William Knelsen As I wait in hope for the Lord.

Archive for the church Category

An Open Letter from Rev. Fletcher Matandika

June 24, 2011

What a wake-up call! That’s what I thought as I was reading an open letter from Reverend Fletcher Matandika addressing the North American Church.

I strongly encourage you to read the entire letter yourself, so I will not be providing a summary of what he wrote. Rather, here is my response: Amen!

When I visited India in January, I praised God for the work going on in the churches there. Most of all, I was thankful that Christ was being preached; that the central message of the children’s ministry is that Christ is King. May that be the reason we gather together.

May we live as people who have Christ as our King.

The Unboring Church

June 11, 2011

As I continue to read DeYoung and Cluck’s, Why We Love the Church, I have been thinking about the question of how to make the church not boring but still maintaining the distinction of being a church and not some social club.

According to DeYoung, many people leave the church because it’s boring. So, we may ask, how can we make the church not boring? What are people, young people in particular, looking for in a church? How can we keep them there? That is a big question, with a very long answer. I have just a few suggestions which I have summarized here in no particular order:

Parents have a responsibility to demonstrate what it means to love the church. If your children observe or hear negative attitudes toward the church, they will likely adopt those attitudes. However, if you invest time and energy into loving the church, they will at the very least know that there is more to church life than just warming pews on Sunday mornings, and they will likely have a fondness toward the church that will grow with time.

The church needs to be more than a Sunday morning gathering. I am not a big believer in programs for the sake of programs. However, there needs to be a way for people to connect with each other throughout the week. Every group of people will do this a little differently, but it needs to be done.

The Gospel needs to be preached. This is important because when other things are central to the sermons, you will leave people out. If the sermon is about financial management, proper parenting, dating, alcohol abuse, or any other hot social or personal issue, you are targeting only a portion of the congregation. When the Gospel is preached, all believers will be able to relate and apply it to their lives. It is true that particular personal or social issues may come up in sermons, but those issues must not be the main reason why that sermon is being preached. The main point of the sermon should be the same as the main point of the Bible text.

There should be growth in the church. Please read carefully in order to understand what I’m saying… I have been to churches that have not “grown” in decades. I am not referring to the number of people who attend on Sunday mornings. I am referring to how the people in the church are responding to Jesus. It needs to be clear that people are being transformed by the life-changing message of the Gospel. Even if there were only 30 members when the church started 50 years ago, and that number is still about the same, with a some fluctuations due to children being born and then heading off for bigger and better things, the fact that Christians have God as their Lord needs to be evident. If there is no transformation, there is no witness to the resurrection of Christ. If there is no witness, the church is nothing more than one of the most unappealing social clubs in history.

    Each of these items, and many more, could be expanded enough to write a book. And maybe DeYoung and Kluck get into them (I’m under half done the book). If not, maybe I’ll have to write a book on them some day. Regardless, I’m passionate about this issue, and I hope that my words here help some of you who are wondering how to make the church less boring. It’s probably not the answer many are looking for (it would be easier to tell you to just expand the budget and get U2 as the worship leaders), but these are real, long term solutions to the problem of people leaving the church.

    DeYoung on the Missional Church

    May 26, 2011

    I was going to wait to write a reflection until I read a little further into DeYoung and Kluck’s book, “Why we love the church,” but I came across a statement in chapter one that prompted me to get out of my recliner and write a blog post. Those of you who are friends or members of the Prairie community might see why this statement got me excited:

    What makes the church unique is its commitment, above all else, to knowing and making known Christ and Him crucified. (page 45)

    For those who don’t know, Prairie’s motto is “To Know Christ and Make Him Known.” This statement has been one of the central parts of Prairies new direction over the last year and a half, and I don’t think there could be a better motto for a school who cares deeply about training people to fulfill the mission of the church as set out by Christ in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).

    I love that Kevin DeYoung put this statement in this chapter in response to the trendy topic of the missional purpose of the church. He is concerned with the church putting social justice issues, such as sex trafficking, oppression and death in Darfur, and AIDS, at the centre of the purpose of the church. He says the dangers for the social justice crowd is that, “Most of their causes demand nothing of us Christians except psychological guilt and advocacy.” (page 44)

    I agree that the church should be concerned about social justice issues. However, if knowing Christ and making Him known is not at the centre of the purpose of the church, we are no different than any secular social justice organization. The main point of the church is to be a witness of Christ’s death and resurrection. Dan Kimball, who is a leader in the emergent church, and who I have had a hard time agreeing with on many church related matters, recognizes that, “We can never forget the urgency of being on mission to those who do not know Jesus yet.” (quoted by DeYoung on page 47)

    DeYoung concludes this chapter with these very appropriate words:

    There is a danger that we find our unity in doing good missional deeds for our community and not in the good news of the gospel… There’s a danger that when people get disinterested in the gospel, they get disinterested in the church. And once they leave the church, they’ve left the only institution whose mission aims for eternity and whose gospel is truly good news. (page 51)

    Women as Pastors: Pastoral Research Project

    May 23, 2011

    Preface

    Please take note that the article below does not contain all the research I conducted in order to reach my conclusion. I note a few authors and books, which you will need to pick up and read in order to see how I drew my conclusions. This article is a revised version of my conclusions from a Pastoral Research Project I completed. If it doesn’t seem to flow nicely from one paragraph to another, it’s because I have taken portions out of the project that I felt were helpful.

    If you would like to respond to this article, feel free to email me: wknelsen@gmail.com.

    Addressing the question of women in pastoral ministry

    I have always had an inner tension regarding the matter of women in church leadership. On one hand, I grew up understanding that women and men have different roles in general, both in the home and in the church. On the other hand, I’ve always wondered why God would forbid women from being in authority over men merely because of their gender. I realize this is a sensitive subject, and I intend on dealing with it sensitively. I do not know for sure whether or not my response to the issue in question is correct. There are people who have done much more research than I have who come to a different conclusion than I do. However, I am satisfied with my conclusion and until I read or hear a conclusion that makes more sense to me, I will stay where I am.

    1 Timothy 2:12 – Women are forbidden to exercise authority over a man

    I understand that the passage from 1 Timothy 2 that speaks directly to the issue of woman in a position of authority over men can be interpreted differently depending on the method of interpretation. If one uses the methods suggested by complimentarian authors such as John Piper, Wayne Grudem and Douglas Moo, the passages must be understood as universal commands. However, if one uses the methods of John Stackhouse and Craig Keener, the passage appears to be contextual and may or may not be applicable depending on changing culture. Because of these differences, and the possibility of either being correct, I feel I have no choice but to consider the possibility that a woman could be called by God to enter into pastoral ministry. However, there are many things to consider before saying a definite yes to a woman taking the position of pastor in a church. The primary question to consider is whether or not the church would accept pastoral leadership from a woman. I believe this is a legitimate question and if the church would not accept the leadership of a woman, I would say that it would be inappropriate for the woman to take that position, at least not in that particular church. Other issues arise, such as the motives of the woman, whether or not she has a proven track record, is educated, has the right priorities, and is available to commit to the position and still maintain a healthy household.

    Issues that arise from women in pastoral leadership

    The biggest issue I have with women being in the pastoral position of a church is how that would affect the ministry of that church. Careful consideration of the surrounding culture would have to be made. If a woman entering a pastoral role would damage the effectiveness of a ministry, does this affect the churches decision on whether or not to hire her for that position? Is it more important to allow the woman to minister in the capacity to which see has been called and risk the ministry being less effective? The answer seems obvious to me, but it’s hard to give a definitive answer based only on a hypothetical situation. This is a question a church must consider along with the other considerations listed above.

    Other issues involve how the woman’s position affects her home life. Pastoral ministry can be quite stressful (from what I hear), and that stress could affect her ability to care for her husband and children. Although one could say this is the case with either gender, I would suggest that the fact that she is a mother and wife would change the ways in which the family would be affected by the stress of her ministry. I also wonder how her being in that position would affect her respect and submission for her husband. This leads to another question: does allowing a woman in pastoral leadership change the roles within the home that are so clearly outlined in the New Testament? This is an issue I didn’t spend much time on, but I believe despite permitting  women in pastoral leadership, there are still undeniable differences in men and women, and not just in the biological sense. More reading in Piper and Grudem’s Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood would help to further clarify these important differences and how that affects the woman’s position as a pastor.

    Helpful resources

    The most helpful sources in my research were Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood by Piper and Grudem and Finally Feminist by John Stackhouse. Both books proved to be an excellent source for understanding either side of the gender roles debate. It is because of the undeniable evidence on both sides that I had to leave it open to the possibility of women being able to fill a pastoral role. If Stackhouse’s argument didn’t make so much sense, it would have been easier to remain where I was at the beginning, which was that women should not fill a position that would put her in authority of men in the church. Another reason I found Piper and Grudem helpful was the vast information on the whole scope of manhood and womanhood. There are some serious issues raised in this collection of essays and I look forward to spending more time studying them in the future.

    A lesson learned from this study

    An interesting and unexpected lesson I learned from this study was that I need to apply all these principles to myself in my pursuit of pastoral ministry. It would be unfair to impose all the conditions (see my conclusion below) on women and not consider them for myself. As I continue my pursuit of pastoral ministry, I will need to be in constant evaluation of whether or not I am fulfilling or struggling toward fulfilling the conditions Paul outlines in his pastoral epistles.

    In conclusion, my response to a woman who would claim she feels called to pastoral ministry would be this:

    If you are convinced of this calling, and you have received confirmation from mentors and your pastor that you are called to pastoral ministry; if you have or plan to receive education and training for this position; if you have or will commit to living the kind of life described in 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and 2 Timothy 2:21-26, and you demonstrate the desire and commitment to loving God and loving others; if your motives are pure and not merely in order to prove that women are able to fill a pastoral position; and, if the church you are called to minister to is in full support of your leadership, and you are able to commit to leading that congregation faithfully, then there should be no doubt that it is within the will of God for you to enter into pastoral ministry.

    If 1 Timothy 2 is a universal/prescriptive command…

    If the 1 Timothy 2 passage is universal, the conclusion above does not change. The only thing that would change is that the women pursuing pastoral ministry would not be allowed to exercise authority over men. What this looks like in real life would depend on how the church is structured.

    Kids, Youth and Church

    January 9, 2011

    Something I’ve been thinking about lately is this: How can we get kids and youth to want to be involved in church? I know there are people who are much more qualified than I am to offer answers to this question, however I think there is one thing that is true across the board, no matter the culture of the church or age of the members.

    When we are trying to get kids and youth to want to come to church, what we are really doing is trying to get them to desire to become a part of the Body of Christ. This requires a different approach than trying to get a kid to want to go to school, or practice piano. Church is not merely a club or organization. The Church is a family, who’s members have the responsibility primarily to love God and love one another.

    When we are trying to get our kids to want to be a part of Church life, there is one important thing all of us have the responsibility to do: love them. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, pastor or youth leader, sunday school teacher or elder, prayer warrior or maintenance worker, you have a responsibility to make sure the young people are loved! It is only the love within the Body that will keep it’s members unified and passionate about serving one another.

    The next time you think to yourself, “I wish the church would do more to attract young people”, think about what YOU can do to attract young people. What you can do is love them. What does that look like? Well, that’s another blog post for another day.