ground rules. But an even greater sense of ownership is created when teacher and students work together in developing them. Either way, it is imperative for class members to understand these guidelines before discussion begins.

An indispensable component of ground rules is that you, the teacher, model their use as you facilitate the lesson presentation and accompanying discussion. This creates student confidence and increases the likelihood that learners will honor the ground rules themselves in holistic collaboration.

A sample set of ground rules might include some of the following:

Open-minded and nonjudgmental dialogue.
Confidential and respectful discussion.
No interruptions, demeaning comments, or other disruptive behavior.
Active attention when a classmate is talking.
Using “I language” (rather than “you language”) to challenge ideas.

Results of a Co-Learning Culture

Having ground rules to frame Bible class discussions serves to create an inclusive learning environment as it welcomes diverse viewpoints. Establishing trust is the key for doing so. When that trust is established, the result will be a classroom setting that is open to insights—insights that empower growth in faith and service. Discussions in a co-learning classroom environment create the dynamic of shifting learning expectations toward students’ participation. Discussions can underscore previously overlooked values that come to light in the hearing of others’ views.

The ultimate perspective the students must hear is, of course, that of the author’s original intent in writing the Scripture text. This is where you, the teacher, walk a tightrope. Invalid perspectives do exist (compare Galatians 2:11–21). But when you, the teacher, challenge wrong ideas within the framework of the ground rules, the co-learning culture is maintained as a learner comes to the conclusion on his or her own that the voiced perspective is in need of serious rethinking.

Jerry Bowling, “Empower Co-Learning,” in The NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2020–2021, ed. Ronald L. Nickelson, Jane Ann Kenney, and Margaret K. Williams, vol. 27 (Colorado Springs, CO: Standard Publishing, 2020), 8.

DISCUSSION TOOLS THAT WORK

Josh Hunt — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 15:19:26 GMT

Teacher Tips by Jerry Bowling

Questions lie at the heart of discussion-based teaching. Questions serve a vital role for sustaining learning beyond the classroom. But how a teacher constructs and poses questions requires skill and practice that can make a difference between a sustained, engaging conversation and a session that goes nowhere.

Some Types of Questions

Beginning teachers can benefit from using a mix of questions and preparing them in advance. The starting point here is in recognizing certain categories or types of questions:

Relational questions call for comparisons. Example: “How does this concept relate to what we studied about Paul’s Jewish heritage that we discussed last week?”
Clarifying questions probe deeper for evidence. Example: “What do you find in this text that supports your viewpoint?”
Big-idea questions search for what’s most important. Example: “What insight is most valuable from today’s lesson?”
Experiential questions seek personal relevance. Example: “What are some ways to apply Jeremiah’s admonition to return to the Lord?”

Some Discussion Methods

No matter what mix of question types you use, you should use them in such a way that all voices in your class are heard and valued. The teacher who simply stands up front and poses questions runs the risk of having one or two assertive students dominate the discussion. Here are some techniques to encourage broad participation:

Double Wheel. Prepare in advance several open-ended questions such as in one or more of the four types above. During class, group students into two concentric circles of equal numbers. Have those in the inside circle face outward and those in the outside circle face inward. Then give each learner one or more slips of paper on which you have reproduced questions, one question per slip. Have each learner pose his or her question(s) to the other learner of the facing pair for response. (Alternative: Instead of open-ended questions, use incomplete statements such as “I think Peter’s greatest challenge was …”) After one minute of discussion, signal students in the outside circle to move one person to the right and use a different question. Repeat the process as appropriate for the size of your class.
Conversation Circles. Arrange student seating in circles of four or five. Pose (or write on the board) a question for discussion within the circles. Any student can begin the responses within the respective circles. Announce that (1) the response is limited to one-minute’s duration and (2) no interruptions are allowed. When you call time after the minute, the person on the first respondent’s right responds to the same question, same rules. Repeat until all four or five in the circles have responded. Debrief as a whole class.

Some Best Practices

As you can see from the types and methods above, it’s important to construct your questions in advance—don’t just use whatever comes to mind in the middle of teaching! A good starting point is the five questions that come with each lesson in this commentary; these are almost always of the “experiential” (application) type.

As you either construct your own and/or modify the ones that come with each lesson, follow these best practices:

Make each question ask about one thing only
Order questions in a logical sequence.
Make questions answerable (not too broad).
Focus questions on transformation more than mere information.

Jerry Bowling, “Discussion Tools That Work,” in The NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2020–2021, ed. Ronald L. Nickelson, Jane Ann Kenney, and Margaret K. Williams, vol. 27 (Colorado Springs, CO: Standard Publishing, 2021), 232.

Training vss Trying hard

Josh Hunt — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 23:29:23 GMT

The theme that dominates this entire discussion of transformation is the importance of training. Paul spoke of training ourselves to be godly (1 Tim. 4:7); the writer to the Hebrews told us that constant use or practice leads to someone who is trained (Heb. 5:14). Paul pointed out to Timothy that Scriptures provide the primary means for the training in righteousness needed so that every person will be thoroughly equipped to do every good work (2 Tim. 3:16–17). Training to be godly is very different from trying to be godly. Trying to be godly doesn’t work, training does.

I could challenge my church members to run seven miles. We could gather in front of the church and run together so we could encourage one another. I could give an inspirational message that would fire them up so they would be brimming over with desire to run the seven miles. But almost no one could run seven miles. There would be very courageous efforts as many would extend themselves beyond what they should to reach the goal. But the first aid station and recovery tent would be filled with the injured and the sick. A few people would make it, but it wouldn’t be a matter of age or necessarily body strength. Those who would finish would be those who had already been running as a way of life.

Trying to be godly without training can be just as injurious to the spirit as trying to run seven miles without proper training can be to the body. I think Christians should stop trying to be godly and start practicing the disciplines that form pathways to the heart of God and transform us into his likeness.

The distinction between trying and training is revolutionary. So many resist effort and discipline because it seems like an external effort to gain an internal change. But when I am training, change occurs not because I am straining to make something happen but because I am doing what God prescribed. Training via disciplined practice is how genuine freedom is attained. It is how Jesus’ yoke is easy and light.

Bill Hull, Choose the Life: Exploring a Faith That Embraces Discipleship (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004), 77–78.

Men are God's Method

Josh Hunt — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 16:30:12 GMT

When will we realize that evangelism is not done by something, but by someone? It is an expression of God’s love, and God is a person. His nature, being personal, is only expressed through personality, first revealed fully in Christ, and now expressed through his Spirit in the lives of those yielded to him. Committees may help to organize and direct it, and to that end they certainly are needed, but the work itself is done by people reaching other people for Christ.

That is why we must say with E. M. Bounds that “men are God’s method.”9 Until we have such people imbued with his Spirit and committed to his plan, none of our methods will work.

This is the new evangelism we need. It is not better methods, but better men and women who know their Redeemer from personal experience—men and women who see his vision and feel his passion for the world—men and women who are willing to be nothing so that he might be everything—men and women who want only for Christ to produce his life in and through them according to his own good pleasure. This finally is the way the Master planned for his objective to be realized on the earth, and where it is carried through by his strategy, the gates of hell cannot prevail against the evangelization of the world.

Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2006), 97.

The Joy of the Work

Josh Hunt — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 14:42:51 GMT

I think group work is more fun than Six Flags. The happiest people I know are leaders of groups that are doubling every two years or less. If you didn’t have any high, holy, glorious, noble ambition in your life but just to have fun, I would invite you to give your life to doubling your group every two years or less. It is fun stuff.

Christian Swartz has done one of the most exhaustive studies ever conducted on the worldwide Church. He originally surveyed people on every continent in more than 1,000 churches, amassing 4.2 million bits of data. One of his findings: growing churches laugh more than non-growing churches. They are having more fun. Yes, we do have serious, heady, heavy reasons for giving our one and only lives to doubling. But I want to say right up front that this is a wonderful way to live.

There is a cost involved, a great cost. Our Master asked that we give up everything to be His followers (Luke 14:33). But the cost is richly rewarded. We are never asked to give up more than we get back. We give our rags to put on His royalty. It is worth it.

There will be some disappointment along the way. You will be hurt, rejected, and disappointed. People will not always respond to your love. They will reject you. I teach a very personal ministry, and when people reject you, it hurts. We are rejected as Christ was rejected. We share in his sufferings.2

Meet my friend Chris Thixton. Chris loves life. You can see it in his vibrant, expressive face. Chris is having fun doubling his class. He lives in Ozark, Missouri. I have been to his church twice. He has doubled his group numerous times. His method is not “Giving Friday Nights to Jesus” as I discuss in You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less. Instead he uses pizza on Sunday.

He roams the auditorium before the 11:00 service. Finding newcomers, he stops and introduces himself, engaging them in a friendly conversation. Soon, he pitches the bait: you guys like pizza? He directs the question at the kids, then turns to the parents to explain: “A bunch of us are going to get pizza after a while. If you want, I’d love for ya’ll to come with us. I’d love to buy your pizza.” He grew his class from 4 to 40 in 9 months using this method. (By the way, would you spend $25 a week to double your class? I told you it might cost you.)

I cannot emphasize enough that Chris is exceptionally happy. He is one of the happiest church members I know. He is happy, in part, because he is engaged in the pursuit of a great cause. He has embraced the magnificent obsession. Just as in the parable of the talents, Chris is seeking to be the servant who takes what he has been given and doubles it.

Happiness is not so much about prosperity, ease, and creature comforts as it is about losing ourselves in a great cause. We are happiest, not when we are in greatest comfort; rather, we are happiest when we are lost in a great cause. The happiest people I know are lost in a magnificent obsession.

Do you want to be happy? I invite you to lose yourself in the magnificent obsession of using your gifts to help your group double every two years or less.

John Piper points out something interesting about happiness. The world teaches us that in order to be happy we need to have high self-esteem. We need to feel good about ourselves. We need to feel big. This is not the whole story.

Imagine a group of people leaning over the railing at the Grand Canyon, drinking in the view. They are lost in amazement and wonder. You stand beside them and casually remark, “Doesn’t the Canyon make you feel good about yourself? Doesn’t it make you feel big?”

“What are you, nuts?” They would think, probably not owing you the courtesy of responding out loud. They would walk off and mutter under their breath, “Some people just don’t get it.”

People do not enjoy the Grand Canyon because it makes us feel big. It doesn’t do anything to enhance our self-esteem. It doesn’t help us feel big. If anything, it makes us feel small. We are happy then. We are happiest when we feel small standing before something great.

Ever look at the stars? I do. I sometimes lay outside in the back yard on my trampoline and bask in the wonder of the bigness of space above a New Mexico desert. Scientists tell me that the light I see left those stars millions of years ago. The star itself could have gone out by now and we would still be seeing what looks like a star for millions of years. I feel small—and I love it.

You may say, “I can’t do much.” Neither can I. Each of us makes a small splash, but the rippling effect is huge. Because I have been working on this magnificent obsession for some time, I am profoundly aware of this. I have often said that I feel like one who is attempting to empty the Pacific Ocean with tea cups. Everyone I teach to double is one who did not know before. But there is so much to do.

Nobody knows for sure how many lost people inhabit planet earth, but to be sure, it is in the billions. There are likely more than a billion people who have never even heard of Jesus. A few billion more don’t know any more about Jesus than you or I know about Confucius or Mohammed. They haven’t really been given a fighting chance to believe. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14).

Billions.

The task is daunting. Tea cups trying to empty the Pacific. After we have doubled the number of God-worshiping people in the next 20 years, there will still be billions more to reach.

I feel small. But it feels good to feel small. It feels good to feel small, lost in a big, big cause. Lost in the big, big, cause of a big, big God.

What do you want to give your one and only life to? Do you want to give your life to collecting sea shells, playing softball, and trawling in your boat? Do you want to bury your talents and maintain the status quo? Or do you want to lose yourself in a big, big cause?

Join me. Give your life to the magnificent obsession of doubling. Lose yourself in the cause. It will make you happy.

But it is not just about making us happy. There is a much more serious, somber reason to double.

Josh Hunt, 1 Magnificent Obsession (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2012).

What is a disciple?

Josh Hunt — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 15:25:20 GMT

What is a disciple? What does he look like? What attitudes does she portray? What skills does he possess? How does she spend her time? What are his priorities? Without a clear answer to these questions, we work in a fog. We are painting a picture without a clear image in our mind as to what the picture should look like. We may win with the numbers, but we lose where it really counts. Unless I can point to men and women, boys and girls whose lives have been radically changed by the Gospel, I have not done what my Lord told me to do. I have not made disciples.

Those who have a firm grasp of God’s word and make it their home are on their way to being Christ’s disciples.

Juan Carlos Ortiz asks the pointed question, “If I have 300 baby Christians this year and a year later I have 600 baby Christians, do we call this progress?” He warns against the doctrine of the “Eternal Childhood of the Believer”.5

If the members of your group are characterized by love for each other, you are doing your job of making disciples.

What is a disciple? Jesus gives us a glimpse into the answer to this question in three passages from the book of John. The first is John 8:31, “If you hold to my teachings you are really my disciples”. It is interesting that He says this to those who had already believed in Him. The Word for hold is used in other contexts to mean, “abide, live, dwell, to be at home.”6 Those who have a firm grasp of God’s word and make it their home are on their way to being Christ’s disciples. This is the first mark of a disciple: abiding in Christ. The second mark has to do with the body.

John 13:35 says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This is such a direct statement, it needs no explanation. If the members of your group are characterized by love for each other, you are doing your job of making disciples.

In many cases, the world perceives us as being more judgmental, critical and condemning. No wonder we are not taking a nation for God.

I have asked a number of groups if they thought outsiders perceived believers to be more loving or less loving than the world in general. The resounding answer I have received is that there is little difference, that we are no more loving than the world. In many cases, the world perceives us as being more judgmental, critical and condemning. No wonder we are not taking our nation for God. The world would beat our doors down if they thought they could find love here. You could not build buildings fast enough; you would not be able to start services often enough; the nets would be bursting if you could create a church that truly loved. I am not talking about some ethereal, high sounding out-there love. I am talking about the love that has someone over for dinner. I am talking about the love that gives a cup of cold water. . . or iced tea.

The first characteristic of a disciple is abiding in Christ. The second is love. The third is fruit bearing.

The world would beat our doors down if they thought they could find love here.

John 15:8 says, “. . . that you bear much fruit, showing yourself to be my disciples.” Eugene Petterson paraphrases this verse in a beautiful way, “When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.”7

Implicit in the idea of fruit bearing is reproduction. The seed is always in the fruit. One of the marks of maturity is the ability to reproduce. People reproduce after like kind. Teachers reproduce teachers according to 2 Timothy 2:2. (“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”) More on this in the section on reproduction.

A disciple is one who is:

☞ At home in the Word.

☞ Functioning in loving relationships

☞ Bearing fruit.

Josh Hunt, You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less, 1995.

The Awesome Power of Hospitality

Josh Hunt — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 14:33:01 GMT

I can summarize my life message in one sentence: you can double a group in two years or less by inviting every member and every prospect to every fellowship every month.

Do the top 100 have anything to say about hospitality? Once again, let me quote the pastor of the nation’s largest church:

When I got out of Seminary I started working with High School students I learned two things real quick, number one. I learned it was possible to create environments where unchurched, unbelieving kids could come and even though they didn’t believe what we believe they would come back the next week to hear more. And I also learned a more important thing. I learned that if you can get unchurched, unbelieving people in a community of believers that are loving each other and caring for each other and being real Christians, that being in that community breaks down the barriers to unbelief. It strips away big objections—good God and bad things happening to good people and all those legitimate questions. You get somebody in the community where the church is being the church and somehow the edges get softer and people’s hearts open up and life change happens. And so, we started creating environments where kids started coming and lives started being changed and do you know where we got the resistance? From the church people! And so one night I am sitting in this meeting. It had been going an hour and a half because we had a band and video and stuff and there are all these wonderful church people … I know many of them, knew many of them for many years, some of them come here now. And the meeting was, “Andy, if you keep doing this, creating these environments, here is what is going to happen, and all the potential horrible stuff and sex drugs and rock and roll and whoa! It’s going to be terrible.

And I just kept thinking, “Where is this coming from?” Toward the end of the meeting a lady stood up toward my right. She is still a friend of mine. She stood up, tears in her eyes, her voice quivering, and she said, “I am amazed at what I have heard. For an hour I have listened to everyone talk about how afraid they are about what might happen. Can I tell you what has happened? My two sons, who have never been involved in a church look forward to every Wednesday night and never miss. And, it you shut down this program, I am afraid they will never step foot inside a church again.” She sat down.

And I made up my mind. I am going to spend the rest of my life finding people who understand that you can create environments in a local church that allow us to partner with people who are fishing. And I want to create environments for people and as they come and as they get involved in a community of believers their belief system begins to change, not because we have confronted, not because we give them specific answers to specific questions, although there is a time and a place of that. But, because they are in the presence, as much as they’ll ever be in the presence of the living savior.

North Point has grown by loving people in common, ordinary, pedestrian ways. But, they are not the only church that does.

Willow Creek and Matthew Parties

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:27–32 (NIV)

Based on this example Bill Hybels and the people of Willow Creek use Matthew parties to build bridges to people who are far from God.

She invites him to a home group Bible Study. Not interested.

People from the Bible study invite him to go bowling. Not interested.

They invite him to dinner. Not interested.

They invite him to a music festival. Not interested.

Josh Hunt, Doubling Groups 2.0 (Josh Hunt, 2015).

Your Dream for Your Group

Josh Hunt — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 14:23:06 GMT

Two couples received the same small group leader training. Chris and Susan began a new group with the dream of ministering to single adults in a healthy, growing, multiplying group. Mark and Kathy took over an existing group because one of their pastors asked them to, but they did not have their own dream for the group. For the first six months, both couples worked hard at inviting and contacting people but both groups stayed small.

Mark and Kathy got discouraged. They soon lost what little dream they had for the group and began to go through the motions of group leadership. They stopped praying for their people or contacting them regularly. They quit invit-ing new people. They did not take much time to prepare for the group. They stopped having fellowship activities. The dream was gone. As a result, their small group kept shrinking. Within a year it died, and they left the church.

Chris and Susan did not lose sight of their dream. They worked hard to apply other habits that would help their dream. Eventually their efforts started to pay off. Within a year, their group had taken off. It continued to grow and eventually it multiplied. The dream made the difference. The first habit of the highly effective small group leader is to dream of leading a healthy, growing, multiplying group.

The first habit of the highly effective small group leader:

Dream of leading a healthy, growing, multiplying group.

The Value of Having a Dream

Having a Dream Increases Potential

Most small groups and small group leaders are sleeping giants. Satan wants to keep them that way, so he constantly whispers lies to small group leaders about what they can't do. Satan is defeated when small group leaders get a dream of what they and their group can become. Their ability to make a difference for God's kingdom immediately rises.

Effective small groups have staggering potential. Our church began as a single small group meeting in my basement; it now has over one hundred small groups. The Methodist church traces its beginning to a small group that met at Oxford University, and today it has over 11 million members.

If a small group leader multiplies his group into just one other multi-plying group every year for ten years, the results are incredible. After the first year, 1 has become 2. At the end of the second year, 2 has become 4. After the third year, 4 has become 8. Then 8 groups become 16, 16 become 32 groups, and 32 become 64 groups after the sixth year! Then if multipli-cation continues annually, 64 groups give birth to 128, 128 groups to 256, 256 groups to 512, and 512 groups become 1028 groups by the end of the tenth year. Over 1,000 groups in ten years! Such is the possible result of a single small group!

Effective small groups are the untapped potential of the local church. Not only can they multiply to reach large numbers of people, but they can be spiritual hospitals for the hurting and hothouses for spiritual growth. They can be the breeding ground for leaders and the launching pad for spiritual warfare. They can give people a feeling of belonging. Effective small groups can create evangelism teams. Yet this potential often goes unrealized without a dream.

Someone observed that the potential of a man is measured by the goals he pursues. Few people realize even a small fraction of their potential. Having a dream helps a small group leader begin to realize his awesome potential to make a difference for God.

Dream the dream of leading a healthy, growing, multiplying group. Dream of leading your group to multiply every year. Believe that God can use your small group to make a big difference.

Having a Dream Aids Accomplishment

I started a group several years ago. I never had a dream for that group. I started it because a man asked me to, and I felt obligated. It was simply a weekly meeting of a few men to study the Bible. The group never jelled and never grew; within a year, it died a quiet death.

? Failure to maintain contact with the members. Group members will miss group meetings. People get sick. They get tied up late at work. They go out of town for a week or two. They stay home to help the kids with a science project. And if no one contacts them in between small group meetings, one week's absence turns into two. Two weeks turn into three and soon they are no longer a part of the group.

Growing groups regularly contact all members and always make the effort to contact absentees. (See chapter four, Contact.)

? No social activities to bond the group and attract new people. "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy." And all meetings and no social activities can make the group a dull place. Humans are social creatures and enjoy occasional social outlets. (See chapter seven, Fellowship.)

? Failure of the leader to share responsibilities with apprentices. The solo leader will reach a limit of what he can do. When his limit is reached, the group stops growing, unless he shares responsibilities with others. (See chapter six, Mentor.)

Group Multiplication.

The highly effective group leader will help develop new leaders and new groups. Healthy cells will not only grow; they will multiply.

Multiplication Barriers:

? Failure to have and mentor apprentices. New groups must have new leaders. Groups fail to multiply when they have no apprentices to become leaders of the new groups. Try not to start any new groups unless they are already pregnant. A pregnant group is one with an apprentice or apprentices already in place being prepared to eventually lead new groups.

But it is not enough to have an apprentice. The group leader needs to mentor the apprentice to develop as a group leader. (See chapter six, Mentor.)

? Failure to plan to multiply. Some groups have apprentices but never seem to have enough momentum to multiply. Many groups have found that the momentum needed to multiply comes after a plan to multiply is in place. This simple plan primarily involves the date and method of multiplication.

The Small Group Leader's Personal Dream of Group Health, Growth, and Multiplication

Pray right now about your dream as a small group leader.

Write out your dream in your own words and/or use the statements below.

- I have the dream of leading a healthy, growing, multiplying small group.

- I will learn the habits needed to make this dream come true.

- By Gods grace, I will live the habits needed to make this dream come true.

Dave Earley, 8 Habits of Effective Small Group Leaders (Touch Outreach Ministries, 2001).

Have we tamed Jesus?

Josh Hunt — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 23:18:06 GMT

In writing a book about Jesus, one impression struck me more forcefully than any other: we have tamed him. The Jesus I learned about as a child was sweet and inoffensive, the kind of person whose lap you want to climb onto: someone like television’s cuddly Mister Rogers, only with a beard. Indeed Jesus did have qualities of gentleness and compassion that attracted little children. Mister Rogers, however, he assuredly was not.

I realized this fact when I studied the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the persecuted. Blessed are those who mourn.” These sayings have a soft, proverbial ring to them—unless you happen to know someone poor, persecuted, or mourning. The homeless huddling over heating grates in our major cities, the tortured prisoners whose pictures are distributed by Amnesty International, the families of terrorists’ victims—who would think of calling them blessed, or “lucky”?

In all the movies made about Jesus’ life, surely the most provocative—and perhaps the most accurate—portrayal of the Sermon on the Mount appears in a low-budget BBC production entitled Son of Man. Roman soldiers have just invaded a Galilean village to exact vengeance for some trespass against the empire. They have strung up Jewish men of fighting age, shoved their hysterical wives to the ground, even speared babies. Into that tumultuous scene of blood and tears and keening for the dead strides Jesus with eyes ablaze. “I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you,” he shouts above the groans.

You can imagine the villagers’ response to such unwelcome advice. The Sermon on the Mount did not soothe them; it infuriated them.

I came away from my study of Jesus both comforted and terrified. Jesus came to earth “full of grace and truth,” said John: his truth comforts my intellectual doubts even as his grace comforts my emotional doubts. And yet I also encountered a terrifying aspect of Jesus, one that I had never learned about in Sunday school. Did anyone go away from Jesus’ presence feeling satisfied about his or her life?

Few people felt comfortable around Jesus; those who did were the type no one else felt comfortable around. The Jesus I met in the Gospels was anything but tame.

“Unwrapping Jesus,” Christianity Today,

June 17, 1996 (31 – 32)

Philip Yancey, Grace Notes: Daily Readings with Philip Yancey (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009).

Good Questions Have Groups Talking (copy) Untitled page

How to start new groups

God is not enough

Life-giving Relationships

Nothing More Important than Attitude

Following Jesus -- easily and routinely

Making application work

Learning Prayer from Children

How to be a happy Christian

The Pursuit of Holiness

William Carey -- I Can Plod

Stranger in a strange land

Gift of tongues

Jesus' impact on history

The Matthew Party

WHERE TO GO

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Pack your coffin

How to demolish strongholds

The Navigators Word Hand Illustration

What shocked the world about the early church

When God wants to thrill a man

The principle of replacement

Man of sorrows

What Does Hesed Mean?

It is not the critic who counts...

"Coincidences" in Esther

Procrastination

The significance of the third day

Success God's Way

Our God Reigns

Fellowship of the unashamed

Dallas Willard on Hell

The Need for Pre-Evangelism in a Postmodern World

Many People Are Less Interested in a Simple Presentation of the Gospel

The World We Live in Has Changed

An Increasing Intolerance Toward Those Who Believe in Absolute Truth

Conversational Evangelism in a Nutshell

Conversational Evangelism in a Nutshell

The key to spiritual growth

The Master Plan of Evangelism

Men Willing to Learn

Concentrated on a Few

The high price of loneliness

How to make disciples

To Know Was to Be With

The Principle Observed

What is a group to do? (Swindoll)

The Inner Ring -- Lewis

What is the SOAP method of Bible study?

ONE PREREQUISITE TO LEARNING

S = SCRIPTURE

O = OBSERVATION

A = APPLICATION

P = PRAYER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WHEN YOU’RE AT YOUR BEST

What is Zion?

What does it mean to be baptized for the dead?

What is the unpardonable sin?

Should Christians tithe?

Will pets go to Heaven?

Who Was Cain's Wife?

The Bible and interracial marriage

LAWS AGAINST MISCEGENATION

OPPOSITION TO INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

What does the Bible say about tatoos?

What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

Should we have women pastors? (A historical perspective.)

Should we pray for the dead?

Be Still and Know That I Am God

The Basic Needs of a Growing Christian

What a disciple needs most

Teach from a living stream

The Power of an object lesson

What did it mean before it was a Bible word?

Finishing the race

Snickers and apples

The single most important spiritual discipline