I’ll never forget the days when my picture of the Gospel changed from a three dimensional, technicolor world to a flat, monochromatic wasteland. I was in the first half of my seminary years, working hard to add to my theological palette while all the while taking my eyes off of the masterpiece I was being trained to paint for others. I don’t fault seminary.

The Gospel was there, being painted again and again by masters who loved the Master and knew His masterpiece first hand. But I was more concerned about learning to paint than about longing for the Painter or loving the portrait of the Gospel of His glory in the face of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:4-6).

I needed what T. M. Moore calls a “docent of glory” (see his book Consider the Lilies). Docents are volunteer lovers of art who spend their days in art galleries showing novices like me the dimensions and depth of art that would otherwise remain unseen and underappreciated. I needed someone who knew the Gospel and its Artist well, one who would come alongside me, take me into the Gospel gallery, and point out all of the nuances and beauty of the glory of God in the Gospel of Christ. Thankfully, God sent me two Gospel docents, one a pastor who opened his heart to me, the other a counselor who opened my heart for me. Both of them continually pointed me to the Gospel until its color returned and its rich beauty captured my attention and captivated my affections.

Neil Livingstone is a Gospel docent, and more than a docent, I might add. He’s walked the Gospel gallery many times, taking newcomers by the hand, showing them just the right picture that will communicate the glory of God’s grace as it fits each one. What he’s given us in Picturing the Gospel is “a handbook for Gospel docents,” a guide who calls attention to the significant subtleties of the Gospel that we’ve missed or might have forgotten, while also showing us how to become docents who disciple others to love the Painter and His portrait.

Had I met Neil Livingstone during my early seminary days, he may have said that I had Gospel myopia. I was so focused on one aspect of the Gospel, namely the Gospel as my ticket to heaven, that I couldn’t step back and see the immeasurable riches that God had intended to show me in the grace of Christ (Ephesians 2:7).

Livingstone helps us take that step back by walking us through a gallery of nine images that the Bible uses to show us the glory of God in the Gospel. These nine pictures are hanging in three “rooms,” so to speak: the images of life, adoption, and kingdom hang in the hall of New Life; pictures of justification, forgiveness, and atonement can be found in the hall of Mercy and Restoration; and portraits of salvation, ransom/redemption, and freedom adorn the hall of Deliverance.

Livingstone dedicates a chapter to each of these pictures, admitting that there are many more rooms to explore than his 180 pages would permit. In each chapter, Livingstone does a masterful job of briefly introducing us to two or three people with whom he has personally shared the chapter’s particular Gospel image. He then calls our attention to the portrait at hand, pointing out its shades and hues adding how this painting has personally challenged and changed his own life.

By the end of the chapter, our docent returns to the stories of the friends he has made, showing us how he took them to this particular picture of the Gospel because it would speak to their particular longing or struggle. He takes a successful but suicidal man to the hall of New Life to look at what it means to be born again. He shows an African-American friend how God is concerned for social justice and equality and came in ethnic flesh to establish a new world order through the Gospel of the kingdom. He teaches a friend who is burdened with the shame and guilt of pornography addiction to set his eyes on the shame-bearing Lamb of God as He is portrayed in the atonement.

Here are a few of the features of Picturing the Gospel that I came to appreciate:

• Livingstone explained that while the beauty of the Gospel is comforting, each picture also has what Livingstone calls a “demanding beauty” that calls us to repentance and faith.


• Livingstone’s combination of theological acuity with personal and transparent application of the Gospel to his own life.


• Livingstone’s insistence that we will less likely and less genuinely communicate the Gospel to others if we have not first preached the Gospel to our own hearts.


• For chart lovers like me, there is an overview chart in the back of the book that briefly explains each of the nine Gospel pictures, whom they may communicate to best, and the scriptures that paint them well.


• Two appendices contain helpful suggestions on how to prayerfully meditate on these Gospel images as well as “art lessons” to teach individuals and small groups how to become Gospel docents for others.

Is the Gospel still good news to you? I imagine there are many church leaders for whom the Gospel has lost its luster. If you are one of them, may I suggest you and a few friends walk through these pages together with Neil Livingstone, paying attention again to the sweet subtleties of the Gospel which was “preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast” to it (1 Corinthians 15:1-2).

Rev. Jimmy Davis is planting a new church in north Knox County, Tenn. Riverside Church will be a collection of house churches on mission together in north county.

A Worldview Church Interview

Over the course of the past winter and spring I’ve been talking and visiting with Pastors Jim Weaver and Josh Guzman at Crossroads Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Middletown, Del. Crossroads is not a large church—perhaps 150 to 200 worshippers on any given Sunday morning. But it has large ambitions, fueled mainly by the vision that Jim and Josh share for church planting and leadership development. Together they conduct a pastoral internship ministry which is part of their vision of encouraging new church development up and down the Delmarva Peninsula. I talked with Jim and Josh about their vision, and the internship ministry that is at the heart of it.

WVC: What prompted you to begin this internship ministry?

Jim: I had been involved in ministry to youth for many years when I first began my seminary training at a non-traditional, church-based theological seminary in the Delmarva region. I had friends who were attending traditional seminaries at the same time, and from what they told me and what I observed, I began to feel as though the model by which they were being trained was not effective in preparing the kinds of pastors, servants, and leaders the church needed.

Josh: Jim and I knew each other before I came to Crossroads, but I ended up here after leaving a large church with a vision for numbers, but not for deep spiritual growth. While I was worshipping here I moved away from the traditional, four-year seminary course, and begin working with Jim. Over time our friendship grew and I became more and more involved in all aspects of pastoral ministry, while, at the same time, finishing my seminary studies. When I finished those, I joined Jim on staff, and we’ve been working together since.

Jim: Our internship ministry really developed out of our relationship as we learned together how to do the work of ministry.

WVC: Do you still feel the traditional model is lacking?

J&J: Yes, to a large extent. The academic model is just too far removed from the actual work of ministry in the churches, and while many denominations have internship or practical field experience requirements, these don’t seem to be sufficient for instilling values and providing real experience in ministry. We continue to hear from many men that they have failed to find true, meaningful mentorship during their preparation for ministry—that involves the whole person growing in the Lord. We also discovered a number of men in our own small church who were actively pursuing a course of ministry preparation, and they expressed a need for more guidance and development than they were receiving in seminary or Bible college.

WVC: How many men are currently involved in your internship program?

J&J: We currently have five men in the pastoral apprenticeship ministry. Each is in a different stage of preparation for ministry, some in seminary, others in Bible college with intentions of seminary work. One of our apprentices will be leaving us next year to take up a call to missions in Peru. This grew out of his short-term missions work with us here at Crossroads. One of our men is working to plant a new church just a little south of Middletown, in Smyrna, Del. Another is a “second career” student. He spent 15 years as an engineer and now is preparing for pastoral ministry. We’re really excited to have men of this caliber working and preparing with us.

WVC: What goals have you established for this internship program?

Jim: Can we use the word “ministry” rather than “program”? The difference in our minds is between creating something that you then work very hard to sustain, and creating something that sustains itself because it encourages vital Christian living in the form of changed lives and power for ministry.

WVC: I like that distinction. Then what are the goals for your ministry?

Jim: We have six.

First, to assist men sensing a call to pastoral ministry in discerning their gifts and true passions, and to provide them with ministry opportunities in which they can test and, hopefully, confirm their sense of calling.

Josh: Second, to become friends and mentors to the men, to help them through their academic work but, more importantly, to love them and lead them into a vital experience of collaboration and community.

With this (third), we want to work personally with each man to help him learn how to practice spiritual disciplines and to sustain a vital spiritual life.

Jim: Fourth, we want to help them become effective “shepherd/leaders” whom we can have confidence sending out to serve in another church or to start a church of their own.

And, in the fifth place, we want them to be committed to expository preaching, the mission of the church—including their own active involvement in mission—and the work of caring for “the fatherless and the widow.”

J&J: Finally, we want to develop a group of friends, men who will be life-long “soul friends” who will care for one another and sustain their commitment to one another throughout their lives.

WVC: So how does it work?

J&J: It’s not really very sophisticated. Instead, we emphasize developing each person according to his stage of growth and preparation for ministry, and the needs that become apparent as we get to know him.

Jim: Of course, there are times when we study things together—shepherding, spiritual disciplines, philosophy of ministry, and so forth—using materials we’re familiar with from a variety of sources, to supplement what they’re getting in their seminary program.

Josh: We meet with the men as a group for sharing, prayer, study, and informal assessment, and we spend time with each man individually, according to his needs and ministry involvement. We also expect them to do some additional reading—materials we’ve found helpful in our work, and that we think are on the cutting edge of developments in local church ministry.

Jim: We don’t have a specific length of time for the ministry. That’s highly individualized. We work with a man until we feel like he’s ready to be sent out.

WVC: But are there some benchmarks for progress and development that you use to measure their growth?

J&J: Yes, of course: the practice of spiritual disciplines, completion of all their academic coursework, management of time and responsibilities, ability to make friends and work with others, particular ministry skills, demonstrated leadership abilities, articulation of an overall philosophy of ministry—things like that. Still, not very specific, but we think we know how to observe these things.

Josh: We’re thinking that we ought to try to formalize some of these a little more—perhaps create a kind of taxonomy of pastoral skills, or something that can provide a little more consistency, and perhaps transferability, over time.

Jim: But we’re still working on that. We regard the men as apprentices, not interns. An intern is someone who performs certain tasks for the pastor—usually those he doesn’t want to do. But an apprentice is someone who learns alongside the pastor in his work. An apprentice has a growing personal and spiritual relationship with the pastor, as well as varied opportunities for ministry. We have regular times of assessment with our apprentices in which we discuss progress in studies, their work in various ministries, and personal spiritual formation. But we need more clarification in this.

Josh: I would add that the distinction Jim mentioned between “interns” and “apprentices” is very important along these lines, because it takes more time to have an apprentice than an intern. Mentoring an apprentice takes a great deal of time, involving every areas of our lives—spiritual, church, families, and all the rest.

WVC: Does your church receive any impact from this? I mean, you are still a fairly small church, and to have six or seven apprentices moving through the body can have either negative or positive effects, it seems to me. Either your guys are taking away ministry opportunities that lay men or women might fill, or they’re creating more opportunities by putting your mentoring model to work in their own ministry settings.

J&J: It’s definitely the latter. Not only do the unique gifts of the apprentices serve the church—leading ministries and drawing others into the work of the church—but their very presence with us sends a signal to the whole church about the importance of developing leaders for the next generation, church-planting, and the disciple-making work of the pastor. The ministry provides a highly visible model of shepherding that we are seeking to have characterize our entire church, beginning with how our elders relate to the people under their care.

WVC: What’s your long-range vision for this ministry?

Jim: Training men who will be church-planting, pastor-training pastors.

Josh: Building a growing network of men who will care for one another’s souls throughout the entire course of their ministries and lives.

Jim: Devising some means of making this a transferable work, one that the men we train could put to use in their own setting . . .

Josh: . . . and that we could teach other pastors to use it as well.

WVC: Jim and Josh, thank you very much.

Click here and here for sermons and other material from Jim and Josh relative to the work of mentoring men for ministry.

William Cowper and Redemption

Many sitting in biblical churches today of whatever kind—Baptist, Bible, Charismatic, Presbyterian and so on—are filled with “New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs Christians.” What I mean by this phrase, which I heard from a pastor friend of mine, is that most believers primarily read and study their New Testaments (Matthew through Revelation), and only occasionally make an excursion into the Old Testament to read a psalm or a proverb!

But such folks—indeed, most of us—have little if any understanding how both Testaments fit together to form a complete story with characters, a setting, a conflict, twists and turns in the plot, a denouement, and a final resolution like all good stories have (this is even the structure of your favorite TV sitcom, believe it or not!).

Furthermore, few, if any, of us have much theological understanding of how God’s intentions for Adam and creation connect to Abraham and Israel and how this connects to Jesus and Church. In other words, we don’t have much insight into the total plan and purposes of God in history. Sadly, we are familiar with just the New Testament part of the story and its out-of-context theology, which is inevitably subject to some severe misunderstandings. Bottom line: we are operating as Christians with an amputated Bible and as a result have a disfigured view of the Christian faith.

In this series of discussions, we want to correct that. We are hoping you make the discovery of the entire biblical story, or “metanarrative,” as it is called. We are hoping that out of this you develop a comprehensive, holistic biblical worldview. So as we continue on with our survey of the biblical drama, we will discuss the bulk of the biblical story, which is that of redemption—its Old Testament promise and its New Testament fulfillment and consummation—and we will read some good selections of poetry from William Cowper to help us understand it.

REDEMPTION
Even in the midst of His judgments on the world at the time of the fall, God announced in Genesis 3:15—the famed protevangelium—that the offspring of a woman would crush the head of the serpent, symbolizing the destruction of evil and announcing the hope of salvation. Even as human wickedness spreads and escalates in fratricide, polygamy, apostasy, and rebellion, the “Scarlet Thread of Redemption” can be traced in Genesis 4-11 from Adam to Abel to Seth to Noah to Shem to Terah to Abraham.

God called Abram, or Abraham, in Genesis 12 as His answer to the devastations wrought in the earth by sin, death, and evil. The Creator-turned-Redeemer demonstrates immediately that He intends to replace cursing with blessing, death with life, darkness with light, and despair with hope. He promised Abraham that through him and his seed, all the families of the earth would be blessed, or perhaps better, re-blessed.

That one singular offspring of the woman and seed of Abraham, after a long series of Old Testament covenants, prophecies, and promises, was Jesus Christ, “who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became human.” This One was “the Son of David and the Son of Abraham” as the gospel of Matthew identifies Him, the “Son of God” as the gospel of Mark proclaims, the “Son of Adam” as the gospel of Luke asserts, and the very Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us, as the majestic prologue to John’s gospel announces.

JESUS, REDEMPTION, AND THE KINGDOM
Jesus embodies and fulfills in Himself Israel’s history in obedience and faithfulness, and indeed, in Him the true story of the world is encapsulated. He proclaimed that in Him, the kingdom (empire) of God had come in an exercise of the divine sovereignty against all the evil in the world. As Jesus asserted in Matthew 12:28, “The kingdom of God has come upon you”; in Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand”; finally in Luke 17:21, “The kingdom of God is in your midst.”

We must understand, however, that the redeeming rule of God in Jesus did not arrive in an extravaganza of signs and wonders. Instead, it came as a mystery in secret and through service, and by suffering and sacrifice. It was but a mere mustard seed or a pinch of leaven. Yet at the same time, the kingdom is a hidden treasure and pearl of great price, worth the sacrifice of everything we have to possess it

In the four gospels we see the kingdom of God in humble yet profound action. Where there was disease, Christ healed it; where there were storms, Christ calmed them; where there was hunger, Christ satisfied it; where there were demons, Christ cast them out; where there was falsehood, Christ taught the truth; where there was sin, Christ forgave it; where there was death, Christ conquered it.

The superlative expression of the kingdom of God was in the cross of Christ. Though it appeared to be anything but a royal victory in its injustice and grisliness, there, by a broken body and shed blood, His sacrifice propitiated God by His self-offering, He broke the back of evil, and He conquered death by death and resurrection. In short, He crushed the head of the serpent and set the cosmos free. He unleashed a new exodus and established a new creation. Christus Victor!

When this cosmic and personal grace is appropriated by faith, it entitles the believer to the forgiveness of sin, renewed fellowship with God, and the gift of eternal life. In the opening stanza of perhaps Cowper’s most famous hymn,

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

Of course, the redemption story has begun, but is not yet complete. Though the kingdom of God has already arrived, it has not yet been consummated. Indeed, Christ has died and Christ is risen. But it is also true that Christ is coming again. As the New Testament theologian George E. Ladd has explained,

Our central thesis is that the Kingdom of God is the redemptive reign of God dynamically active to establish His rule among humanity, and that this Kingdom which will appear as an apocalyptic act at the end of the age, has already come into human history in the person and mission of Jesus to overcome evil, to deliver people from its power, and to bring them into the blessings of God’s reign. The Kingdom of God involves two great moments: fulfillment within history [already], and consummation at the end of history [not yet].

Through his life, death, burial, and resurrection, Christ has exercised the sovereign rule and authority of God against all the evil in the world. He has defeated the powers, forgiven sin, and conquered death, and extends victory, forgiveness, and new life to all who believe in Him. The kingdom is already now!

Yet we realize that God’s redemptive work in and through Christ is not completely finished. We look forward to the return of Christ when He will consummate His redemptive work in judgment and resurrection. He will in due course renew the whole cosmos, the entire universe, making all things new. The kingdom of God is also not yet. It is also future!

Meanwhile, however, we have good news again. All things are in process of being renewed. Redemption means a return to normalcy. Life is right-side up again! We know who God is. We know where we are: God’s very good creation! We know who we are: God’s image and likeness. We know our essential human purposes in spiritual, social and cultural terms. We know what went wrong and why the brokenness: our sin. We know what the solution is: Jesus Christ and the gospel of the kingdom of God. And we know that this redemption comes in two stages: already but not yet.

COWPER AND REDEMPTION
William Cowper was clued in well to all this. He knew that this present-yet-future-kingdom New Testament framework meant that we could enjoy and exemplify a taste of our blissful future even now. As he writes, “He is the happy man, whose life ev’n now/Shows somewhat of that happier life to come” (“The Task,” Book VI, The Winter Walk at Noon, Lines 905-06). Indeed, that happier life to come is something for which Christians and the whole creation groan and yearn, and it will not arrive until it arrives with the Son of Man coming on the clouds with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30).

So, as we stand on tip-toe in this time in between the times, gazing intently into the future, we look forward to Christ’s return and the final announcement when He happily declares, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

Such was the cosmic sweep of Christian redemption for William Cowper. He looked forward to the day when the divine curse would be lifted from the earth. He longed for that hour when the whole creation would be renewed and God in Christ would rightfully conquer and reclaim His world. “Sweet,” as he says, “is the harp of prophecy.”

Though he felt inadequate to put this final biblical scene in human verse, nonetheless, Cowper concluded his poem “The Task” in its sixth book with an eschatological flourish worthy of the greatest poets in the English language who stand foursquare in the Christian tradition. Here are a few of its best excerpts:

The groans of Nature in this nether world,
Which Heaven has heard for ages, have an end.
Foretold by prophets, and by poets sung,
Whose fire was kindled at the prophets’ lamp,
The time of rest, the promised Sabbath, comes. (Lines 729-33)

For He, whose car the winds are, and the clouds
The dust that waits upon his sultry march,
When sin hath moved him, and his wrath is hot,
Shall visit earth in mercy; shall descend
Propitious in his chariot paved with love;
And what his storms have blasted and defaced
For man’s revolt, shall with a smile repair. (Lines 740-46)

O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true,
Scenes of accomplish’d bliss! which who can see,
Though but in distant prospect, and not feel
His soul refresh’d with foretaste of the joy?
Rivers of gladness water all the earth,
And clothe all climes with beauty; the reproach
Of barrenness is past. (Lines 759-65)

Error has no place;
That creeping pestilence is driven away;
The breath of heaven has chased it. In the heart
No passion touches a discordant string,
But all is harmony and love. Disease
Is not: the pure and uncontaminate blood
Holds it due course, nor fears the frost of age.
One song employs all nations; and all cry,
“Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us!” (Lines 783-92)

Thus heavenward all things tend. For all were once
Perfect, and all must be at length restored. (Lines 818-19)

Come then, and, added to thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth,
Thou who alone art worthy! It was thine
By ancient covenant, ere Nature’s birth;
And thou hast made it thine by purchase since,
And overpaid its value with thy blood. (Lines 855-60)

Come then, and, added to thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, as radiant as the rest,
Due to thy last and most effectual work,
Thy word fulfill’d, the conquest of a world! (Lines 902-05)

With this part of the story in place and as we wrap it all up next time with some practical reflections, along with more poetry from Cowper, I guarantee you it will incline you to become a holistic biblical believer, more than just a New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs Christian!

Dr. David Naugle is professor of philosophy at Dallas Baptist University, the author of numerous books, and a regular contributor to Worldview Church.

A Bibliographic Essay, Part I

One thing I do is listen to those I know when they tell me that a book is life-changing. Or when they tell me of the seismic tremors a particular volume will send through my assumptions about the life and ministry of the local church. That always helps me sort through what seems like the never-ending number of books vying for my attention.

I presume you’re reading BreakPoint Worldview Church because you’ve sensed the importance of worldview thinking for worldview living and are looking for resources that will help you equip God’s people for worldview ministry in our culture. That means you’ve got to do your homework. But what’s going to help? What books are life-changing, church-transforming, and ministry-revolutionizing?

A FEW OBVIOUS CHOICES
There are many excellent volumes that I could recommend. I think of James Sire’s almost indispensable The Universe Next Door: A Basic World View Catalogue, Walsh and Middleton’s The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian Worldview, or Al Wolters’ Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview.

These volumes barely begin to point you to the many books available that address the issue of worldview Christianity. And it seems the number is growing every month. But in this essay (and the one to follow), I don’t want to look at the obvious choices. Rather, I’d like to recommend some titles that could easily slip past your reading radar but have been for me literally paradigm-shifting in their effect. And so it is “A Rather Idiosyncratic Worldview Reading List” because it is a very personal list. But my hope is that some of these books will become part of your own idiosyncratic list of life-changing world view reading.

I love history. One of the reasons that I love it is because it is a story full of stories. Stories have a power to reach us that is very different than other types of literature. Romans and the Gospel of John, to take two examples, reach us with the Gospel in very different ways. The soaring rhetoric and the rigorous argument of Romans are nothing short of thrilling. But the power of John’s unique telling of the story of God among us can’t be estimated. The books I’ll briefly discuss in this essay have a common denominator. They are gripping stories that give us insight to the nature of worldview faith and how it is lived in the world.

WILBERFORCE ET AL
Recently the movie Amazing Grace opened in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the British Empire telling the story of William Wilberforce’s courageous leadership in that historic battle. So let me add my two cents as we remember that remarkable occasion by mentioning Ernest Marshall Howse’s Saints in Politics: The Clapham Sect and the Growth of Freedom. Unhappily, it is out of print. Happily, there are a multitude of used book sellers on the Internet. I have two copies and have given two others away.

It is understandable that we celebrate Wilberforce and the abolition of slavery. And yet Wilberforce and his Clapham friends sought not only the abolition of slavery but the reformation of English society (or, to put it in Wilberforce’s words, “to make goodness fashionable”). Poverty, industrial reform, child labor, animal cruelty, and literacy were among their concerns.

This book tells their story. It is a story of such power that I found myself in tears at one point despite the book reading like the reworked doctoral thesis that it is. This is a worldview book of the highest order because by it we see the world through the eyes of the Clapham sect in order to see everything in a new way.

If you can’t find Saints in Politics (or aren’t able to pay a premium price for a scarce book), you might try The Wilberforce Connection by Clifford Hill, which covers much of the same ground as Howse in a more popular form with a view to applying the Clapham vision to the church’s life today (something that Howse does not do).

Perhaps the perfect follow-up to Howse is Tracy Kidder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning volume, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. I don’t know if Dr. Farmer is a believer or not. The book doesn’t address it directly other than to say that he is haunted by the parable of the sheep and the goats and Jesus’ commentary on the parable that “whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

But if any modern man reminds me of William Wilberforce, it is Paul Farmer. Here is a man who has had global impact by dedicating his life to the service of the last and least. When Paul Farmer calls, the World Health Organization picks up the phone. Intellectually brilliant and a Harvard faculty member, Farmer has settled for nothing less than worldwide influence through the field of public health. Here is a man who, by the world’s standards, has got it all upside down. He seeks to make the world a different place not by courting power but by serving the weak in places like Haiti.

I live in a town with a world-class research university where the graduate students in my church are being groomed in their doctoral programs for leadership in business, government, academia, the sciences, and other fields. But unless they learn that in the kingdom the way up is down, they will never make a kingdom mark no matter how successful they may be. Farmer can shape their view of the world as Christians. If you are a leader in a local church, you’re called to be a worldview shaper. This book can help shape your flock to dream kingdom-sized dreams as Wilberforce did. Paul Farmer won’t let you merely settle for what you think is possible in the kingdom of God.

GRAND SWEEP, GLORIOUS STRUGGLE
Another book rocked my world a couple years ago—The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark. It’s a book I’ve found myself referring to again and again as well as quoting in sermons, classes, and seminars. Stark is a sociologist, so be prepared—the story isn’t told in heart-stirring narrative fashion, and it can be a bit dry in patches and sometimes technical. But like Howse’s book, the form in which the story is told cannot eclipse the grandeur and force of the tale.

Stark’s work revolves around a solitary question, “How did a tiny and obscure messianic movement from the edge of the Roman Empire dislodge classical paganism and become the dominant faith of Western civilization?” As he does some sociological number crunching, Stark asserts that the Jesus movement accomplished this goal by sustaining a 40 percent growth rate over 300 years! But to stop there would do the book a terrible injustice. The question, of course, is why—why did it sustain such a phenomenal growth rate over so many years in a hostile cultural context? The answer is nothing short of amazing as he studies the socio-cultural impact of the world-changing Gospel the church preached and lived in Greco-Roman society.

He recounts, among other things, the church’s response to epidemics, the way the Gospel changed social relationships, and it’s responses to urban chaos and crisis. Stark reminds us that in response to the dislocations, cruelties, and problems of the Roman Empire, the church didn’t merely bring a new religious message but a new culture complete with a new conception of humanity. This is a great book for asking the right questions about church and ministry post-Christendom as our cultural setting bears more and more similarities to that of the early church. If you can make the necessary connection between Stark’s answer to his own question and the ministry of your local church, your congregation’s life will never be the same again.

I read Charles Marsh’s God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights almost 10 years ago, and it continues to haunt me. One of the things that makes the book so compelling is the manner in which Marsh examines profound theological questions by telling the stories of men and women who invoked the name of God on both sides of the battle for civil rights. He takes us back to Mississippi in the summer of 1964, when three civil rights workers were murdered and the turmoil of the civil rights movement was reaching its peak.

Marsh forces us to face some difficult questions. Why were pastors so often cheerleaders for the status quo rather than prophetic voices who are agents of change? Why did so many pastors turn a blind eye to the suffering of blacks and to the presence in their own congregations of those who enforced racial orthodoxy with repressive tactics, violence, and even murder? Why did so many churches equate the Gospel with “the Southern way of life” (or in our contexts, the American way of life)? What did churches find so attractive about a “gospel” which, by their own assertion, had nothing to do with realities outside the church?

Such a gospel would have been intolerable to Wilberforce, but it continues to hold sway in our churches, leaving the truth Gospel culturally marginalized and hamstrung. By looking through the lens of racial justice in the summer of 1964, Marsh forces us to look in a mirror to discover some very uncomfortable truths about ourselves.

AGAINST THE DARKNESS
Last but certainly not least on the list is In Darkest England and the Way Out, penned by William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army (established in 1878 in England). Booth was an evangelist, but one formed in the unique mold of John Wesley, who would preach to miners as they entered the mines in the darkness of early morning and then turn his attention to such concerns as schooling for poor children or free medical dispensaries.

The larger context of Booth’s ministry was the age of African exploration and colonization. In 1890, Henry Stanley wrote his famous book, In Darkest Africa, chronicling his exploration of central Africa. Of course, the title assumed what everyone believed—darkest Africa. Why? Because it was outside the bounds of the West, the Christian West, and therefore it was by definition dark, savage, and uncivilized.

Surveying the wretched conditions of the poor and the working class in “Christian England” and the incredible social dislocation caused by the country’s industrialization and urbanization, Booth wrote his response, In Darkest England and the Way Out, noting famously that “cab horses lived at standards that the poor could only hope to attain.” Booth surveys and seeks to find a biblical response to issues as varied as slums and urban housing, unemployment, poverty, drunkenness, and homeless children; he offers a clarion call to apathetic church goers to bring good news to the marginal and suffering masses of English society.

As is the case with the other books we’ve mentioned, this is a story about a gospel but not a sub-biblical gospel that simply rearranges my interior and prepares me for a life beyond this world. Rather, it’s about worldview gospel, biblical gospel, a gospel that is a new way of seeing the world and everything in it. It is a book that exposes our blindness and bids us see in new ways.

Most evangelical churches are places where pastors remind bored, affluent members ad nauseam that they are loved by God, thereby confirming their view that they are the center of the universe. It is a devil’s deal struck by pastors and congregants. These books are remarkable medicine for such spiritual sickness.

The Rev. Bob Lynn is associate pastor of missions and university life at Knox Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, Mich. He teaches in seminaries in Turkey and the Ukraine, and contributes regularly to Worldview Church and BreakPoint WorldView Magazine.

What We Should Look Like as the Body of Christ

I believe in ecumenism. I really do. This confession makes many conservative Christians uncomfortable. It even tends to raise their level of distrust in me when I confess this belief. The reason that I believe in ecumenism is rather simple—I believe it is the will of our Father in heaven based upon the prayer of our Lord in John 17. Here is what our Lord prayed:

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (17:20-23).

Many years ago I completed a 16-year pastorate with a series of sermons from John’s gospel. I ended that long ministry, quite providentially I think, with this text from John 17. I did not pick it. I was working my way through John by exposition of the text, and the last text for my last Sunday was this one. Since I was leaving as a commissioned servant of the whole church, on my last Sunday I saw significant implications in this fact. I walked away from those years of personal investment asking myself: “What will I now do to pray and work for the answer to Christ’s prayer for his Church?”

The answer to that question has been my personal and open concern for ecumenism. But the ecumenism I believe in is neither the kind of ecumenism most Christians have read about nor what many have experienced in liberal churches. What I believe in is an ancient, and modern, form of ecumenism that has not been tried and found wanting, but rather has not been seriously tried at all, at least not by most Christian leaders that I know.

ECUMENISM IN CONTEXT
The word ecumenism comes from the Greek word, oikoumene, which literally means “the things relating to the inhabited world.” Ancient church councils, meetings of Church leaders that discussed and formulated doctrinal matters that are central to orthodox Christianity today, were properly called ecumenical councils. The idea was to have representation from the whole Church. The word was recovered in modern times to represent the attempt of the whole Church, world-wide, to move toward Christian cooperation in the missionary enterprise and toward Christian unity for the sake of the entire human race.

The early 20th-century recovery of interest in ecumenism began in a missionary context. That context was the unifying of Christians and churches for the purpose of world evangelization. Issues such as Church structures, ministerial orders, sacraments, and human traditions maintained by various denominations, proved difficult to the pursuit of unity. Sadly, by the late 1940s, and early 1950s, this movement became deeply marred by social agendas that often had more in common with socialism and liberationist ideologies than with the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The response to these developments was predictable. Liberal Christians moved further and further away from the meaning of the confessions of historic faith, even denying essential elements of Christian orthodoxy. Conservative Christians tended, in many instances, to denounce all forms of ecumenism and to see any effort for unity among Christians and churches as fraught with inherent evil and compromise. By the 1960s the lines were hardened. I personally grew up believing that all forms of ecumenism were harmful and dangerous. This only drove me to associate my narrow views of many issues with the truth I read in Scripture. At work in my way of thinking was a philosophical rigidity that equated my views of Scripture with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Any attempt at dialogue with other Christians, Christians who disagreed with me and my own tradition, was problematic at best. Someone had to be right and someone had to be wrong. Truth was truth.

TRUTH IN CONTEXT
While it is correct to say that truth is truth, it is not correct to assume that one possesses the whole truth in all its glory. We now see “only a reflection as in a mirror” (1 Corinthians 13:12a). And we are taught to seek the truth, to buy it and sell it not, and to humble ourselves before God and one another so that we might know the truth in the context of redemptive relationships. Knowing the truth, biblically speaking, is never an enterprise we can pursue without others, without Christians who are part of the faithful. Truth is not known in an independent and detached way, but in a dependent and relational way. I did not learn this until I wrestled with John 17 deeply. It was there that I discovered that the unity Jesus spoke of had to be primarily relational. Let me explain a bit further.

In John 17 the standard of unity is that of the Father and the Son since Jesus prays “that they may be one as we are one” (verse 22). The Father and Son do not need to establish, or create, a unity they already inherently possess. They did, however, protect and preserve that unity in the humiliation of the Son, and through his human life lived in complete union with the Father.

The text further speaks of the “glory” that was central to Christ and His relationship to His Father (see also John 17:1). This glory was Christ’s humiliation and service, His giving of Himself to others. Believers are to manifest this same glory, and they do so by giving themselves to others in sacrificial humility. This involves healing relational brokenness. And in verse 23 the words “I in them and you in me” make it clear that there are two indwellings: that of the Son in us as believers and that of the Father in the Son. Because the latter indwelling is true, the former can become a reality. The reality is that both are meant to bring us, as diverse and prideful people, into “complete unity” (verse 23).

The reason for this relational unity, that we must actively pursue as we pray and ponder these words of our Lord, is clear—the mission of Christ is at stake. John 17:22 is clear about this: “May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me.” And verse 23 adds again, that this is so in order that “the world will know that you sent me.” But verse 23 adds one further reason, one I never seriously considered until I carefully pondered this text. The world will know that the Father has loved the Son but the world will also know, when the church enters into the (relational) unity that Christ prays for here, that the Father also loves the Church, the followers of Jesus Christ.

Simply put, the unity of Christian believers is meant to have a powerful impact upon unbelievers. It is a missionary doctrine, as both the ancient Church, and those pioneers in the early twentieth century, understood so well. When we actually live together in unity “the world may [then] believe” that the Father sent the Son (verse 21).

Let me put this as simply as I know how—the world will become convinced of the mission of Christ when they see our unity, the unity that the Father and the Son enjoyed, at work in our human relationships.

This is why I use the term ecumenism positively and wish to reclaim it with both an ancient and future orientation.

RECLAIMING ECUMENISM
When the modern missionary movement began to see what competing and divided churches created in Africa and Asia, they tasted deeply of the scandal of their divisions. This is what prompted their efforts to heal many of their differences. This effort was for the sake of their gospel witness.

It is not enough to assume internal (spiritual) oneness between all Christians and then go about our merry way assuring ourselves that our outward differences (doctrinal and otherwise) do not matter. If Jesus is praying only for an interior oneness then we already have that and His prayer is meaningless, frankly. Why pray for what already is and what is true no matter what we do or say?

The response to all of this has been to argue that we will never again have one unified visible Church in the world. It is argued that the break in A.D. 1054 between the Eastern and Western Churches, and the break in the Western Church in the 16th century, divided us permanently and irretrievably. This may be true, but we cannot be sure, since we do not know the mind and purpose of God perfectly. And we do not know what might happen as the Spirit works among God’s people across the planet in this new day, a day when Christianity is advancing with a power and growth not seen since the earliest days of the Church.

This much we can be sure of, and it is an axiom in all true pursuits of unity—the Church’s unity already exists but lies hidden under the influence and power of human sin. Our task is to confess our sin and to seek the relationships that will actually reveal our unity.

ECUMENISM WHERE IT COUNTS
But beyond all discussion about the Church in the world, the more pressing and more immediate question is about the church you fellowship with as a Christian, or perhaps even the church that you help lead. What are you doing to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3)?

For those who argue that working to keep the unity of the Spirit is not practical, or important, I have a simple question: “What do you do with these words: ‘Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love’?” They occur just before the aforementioned words of Ephesians 4:3 about making every effort to preserve our God-given unity. And what follows this appeal is a rich Pauline assertion that there is only “one body, and one Spirit . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all . . .” (Ephesians 4:4-5). When this word “one” sunk into my soul, I knew, against all that I had ever experienced as a Christian leader, that I had to give my life, indeed sacrifice my reputation and ministry, to pursue and preserve this oneness. It was God’s gift and I was to accept it and treasure it. No more excuses.

To make this even more down to earth, “What are you doing in those relationships that you have with other Christians to make this reality a living truth?” And if you lead a church what are you doing in your community to pursue God’s truth in this area? Almost every pastor I know will answer, “I am too busy serving my own congregation to worry about the Christians across town in a different kind of church from my own?”

I fear you may know how to build a small empire, to run a Christian organization, or to lead a local church, but the truth is that you have no time to see, and live out the reality, that there are not dozens of churches in your city, but one body. This one body may have dozens of congregational expressions of the one reality of Christ’s presence in his people, but it is still one. Recognizing this simple fact can transform your life and church, but most are not ready to hear it. It costs us too much. It doesn’t fit with our American values. Perhaps it will take persecution to change this, but I hope not.

My sincere hope and prayer is that little platoons of Christians, the little platoons that Chuck Colson has so ardently championed for years, will catch this vision and move with it. If they do, a new ecumenism might arise from the failures of the last century—an ecumenism that is not built on compromise but rather on relationships rooted in deep Christian love.

This ecumenism will be ancient in that it will reach back to the Holy Scriptures and the ancient ecumenical creeds of the early church. This means that it will stand for doctrinal, moral, and devotional orthodoxy. But it will also be a future-oriented ecumenism; without it, the church in America is destined to follow a course that will continue to make it less and less relevant to the world that watches it. We must think about the generation that is following us. They long for relational expressions of community that go beyond the failures of the crumbling American church establishment.

Jesus could not be clearer about this. Our problem is one of unbelief and sheer refusal to obey.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:34-35).

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you (John 15:12).

This is my command: Love each other (John 15:17).

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me . . . (John 17:22-23).

I bear witness to this fact—the day God grips your heart, by revealing this truth to you deeply, is the day you will never be the same again. You will find that you must become an active participant in every possible effort to bring healing and unity to the Church. It begins in your own church community, but from there it extends to all who take His name and follow Him as participants in His life. Stop building walls and start seeking to practice the faith you profess no matter what the cost. It is the only way to live if you want to be a faithful disciple of Jesus.

Dr. John Armstrong is president of Act 3 Ministries and the author or editor of numerous books. He is a regular contributor to Worldview Church. You may contact him at act3weekly@act3online.com.

Wisdom from a Seventh-Century Missionary

When Columbanus set out from Bangor somewhere near the end of the sixth century, 50 years old, after a long career of preparing men for the mission field, he and his little band were determined to follow Christ wherever He led, and to proclaim His Kingdom without compromise. That almost got them thrown out and shipped back to Ireland (a divine breakdown in the vessel carrying the exiles back to Ireland led our hero to believe God wanted them to stay, which he did, moving on further to the south). Then, as if it weren’t enough to poke his finger in the eye of the secular authority, he began criticizing the moribund condition of the Catholic Church in his neck of the woods. He sent letters to at least two popes, declaring that their bishops and priests weren’t doing their job, and encouraging them to do something about it. Of course, this news got back to the bishops and priests, and they determined to convene a synod in order to confront this backwoods boy about how things worked in the Church in Gaul. Only to get this reply: I render thanks to my God, that for my sake so many holy men have been gathered together to treat of the truth of faith and good works, and, as befits such, to judge of the matters under dispute with a just judgment, through senses sharpened to the discernment of good and evil. Would that you did that more often. Ouch! Wow, what a zinger. He, of course, politely refused to come when called, and instead proceeded to outline for his summoners what they should be doing instead of seeking some leg up on him. Here is his peroration: Let each maintain what he has grasped; but let all maintain the gospel, and both parties [his Celts and the Roman priests], like single harmonious members of one body, follow Christ the head of all by His own commands, which were revealed by Him to be accomplished in charity and peace. And these two cannot be perfectly accomplished, save by truly humble and unitedly spiritual men, who fulfill Christ’s commands, as the Lord Himself bears witness, If ye love Me, keep My commandments, this is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I also have loved you, for in this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye love one another. Thus unity of minds and peace and charity then can be assured, spread abroad in the bowels of believers by the Holy Ghost, when all alike long to fulfill the divine commands; for the fiction of peace and charity between the imperfect will be such as is the measure of disagreement in their practical pursuits. Ouch! For the non-Celtic reader, here’s a paraphrase of that last paragraph: You talk a good game, about loving me and wanting the best for me; but if you would just practice what you profess to want to lecture me about, then we would have no dispute in the first place, and we’d both be able to get on with the work of the Gospel harmoniously together. If Columbanus is reading this issue of our newsletter, I hope he’s pointing and saying, “Yes, just like that.” As John Armstrong exhorts us to work hard at unity rather than turf-protecting and empire-building; as Bob Lynn reminds us of what real Gospel love looks like on the ground, where people live each day; as David Naugle celebrates William Cowper celebrating the grand redemptive work of Jesus and the coming of His eschatological Kingdom; as we see hear two young pastors laboring together to equip the next generation of church planters; and as we consider two very valuable books for the accomplishing of all the above, let us accept whatever occasional “Ouch!” may come from our dear writers and press on with them to discover what God has for each one of us in furthering the Gospel of His Kingdom, His Son, and His love. T. M. Moore Editor Worldview Church, June 2007 I Believe in One Church Dr. John Armstrong We must think about the generation that is following us. They long for relational expressions of community that go beyond the failures of the crumbling American church establishment. My Rather Idiosyncratic Worldview Reading List Rev. Robert Lynn A Puritan preacher was reported to have said, “Sell your bed and buy a book, as long as it is a good book.” Rediscovering the Forgotten Poet Laureate of a Christian Worldview: William Cowper and Redemption Dr. David Naugle We are operating as Christians with an amputated Bible and as a result have a disfigured view of the Christian faith. To Teach Others Also An Interview with Jim Weaver and Josh Guzman Not only do the unique gifts of the apprentices serve the church, but their presence sends a signal to the whole church about the importance of developing leaders, church-planting, and the disciple-making work of the pastor. Book Reviews Picturing the Gospel: Tapping the Power of the Bible's Imagery Reviewed by Jimmy Davis Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power Reviewed by T.M. Moore

June 2007 I Believe in One Church Dr. John Armstrong My Rather Idiosyncratic Worldview Reading List Rev. Robert Lynn William Cowper and Redemption Dr. David Naugle To Teach Others Also An Interview with Jim Weaver and Josh Guzman Picturing the Gospel: Tapping the Power of the Bible's Imagery Reviewed by Jimmy Davis Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power Reviewed by T.M. Moore