Preach, Pray, Love, and Stay

“When I was interviewing with Capitol Hill Baptist Church before they called me to be their pastor, someone asked me if I had a program or plan to implement for growth.

Perhaps to this person’s surprise (and perhaps to yours too!), I responded that I didn’t really have any great plans or programs to implement.

I was just armed with four P’s – I would preach, pray, develop personal discipling relationships, and be patient. In other words, preach and pray; love and stay. …”

– 9Marks shares this very helpful excerpt from The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel by Mark Dever and Paul Alexander.

Preaching in the Days of the Virus

“The English philosopher Bertrand Russell said, ‘Most people would rather die than think and most people do so’.

God urges his people to think – to think about history, to think about what he is doing in the world. God is not aloof and distant; he is involved in human history, nothing happens apart from his permission.

History is indeed his story and when one takes a bird’s eye, rather than a worm’s eye view,  God’s hand in world and personal events is readily apparent. …”

– At The Expository Preaching Trust, David Cook has some valuable suggestions for preachers in “the Days of the Virus”.

(Picture: St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.)

“…and the books were opened.”

“This morning saw the release of a set of 45 year old documents, previously kept as secret as secret can be since 1975.

The ‘Palace Letters’ were the correspondence between the then Governor-General of Australia Sir John Kerr and the office of Queen Elizabeth as they discussed the dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. …”

– What will it be like when the books are opened – for you?

The Australian Church Record has this timely article by David Ould.

Are my sermons boring?

“In recent months several people at different churches have told me how bored they are by the sermons they hear on Sundays.

Now, if you’re a preacher, ‘bored’ is a term likely to immediately trigger your defence mechanisms. You’ll likely want to jump at the comment and eagerly condemn such ungodly attitudes. And yes, when some people say ‘I find the sermons boring’ they mean the sermons fail to entertain them. In this case repentance is required – there are many ways to be entertained but sermons aren’t one of them. No one should expect entertainment when God’s word is preached.

However, this criticism of sermons isn’t always or wholly the fault of the listener. …”

– Helpful questions from Steven Kryger at Communicate Jesus.

Loving the Liturgy

“Churches returning to physical services after the pandemic lock-down are having to be creative and adaptable under the present restrictions.

With singing not allowed, many are re-discovering the benefits of using liturgy in our corporate worship.

Is this something to be regretted, a backward step, or something to be grateful for?…”

– At Church Society’s blog, Andrew Cinnamond shares some reasons this can be a very good thing.

The minister drought and what to do about it? – with Phillip Jensen

From Dominic Steele:

“The minister drought and what to do about it? – with Phillip Jensen

There’s been an across the board drop in people stepping up to serve in full time ministry roles whether as senior pastors, assistant pastors or people putting themselves forward to study at theological college.

We had the Principal of Moore Theological College, Mark Thompson on The Pastor’s Heart a few months ago and he said that enrolments are down for theological colleges across the western world. 

It’s very different to twenty years ago, when all the talk at Moore College was of continued growth.

Humanly speaking Phillip Jensen was the person in Sydney used by God most significantly to prompt the explosion in gospel workers.

We ask Phillip what are the factors that have contributed to the slump, and what needs to be done?”

– Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart.

Related:

Where are all the senior ministers? – Bishop Peter Lin.

Have No Fear by John Lennox – review by Ed Loane

“This little book has been produced to help Christians have the confidence and tools to witness to those around them about Jesus Christ. Lennox, as a leading apologist, has written a simple and clear account of the why and how of personal evangelism. …”

– At Church Society’s blog, Dr Ed Loane provides a brief and encouraging review of Have No Fear by John Lennox.

Plus, Alex Keen reviews Sharing the Gospel with a Jehovah’s Witness by Tony Brown.

(Both books are available from Reformers Bookshop and The Wandering Bookseller.)

GAFCON devotions with Bp Michael Nazir Ali

For the month of July 2020, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali is writing and recording daily devotions (“Lift up your hearts”) for GAFCON.

Read/listen or subscribe here.

Theology or Evangelism?

“James Denney, the late 19th, and early 20th-century Scottish theologian is quoted as saying, ‘The church is healthiest when its evangelists are its theologians and its theologians are its evangelists’.

In my lifetime I have known two evangelists who were effective evangelists because they were able theologians. One was John Chapman …”

– Encouragement from David Cook.

Shepherding: The Work and Character of a Pastor

9Marks Journal editor Jonathan Leeman writes,

“We’ve been publishing the 9Marks Journal for over a decade, yet we’ve never done one focused on the pastor – his work and character. So let’s call this Journal irresponsibly overdue. While editing it, I found myself, first, convicted; second, encouraged; and third, well supplied with tweet after tweet of wisdom. I’m confident you’ll enjoy and benefit from it.

The pastor has to wear lots of hats in the course of his work: program-director, administrator, counselor, evangelist, and, at the top of the list, preacher and teacher. Yet in all of this, he is a shepherd. He watches over sheep, principally by concerning himself with their understanding of God’s Word and how it applies to their life together and with outsiders.”

– Get the latest issue here.

Psalms for preachers — resources from Dick Lucas

St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London has published several short talks by Dick Lucas.

They are designed to help preachers in thinking through the Psalms. (It seems there are more to come in this series.)

As always, very helpful.

CMS Summer School planned to go ahead 2–8 January 2021

From CMS NSW / ACT –

“26 June 2020 

We are pleased to announce that we are going ahead with planning a full conference for CMS Summer School 2021.

We are looking forward to being able to engage with adults, children and youth at Summer School, and are carefully planning how to do this safely and effectively amidst possible COVID-19 restrictions.

More information will become available in July. For now, please save the date and get excited for a great week of engaging with God’s mission!”

David Cook launches Expository Preaching Trust website

David Burge, Chairman of the Expository Preaching Trust, commends their new website:

“For over 40 years, God has used the ministry of David Cook to strengthen the faith of His people through expository preaching, and to train thousands of other preachers to do the same.

This site, and the Expository Preaching Trust behind it, seeks to make David’s ministry and resources more accessible.”

– See the new website here, and pray that it will be an encouragement to faithful expository preaching (and listening).

Evangelism: Why and How? — Rico Tice

In the midst of the pandemic, we can lose sight of what’s really important.

Here are some strong challenges and encouragements from Rico Tice.

Watch the video here.

See also:

A conversation with Rico Tice — Evangelism in Lockdown.

and

the video to which he refers, COVID-19 Spiritual Health Check.

How could you use it?

You are enough, and other lies we like to swallow

“I don’t know about you, but the recent months of school at home exposed some pretty ugly cracks in the façade I’d created for myself of being a good mother. It’s much easier, it turns out, to parent your children when they aren’t in the same physical space as you every minute of every hour of every day. Somewhere in my head I’d always thought I’d manage pretty well as a home-school parent. Turns out… not so much. …”

– Jocelyn Loane writes at The Australian Church Record.

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