RE-THINKING CONVERSION

This post comes from Scot McKnight and his blog JESUS CREED

What is conversion? Maybe the better question is When is conversion?
Do you think folks convert at a single moment or do you think it happens (for some) over time? Do you think it happens different for different people — some all at once and others over time?
Let me give a big sociological sketch first as this will help us rethink conversion. Studies reveal that folks, in a general sense, “convert” to the Christian faith in one of three basic ways:

1. through a church process of being nurtured into the faith,
2. through another church process of ongoing exposure to the sacraments, or
3. through a personal decision emphasis.

My own contention is that denominations and local churches tend to favor — putting it mildly — one of these processes, and they build institutional life in that church or denomination upon their theory of how conversion occurs. The result is that nurturance converts can be a bit nervous with sacramental converts and personal decision converts can break out in a rash when they encounter either. Studying how conversions take place is discussed in two of my own studies: Turning to Jesus and Finding Faith, Losing Faith.

Tell me: Does your church tend to favor one of these models? Do you think conversion is a process? Or do you think there is a distinct, conscious moment of conversion for anyone who is converted?

Our studies conclude that everyone’s conversion — whether through nurturance, sacraments or personal decision — involve six dimensions: converts emerge out of a
(1) context because of
(2) a crisis of some sort. This crisis prompts
(3) a quest to solve the crisis. The quest leads to
(4) an encounter and interaction with someone or something that advocates conversion.
That encounter prompts
(5) a commitment and
(6) consequences.

Because it is easy to talk theory but theory must be confirmed by experienced reality, we tell stories for each of these dimensions in our study Turning to Jesus.

One of the more interesting features of learning to see all conversions in these six dimensions was the discovery that patterns emerge when you begin to explore different experiences. Thus, we discovered that Jewish conversions to the Christian faith have a pattern, that evangelicals who convert to Roman Catholicism have a distinct pattern as does the pattern of Roman Catholics who become evangelical (this study was written by Hauna Ondrey in Finding Faith, Losing Faith). What surprised me the most was that stories of those who abandon the Christian faith also settle into a recognizable pattern.
The upshot of this is clear: conversion is a process. Perhaps my biggest hope for rethinking conversion is that churches will become sensitive to the various contexts of various peoples so that each person is given the opportunity to experience the grace of God in various ways.

THE URGE TO REBUKE

BY STEVE DUNN

Sooner or later most pastors are seized withe urge to rebuke.  Being nice is not good enough.  People are hearing messages clothed in graciousness and adorned with gentle prodding and they are not even remotely under conviction.  The Holy Spirit may be knocking at the door but the music of their denial is too loud to hear it.

Those of us entrusted with the Word of God know fully well that rebuking is one function we are to carry out.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3.16-17

We all know preachers who thrive on beating up on their flocks--who critique, criticize; who ignore any dimension of goodness and withhold encouragement.  And then we know of pastors who preach around every short-coming, rationalize away their peoples' sins, and affirm peoples' goodness to point of enabling mass denial.

When you see the need for rebuking and summon up the courage to do so, here are some things to remember as you craft that message,

1. Make sure your rebuke comes from the Word of God and is appropriate to the situation. The rebuke should be for ignoring God's standards and expectations--not your personal prejudices and your culture's world view.

2. Make sure that your motivation is God's prompting not your frustration or impatience.  "Quick to listen, slow to anger, slow to speak."

3. Don't rebuke a whole congregation for a few people's disobedience.  Too many pastors fight personal battles from the pulpit.

4.Always provide a clear way to apply and embrace the truth.  Problems without solutions tend to provide frustration or worse.

5. Remind the people that you are speaking the truth in love.  You are on their side and your rebuking them because they will not be able to be the persons God created and redeemed them to be. (Ephesians 2.10)

Do you have other words of counsel?

© 2016 by Stephen L. Dunn.  You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com 

DID YOU EVER HAVE ONE OF THOSE SUNDAYS?

PLEASING THE RIGHT PERSON

BY STEVE DUNN

Early in my pastoral ministry, one of my elders gave me a tremendous gift.  It was the gift of honesty. It was early in my ministry at an urban-suburban church that I really was in love with.  The people there had struggled with pastoral leadership that had changed too frequently and I was following someone they had fired. They seemed to really like me and were enthusiastic about my preaching.  Each week after worship I would stand at the door greeting them warmly and receiving their compliments.

But one Sunday, Bob, the elder, lingered in the narthex until everyone had departed.  Then he approached me.  "Pastor, I feel I need to say something."  Bob was always very supportive and had blessed me with consistent affirmation and good counsel.  "Sure, Bob."

The smile left his face and he said to me, "Pastor, I have watched you and I perceive you are a people pleaser."

Talk about being hit with a ton of bricks.  I knew that was not a compliment.

Bob continued.  "Each Sunday I listen to you preach and then I watch as people greet you at the door.  You thrive on their compliments.  Your smile grows larger and larger and you enthusiasm multiplies.  You love what they are saying to you.  You love it when they say 'Great sermon,' 'Loved the message," "I really enjoy your preaching."

I nodded my assent.

"Did you ever think that  maybe that's not a good thing?  That maybe some people should shake your hand quietly but avoid looking you in the eye?  That some should even appear unhappy or angry when they leave?" 

I had not.

"Each Sunday you have people in those pews who are being disobedient to God, who are sinning and are comfortable with it, who are behaving badly, ignoring the truth. If you are really telling them what God needs for them to hear--you should be disturbing them, making them uncomfortable, reminding them of their sin--the sin they are denying."

I thanked him.  It was the best advise I had every received.  When I enter the pulpit I am speaking on behalf of God.  I am delivering his message.  I don't need to be needlessly offensive but I need to be concerned that my message pleases God--not the person listening to it.

Who are you trying to please when you preach?

© 2016 by Stephen L. Dunn.  You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com 

Bridge the Gap: Exegete the Text—AND the Culture

An excellent video on the process of biblical and cultural exegesis for relevant preaching from CHURCH LEADERS.COM - STEVE

HOW WILL THEY HEAR IF THEY ARE NOT PRESENT TO LISTEN?

WHERE DO YOU PARK?

PREACHING ON HOMOSEXUALITY

An Interview with Jim Nicodem

BY PREACHING TODAY

PreachingToday.com: We all know that homosexuality is a culturally and politically charged issue, but you chose to do a 3-part series on it, why?

Jim Nicodem: In part because of what you just said. It's a very culturally charged issue. We know that people are facing it with friends, or hearing about it in the news. This is an issue that's not going to go away. We want our people to be able to think biblically about some of the important issues that we face in our culture. And it struck me that the longer the church puts off the conversation, the harder it's going to be to talk about it because it's going to become a very adverse climate in which to try to present God's truth. So now is the time to sort out what your church believes and where you hope to go on this issue.

What was your overall goal or goals for the series?

I had two major goals. First, I wanted to teach what God's Word says about homosexuality, and our response to people who are struggling with sexual identity. It used to be that everybody knew that the Bible says homosexual behavior is wrong, but now one of the greatest challenge to this position is coming from within the circle of those who call themselves evangelicals, people who are saying, "We've misread the Bible on this, the Bible doesn't say homosexual behavior is wrong; you need to read it in its context and it says something different." So we needed to take a look at what the Bible says.

How do we have frank conversations about what God's Word says about difficult subjects and yet still keep our front door thrown open wide?

 

Second, I wanted to lay the groundwork for ministry to people in the LGBT community. We are the church that welcomes people who are exploring the faith, no matter what their background. So we wanted to discuss how do we love people who are struggling in this area of their life, How do we make sure that we have the biggest welcome mat possible in front of our church door that says no matter what the issues are that might separate us, we want you to come and investigate a relationship with Christ?

How was this 3-part sermon series received? What kind of feedback did you get—positive, negative, people storming out? How did that go?

You never really know what's going on inside of people. I heard a pastor say once they didn't call their doctrinal position of the church "what we believe" but rather "what we teach," because he said you can't guarantee what people choose to believe even though you teach certain doctrines. Same with an issue like this. Do people have a biblical understanding of the topic now that we have taught it? Time will tell. Has there been a heart change? How do you measure heart change? How do you measure whether people are open and loving toward those who hold a different position or who come struggling in this area. I hope that we have both a biblical understanding, and that there has been a love for people in the LGBT community that has been cultivated by this.

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Jim Nicodem:

THE KEY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEARING AND LISTENING

Thanks to Church Leaders

DO YOU KNOW THE 4 PILLARS OF GUEST PREACHING

This a repost from Pete Wilson writing this week for SERMON CENTRAL.


Over the past couple years I’ve done a lot of guest speaking at churches. I consider it a great honor to give friends a break who may be out getting some much needed rest. I also learn a ton while visiting other churches. So many different things we’ve implemented at Cross Point over the years have come from my visits to other churches.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak at Central Christian in Vegas for my good friend Jud Wilhite. I can’t say enough good things about what this church is doing under Jud’s leadership. Unbelievable!

With each opportunity I’ve had to visit your churches, there are a couple things I’m picking up on. I don’t have this whole “guest speaking” thing down, but here’s what I want to share:
First of all I want to address those of you who do guest speaking from time to time.

To Guest Speakers:

1. Don’t go over your allotted time. Period. I don’t care how “inspired” you feel. You have no idea the issues (parking, service turnover, take down, childcare) you create when you don’t follow the time frame they’ve given you.

2. Don’t make controversial statements the church staff are going to have to clean up later. Your "funny" joke may have cost the pastor hours of meetings. If you feel led to stir the water a bit do it on your own platform, not theirs. They’ve probably spent years intentionally building integrity with their community and attenders. You have the power to put that in jeopardy in one 30-minute message.

3. Respect the methodology of the church you’re speaking in. It’s quite simple. Take time to understand their protocol. If they do altar calls each week then you need to do an altar call. If they don’t, then you don’t. If you like to use outlines but their church never uses outlines, then take a pass and find a way to communicate your message without using an outline. If you can’t jive with their methodology, then you shouldn’t have accepted the request in the first place.

4. Take a moment to give honor and respect to the pastor and staff, but don’t overdo it. I think it’s important to recognize the pastor and his leadership. Say for him what in his humble spirit he would never say about himself. But at the end of the day, make sure you put the focus of the message where it really needs to be, which is on Christ.

To Guest Speaker Listeners:

It’s confession time. While I appreciate your kind words and praise, you need to know something:
I brought my silver bullet. Chances are I gave my “best” message I’ve written in the past two years. If I was assigned a topic, I ignored it and still gave my favorite message in the past two years.
No, seriously, if I was assigned the topic, I still probably had several weeks or months to prepare and work in my favorite illustrations and zingers. Your pastor who pounds out new messages week after week—he’s the real hero, and he’s probably twice the communicator I am.

WHAT'S THE POINT OF WORSHIP

Joe MeKeever has an excellent reflection of worship that will help preachers and other worshipers alike.  With this post, we will try getting back on track with a weekly article. - STEVE

BY JOE MCKEEVER

Can we talk about worship?

Here are a few quotes to get us started. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of any of them, having found them in that motherlode of fascinating quotes, real and imagined, solid and made-up-on-the spot, the internet.  Smiley-face goes here…
.
1. From actor Brad Pitt:  “I didn’t understand this idea of a God who says, ‘You have to acknowledge me. You have to say that I’m the best, and then I’ll give you eternal happiness. If you won’t, then you don’t get it!’ It seemed to be about ego. I can’t see God operating from ego, so it made no sense to me.”

There is a reason this makes no sense to you, Mr. Pitt.  The Apostle Paul put it this way: “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Nor can he understand them, for they are spiritually appraised” (I Corinthians 2:14).

Don’t mean to be harsh in that assessment, but it explains why so many on the outside look at Christian worship and shake their heads. They just don’t get it.

Let me repeat that: They. Do. Not. Get. It.

2. From a blog in which this guy talks about religion. Someone asked him why God wants us to worship Him.  He answered,  “Everyone likes being praised. It’s a huge ego bump, after all. But why does God need it? I mean, what kind of egomaniac needs millions of people all over the world praising his name? Isn’t that a little arrogant?
Short answer: Yes.”
He went on to make a case for God being egotistical.  Oh, and he thought he was being pro-God.
He should spare God the compliment.
Without knowing this fellow, just from this I’d say he’s another one who just doesn’t get the business of Christian worship.
3. From a Catholic website…

“While worshiping God changes us for the better, the primary aim of our worship is not self-improvement. In the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the liturgy used by many of the Eastern Rite Catholic churches, the priest at one point chants, “For to You is due all glory, honor, and worship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto ages of ages.”

“While God doesn’t need our worship in order to be complete, our worship is still a duty—something that we owe to God. But it is a duty that we can perform cheerfully, knowing that, in doing so, we are participating briefly in the life of heaven.”

Okay, this is thought-provoking. But it still seems to imply that we might be “adding value” to Heaven in some way, and that God is somehow diminished a tad when we fail to worship.

4. From C. S. Lewis–

“A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.”
By refusing to worship God, we detract nothing from Him. By worshiping Him, we add nothing to Him.

So what is the point?

5. From our Lord Jesus….
“An hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers” (John 4:23). He adds, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

This leads me to make the following observations about worship…
.
a. When we adore something that is perfect and flawless in every way, we are simply showing our intelligence and good taste. We watch someone spend an hour at the museum of art, pausing in front of framed paintings and sculptures to take in each detail, and we conclude this person is cultured, educated, wise, something like that.

When we bow before the God of the universe, we are doing a lot of things, but one is revealing ourselves to be a person of sense.  It makes sense to bow before the God who created this universe.

b. God does not need our worship any more than the moon needs another crater or Mercury could benefit from a little more sunlight.

c. We need to worship. God has built us so that when we bow before Him and humble ourselves, something happens.

d. There are good ways and wrong ways to worship. That’s why Jesus said “in spirit and in truth.” I take “worship in spirit” to mean that our spirits, not just our bodies, are involved. Our innermost being is how He put it in John 7:37-38. And “worship in truth” involves the revelation from Jesus on God the Father, knowing Him, and being known by Him, such as in Matthew 11:27.

The Scripture is overflowing with teachings concerning bad worship, ways not to try to impress God. Psalm 51:16 and Isaiah 1:10-15 come to mind.

e. We worship the Lord for the same reason we charge our phones: We need it.
Worship is “unto” God but “for” us.

That’s what the carnal mind of man cannot comprehend.

Not even all Christians get it.  Laymen in church will pray, “Lord, help us to get something out of the service today.”

That’s close, but still off.

Think of it as a paradox.

When we come to church–that is, when we come to “worship,” however and wherever and whenever it takes place–to “get” and to receive for ourselves, we will always leave empty-handed and frustrated.   We will walk out the door critical of the preacher and the choir and the teachers, all of whom failed to meet our needs.

Sound familiar?

The fault is not with the preacher and the others.  God has not equipped them with the power and ability to change your life and meet your needs.  You are asking from them what they were never intended to give, expecting what they cannot do.

The essence of worshiping is giving.  We give the glory and praise to the Lord, give Him ourselves, our time, our offerings, our prayers, our faithful obedience.  We “present ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).

We lay ourselves before Him in surrender, to the best of our ability.

And when we leave, we are charged.  We have touched the Lord and been touched by Him.

Oh, one more. I suppose that would be….

f.  We worship poorly and always will in this life.
If we miss this, we leave out a major fact of our worship: It’s difficult worshiping One you cannot see and doing so in ways that don’t always make sense to us.

If we “see through a glass darkly” (I Corinthians 13:12), and “do not know how to pray as we should” (Romans 8:26), it follows that everything else we do in the service of the Lord will be incomplete and partial at best.  “I know in part and I prophesy in part” (I Cor. 13:9).

But we should not let that stop us from worshiping, or doing any of the other things He has commanded.

Just because I cannot do something perfectly should not slow me down from doing what I can.  I’m a parent and a grandparent; not perfect, mind you, but I’ve gladly thrown myself into these roles.  I’m a husband and a citizen, and probably doing both inadequately; but I’m still working at it.  Likewise, I’m a Christ-follower and a poor one. But this is who I am and I will continue by faith.

We live and serve and worship by faith. Because of our love and gratitude toward our Lord, we obey. We may or may not understand, but we go forward.

The Lord is under no illusion about you and me. He knew He got no bargain when He saved the likes of us.  (“He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust” –Psalm 103:14)

And yet, for reasons known only to Him, He wants our worship.

How very kind of Him to accept this from someone like me.  And you.