The Craw

A Tiny Island

I went recruiting yesterday at The Master's College. Barely 1 in 100 students had a clue what "reformed" meant. Rather than pooh-pooh their disgraceful lack of knowledge of the Reformed Tradition, as some are want to do, I found it insightful and was convicted to try harder to find ways of communicating with broader evangelicalism without becoming too idiosyncratic. There is a vast ocean of Christendom beyond the shores of the tiny island called confessional Reformedom.

Evangelism with a Twist

As I have been making some tentative forays in evangelism here in So Cal it seems that two things have been particularly useful, joy and ceremony:

(1) Joyfulness. Real joyfulness is a definite calling card. Instead of telling people about how doctrinally sound you are or what you are against we are living out the genuine joy we feel. Talk is cheap and people want to see and feel what you claim as truth. Hey, how can we not? King Jesus is risen and reigning and he has brought us along for the ride. Its infectious but awkward for us scowling super-serious reformed types.

(2) Ceremony. We seem to have reached the end of the road with the rational church. Ockham's Razor has sheered away everything but the hollow shell of a building and drably dressed parishioners. We also try to worship drably in order to supposedly fulfill a mandate to worship in "spirit and in truth." Its really all in our heads. This has hit a block wall in the Post-Modern, Post-Christian world that is LA. It all made some sense when your audience had a Christian frame of reference but it all looks terribly arid and meaningless to a generation that was raised outside of Christianity or within drab evangelicalism.

So what do you do? Well, you could take the typical evangelical approach and spruce up some of the outward trappings or you could re-vamp into an earlier mode of thinking, contextualized of course. There's a reason why the church for 2000 years thought the faith, in its corporate expression, should be seen, felt and heard. Its not just a set of dry facts, its a kingdom advancing in all its splendor. I am finding it very easy to invite people to a church that is unapologetically liturgical and robust in its expression of the same.

So, how does this all work? I don't know yet but I will keep you posted. You see, its not a strategy but the way the church has always lived and worshiped. We, in the West, are the ones who got off track and its time to get back into the rhythm of God's glorious, ever maturing and expanding Kingdom.

Cognac Hillbilly

While in seminary I came to enjoy having a glass of brandy while reading. Normally it was a $10-12 bottle of Napoleon Brandy. While staying with my parents when we first moved back to California, they bought me a bottle of Remy Martin XO cognac. I assumed it was in the $30-$40 range and periodically sipped a glass while working on sermon notes. I noticed my parents kept saying things like, "Y'know, that stuff's really good to drink with friends on special occasions." One day while making a purchase at Save-On I noticed some Remy Martin XO in a locked case behind the cash register...$145 a bottle. Whoa! I sealed up the bottle and didn't open it again until I was with friends celebrating the church launch last week.

Glory Cloud a Comin'

Here is part of clache of stogies sent to me by my brother Bret as a congratulation gift for our church launch. It includes a Monte Cristo, Ghurka, and Rocky Patel. Yum!

Launch Photos

Here's some photos from Saint Andrew's first service (courtesy of Jeff Meyers). Mark Horne shared ministerial duties with me that morning. I robed up in black and he robed up in white.

Launched!

Well, Saint Andrew's Community Church was launched over the weekend. The festivities began with our first Men's Group meeting, "Calvin on Tap" on Friday. Next, we had the church launch/pastoral installation on Saturday night and this morning we worshiped together as a church for the first time. Here for the installation and worshiping with us were pastors Jeffrey Meyers, Mark Horne and Brett Bonecutter. It was glorious. Soli Deo Gloria!

Special thanks are in order for Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church for lending us their ministers during this special season at Saint Andrew's.

Accessible Liturgy

Here is our liturgy (we ran a dry-run tonight). We think the liturgy for Saint Andrew's is substantial enough for those who are familiar with Covenant Renewal Worship and accessible for those who are new to this type of worship. Next week its for real.

Some Things Never Change

Dr. Joel Garver has an interesting post on Old School Presbyterian Covenant Nurture.

Oive! Church Planting

Many who think about church-planting assume its about meeting people and doing the usual pastoral work: preparing sermons, etc....

Wrong!

Here is just a partial sample of what I have been busy with this week:

• Negotiating a rental contract on a church-facility
• Obtaining liability insurance for the church
• Installing a commercial grade printer, and composing and printing out an order of worship on said computer.
• Making a-frame signs for the front of the church
• Making worship banners for the inside of the church
• Selecting and purchasing: an amplifier, speaker stands, and various accessories for our pianist
• Writing a church narrative for our sponsor church
• Coordinating the reading list for our men's and women's groups
• Assembling office furniture
• Composing a church brochure
• Composing business cards
• Changing content on our church web-site
• Working on a sanctuary seating plan
• Moving the seats (and other sanctuary furniture) to the church
• Reviewing the church budget
• Physically cutting out and pasting "Songs of Simeon" into the back of our hymnals...

...Oh yeah, preparing a sermon.

And so II...

Okay, some of you may ask, what do you believe about these current controversies? Well, I am thankful that in the midst of a disintegrating Anglican communion there is a left-wing evangelical (a phrase Dr. Doriani used in my Gospels class at CTS) out there as a bishop. I also find a lot of his prodigious material very helpful for adults. Yes, adults. Adults can read discerningly and that is where Christians should be. If you're going to go over his stuff with a fine tooth comb you'll find problems but if you're a pastor and haven't preached something that was off in the past year you're probably so tentative that your flock bailed out of boredom.

Regarding the FV, my main affinities are sacramental (I am a high church Calvinist) and Covenantal (I don't hold a strict merit theology of the garden). BTW neither of these positions are uniquely FV. As far as soteriological issues go, I am comfortable with systematic, extra-confessional categories such as the imputation of the active and passive obedience of Christ but these should not be litmus tests for confessional orthodoxy. Also, I haven't gotten involved in any of the debates regarding the nature of final justification but when I do, this whole debate has re-oriented me to seek my answers in the Bible first. If you have a problem with final justification go talk to Dr. Robert Peterson at CTS.

My issues at the end of the day are less about theology and more about practice. In particular, attitude. I'm seeing a lot of attitudes out there that are indistinguishable from non-Christians:

• Clearly mis-representing pastor's (in good standing) positions
• Refusing to contact said pastors (many in the same denomination as their accusers) even when the targeted pastor calls them in an attempt to arrange a face-to-face meeting.
• Using the most strident language possible to frame the debate.

This is just a partial list but let me close by giving an example of this inconsistency. Some charge FV men (I have personally been the target) of the false charge of believing baptismal regeneration. But what if I/we did? Does that warrant the warlike attitude and desire to run people off of cliffs. After all, Martin Luther and his present-day followers believe in baptismal regeneration and I certainly hope we consider them worthy of honor as brothers in Christ (even though they refuse me the Eucharist).