Barnabas File

Several years ago, a friend took an extensive trip through Asia. He met a number of missionaries and took a lot of pictures. When he came back, I had the opportunity to hear a presentation (complete with pictures) of his trip. As best I remember, the main point of his presentation was, "These people are deprived and their lives would be a lot better if they were more like us." I don't think the missionaries told him this, but this probably expressed my friend's bias about the real purpose of missions. His idea was that "missions" was something we do to people, and much of that involved their adopting our culture. Today we find ourselves in a unique situation. Where Christianity has taken hold in Asia, Africa, and South America, believers are articulating their faith in ways that reflect their own traditions and culture. This is a dynamic and exciting movement of the Spirit. Philip Jenkins has written about this in his book The Next Christendom: The ...

In 1949 Popular Mechanics magazine stated that "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." In 1977 Kenneth Olsen, president and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., said, "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home." Today, there are probably over 300 million personal computers in use in the United States. You are using one of them right now. Twenty years ago, who would have imagined the impact of personal computers, the Internet, cell phones, and wireless networks on our lives? We sometimes complain about them, but that is when they don't work as well as we have become accustomed to them working! There is a saying, "What seems like only a ripple today can become the wave of the future." As we approach the start of a new year, this causes me to ask, "What new thing will impact our lives in the future in ways that we least expect?" What machine, process, or movement in its infancy today will chan...

The Bible teaching ministry (usually called Sunday School) in the local church is a fascinating enterprise. In most Baptist churches, it is not as structured as it was 20 years ago. There is more flexibility in grouping (often interest or lifestyle based rather than grouping by ages), more diversity in curriculum choices, and more use of media and outside resource people. There is, however, one persistent feature of the Sunday School in the local church that has changed little--the dependence on lay leadership to carry it out. I have been exposed to a variety of Sunday School teachers over the years, and I must say that the best teachers I have known were (and are) lay people with no theological training and limited formal education. My own father is one example. Because my grandfather was killed when my father was in his early teens, my Dad had to work to support his mother and younger brother. He was not able to complete high school with his class, but later received his diplom...

When I use the term "Christian formation," I intend it to be an umbrella term encompassing ideas like Christian education, discipleship, spiritual formation, and catechesis. Basically, this is the process by which a believer is not only instructed in the faith but transformed into a practitioner of the faith. Of course, this process is never complete but it is one in which every follower of Christ should be involved throughout his or her life. How will the church practice such formation of believers fifty years from now? I imagine that it will take a variety of forms, but my hunch is that we will engage more in an "action-learning" approach to Christian formation. There will be an intentional effort to link the believer's growth in Christ with her or his daily life. As one encounters various challenges in life, these challenges will become the raw material for reflection and learning. The sources that ground such reflection and learning might be best charac...

There are many "entry points" into the life of the church. In the past, this was often the Sunday School. For many people today, it is the worship service. For others, it is the opportunity to be involved in one of the ministries of the church--some within the walls of the church facility (Upward Basketball is an example) and some in the community (Habitat, etc.). The door of ministry, especially ministry outside the walls of the church, will provide the connecting point with many non-churched people in coming years. Young adults are often looking for places to serve, and the church can provide those opportunities. Working alongside Christians provides the non-churched person the chance to develop relationships with believers. Perhaps one of the things the church of the future needs to do is to prepare members for this type of interaction. This doesn't mean learning a pat "presentation of the gospel." It does involve knowing one's own story, how that relates...

Let me break my series on the future of the church and comment on an article that appeared on the Baptist Center for Ethics website. BCE reports that David Clippard, the executive of the Missouri Baptist Convention, recently said, "The real threat we are facing today is that Islam has a strategic plan to conquer and occupy America." Part of this plan is funding Islamic studies and opening mosques near colleges and universities. "They are after our sons and daughters, our students," Clippard is reported to have said. I don't know if Clippard's observations are correct or not, but the idea of attempting to reach a nation through its college and university students makes sense. In the early 20th century, many Christian groups (including Baptists) decided to do the same thing. This gave birth to the Baptist Student Union, the Student Volunteer Movement, the Wesley Foundation, and many other denominational and non-denominational groups. This resulted in the...

My understanding is that Ephesians 4 teaches that some believers are called to equipping ministries--these include apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. All of these are necessary for a healthy balanced church, but the way in which these equipping ministries are represented in the church today is very different from the way they were exercised in the first century. I won't pursue that topic in this posting, but I do want to make clear that there is and will be a continuing need for ministers who "equip God's people for the work of ministry" in the church fifty years from now. In the future we will still have those who serve the church full-time as staff ministers. At the same time, we will have many part-time or bivocational ministers serving the church in various roles. The most interesting thing about these "professional" ministers will be where we will find them and how they will be trained. First, many of these staff ministers will ...

In fifty years, the worship practices of the church will be all over the map--just like today! The good news is that people will still be assembling together for worship. The "virtual church" is an interesting idea, but it will not take the place of believers coming together in one place to do "the work of the people"--worshipping God. The good news is that those who plan worship will be comfortable drawing on all the many facets of the Christian tradition to do worship. Music is always the big issue when we talk about worship. I think we will see less "contemporary" music and more music that draws on scripture (such as the Taize tradition), chants, classical music, and traditional hymns. This goes along with a general trend among young adults today to embrace mystery and transcendence in worship. This also means more art, more candles, and--generally-a more experiential and participative approach to worship. The Eucharist--communion, Lord's supper...

In fifty years, we will see a number of churches that do not own buildings and will have no plans to acquire a building. These "churches without walls" will probably have offices (usually rented) and storage areas. Some will choose to have their offices in malls or shopping centers with high foot traffic and adequate parking. They may even do some ministry there, but this will not be the real presence of the church in the community. It will be elsewhere. Much of their communication with participants (the number of "members" will be limited, but that is a subject for another day) will be digital--e-mail, websites, or whatever follows our present day digital communication. What are the forms in which the church will be physically manifested? First, small groups will meet regularly, perhaps weekly, in homes, coffee shops, hospitality rooms in condo developments, etc. The primary focus of these groups will be fellowship and Christian formation. Second, church part...

Someone asked me today, "What do you think the church will look like in 50 years?" Well, I love science fiction and I love the church. Maybe I can bring the two together and do a little scenario thinking over the next few days. Although I embrace the concept that the church is the people and not the building, we still tend to think of buildings when we think of churches. So let me say a word first about buildings. Most churches in existence 50 years will still have buildings, even though they will be expensive to maintain and many civil authorities will resent the churches for having them and not paying taxes! (This will be challenged increasingly in the next few years, but I believe that church and state separation will prevail although some churches will pay a services fee just to get the local government off their backs.) In some settings, the buildings will be seen as an asset to the community and local governments will make efforts to encourage their upkeep and via...

At the GOCN meeting in Kansas City last week, I had the opportunity to meet George Hunsberger, one of the more prolific writers on the missional church. George is pictured here (on the right) with Dale Ziemer of the Center for Parish Development. George is a professor of missiology at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and comes out of the Reformed theological tradition. Hunsberger was greatly influenced by missionary and missiologist Lesslie Newbigin and is the author of a book on Newbigin entitled Bearing the Witness of the Spirit . You may recall that Newbigin was a missionary in India for most of his ministry. While there he found ways to communicate the Gospel in a non-Christian context. When he returned to his native Great Britain for retirement, he discovered that he was again living in a non-Christian context! He spent the rest of his life writing, lecturing, and exegeting Western culture as a mission field. His work provides a foundation for missional ch...

I spent the last three days in a conference with folks who believe that established churches can change to become missional--that is to participate with God in a mission to the world. The missional church takes seriously the culture in which it functions and the gifts and calling of its people in order to be on mission with God in that culture. The Gospel in Our Culture Network basically developed out of a dialogue between those in the Reformed and Anabaptist traditions on what it means to be such a church in 21st century North America. They have not only produced a significant amount of theological literature (such as Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America ) but they have also discovered and researched places where it is happening (see Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness ). The conference included representatives from Mennonite, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Lutheran churches and judicatories. They are in various stages of ...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the approach of Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost in the Missio Intensive conference and in their book is that the church has already failed to reach people in our culture. I understand why they have come to this conclusion based on their experiences in Australia. As Frost points out, the first settlers in America came to seek religious freedom and by choice (although we must admit that the promise of commerce motivated many). In Australia, the first "settlers" were mostly Irish convicts who did not choose to travel to the other side of the world. Their "chaplains" were Anglican priests who were also the magistrates who pronounced judgement on trangressors! The basis of the cultures was very different. At the same time, I realize that we are faced with both a secular culture (is there any other?)in the US as well as rapid and discontinous change. Most people are not antagonistic the church; they are indifferent to the church! Eve...

Rita and I just returned from a trip to California that included a Missio Intensive Event at Fuller Seminary. The conference featured the authors of The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church. The authors are Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, both Aussies. Michael is a professor of evangelism and missions at a seminary in Australia and a church planter. He has a Baptist background and the gift of evangelism. Alan (pictured here) is a South African Jew (now a Christ-follower) who has lived in Australia but is now making the shift to the US. Michael is the apostle/prophet of the team; Alan is the strategist/conceptual person. I will write more about this meeting later, but I just wanted to share a few initial observations. The theme of the conference was reaching people for Christ in a post-everything context. Michael and Alan have served in a part of the world that is de-Christianized. Being a Christian in Australia is not a matter of pride....

The US is making plans to return to the moon. And guess what? The crew vehicle will be a space capsule! Yes, the new Orion spacecraft will look like the old Apollo crew vehicle and not like the space shuttle. The Aries launch vehicle will be based on the shuttle launch system, but the crew will ride on top of the booster "where God intended for them to be" (according to one veteran astronaut). The new space system will be a mixture of the old and the new, the proven and the innovative. Perhaps there is a word here for the church. Whatever we undertake, it is always a mixture of tradition and innovation. We look to what God has done in the past, but we trust the Spirit to bring fresh insights and understanding for the present and future. In THE SKY IS FALLING, Alan Roxburgh points out two tribes in the church that are seeking to deal with discontinuous change--the liminals and the emergents. Those who come out of the mainstream are the "liminals." These are t...

This past weekend, David May of Central Seminary was in Murfreesboro to teach the first session of the introductory New Testament course. There were 14 students present, three of those "lifelong learners" who are taking the course for their own personal enrichment. This brings the number of students at the Murfreesboro site of "the teaching church seminary" to 12 degree-seeking students and three lifelong learners. This was seminary education at its best. Dr. May is an excellent teacher, and his interaction with the students was positive and helpful. The students came with high expectations and those were fulfilled. For three hours on Friday night and 10 on Saturday, they were challenged to learn more about the New Testament, its people, its setting, and its implications for our time. Although much education can be accomplished online (especially with those who are digitally savvy), there is no replacement for face to face, personal interaction. I am pleased th...

About two years ago, I became aware of two very specific needs of our constituents which I felt were not being addressed by moderate theological institutions. First, I knew several mid-career adults who were exploring the call to ministry but could not pull up roots and pursue theological education in another state. Second, I knew some individuals who were already serving on church staff--either full-time or bivocationally--and desired additional training, but they did not understand why they had to give up their ministries and relocate to obtain a seminary degree. I contacted several CBF related seminaries to see if any had an interest in providing a satellite or extension site in Tennessee. About the same time, Mike Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, expressed a personal interest in this opportunity. The most positive response I received was from Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City. Dr. Molly Marshall was interim president and academic dean at that time and...

I don't know how you spend your weekends, but grandchildren usually play an important role in the weekend schedule for Rita and myself. We spent time with Erin (our two-year old granddaughter) on Friday, then took Noah (our seven-year-old grandson) to the football game on Friday night where our 17 year old granddaugher, Kayla, was in the half-time show. Noah spent the night and we took him to his soccer game on Saturday morning. Tomorrow we plan to have lunch with our 19-year-old grandson, Bryan. OK, I'll spare you the pictures, but you get the idea--children and grandchildren are important to us. This was brought home to me this morning when our pastor, Mike Smith, preached on Luke 9:46-50 where Jesus attempts to settle an argument among his disciples about "who will be the greatest" by bringing a small child to his side. Mike pointed out that in Jesus' day, grown men ignored children in public settings. It just wasn't done! So Jesus' action was par...

Trinity Baptist Church (a new church start in western Murfreesboro)held its first major community outreach event yesterday. Sponsored by First Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, and the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the event--called the Family and Neighbors Festival--offered activities for children, bar-b-q, fellowship, and door prizes. In addition to about 35 people from the launch team (and their children), there were about 40 guests who dropped by. We considered the event a success. Not only was it successful in numbers, but the event helped us to discover some needs in the area. In addition to married couples and their children, there were several single parents there. Many are searching for a caring and supportive community for themselves and their children. This was a positive step in identifying with the community and discovering new ways to work in that community.

Last week, I joined a group of friends to attend a telecast of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit in our area. I won't take the time here to justify this choice(although I will say that the Willow Creek Church in South Barrington, Illinois, has a better record of affirming women in ministry and reaching out to ethnic people than many of our progressive Baptist churches)but it was a great learning experience. Participating in this meeting also reminded me of the shifting patterns in cooperation among churches today. These new relationships cross denominational, regional, and ethnic lines. Even the huge churches that measure weekend attenders in the thousands seek ways to partner with other churches for the sake of the kingdom of God. They realize that kingdom work is not a "lone ranger" task and that no church can do all that God has called believers to do. These churches and many smaller congregations may not carry the Baptist name, but their theology is often very cl...

Someone recently asked , "Is your church dually aligned?" My immediate thought (left unsaid) was, "Or course not. We are aligned with Christ." OK. I know what he meant: "Is your church affiliated with both the CBF and the SBC?" Not an usual questions but certainly an irrelevant one. The question is based on a modern paradigm that saw the local church (even if we called it "an autonomous Southern Baptist church") as a local franchise of the national body. Thirty years ago you could walk into any Anglo Baptist church in the south and find people using the same hymnal, using the same literature, supporting the same missions program, and using the same terminology about the faith. Certainly there were variations in worship. We Baptists have always covered the spectrum when it comes to worship, but most of us were using some edition of the Baptist Hymnal. One value of this approach was that you always felt "at home" in church, whe...

Several years ago, I was teaching a SS class and led the class in a discussion of Brian McLaren's book, THE CHURCH ON THE OTHER SIDE. It was not an easy study, and I realized why it was so hard when we came to the last session and someone observed, "Well, all this is important only if you really want to reach postmodern people." Suddenly I realized that the speaker and I were on two completely different paths! Yes, I really care about reaching postmodern people. I care about reaching anyone who is not part of the Kingdom. This is not trumphalism but compassion. I believe that a person who is a Christ-follower has a better opportunity to have a fulfilled life and to bless others than one who is not a Christ-follower. I believe one is better off knowing God! Mike Young and I talked today about the importance of being involved in the emergent conversation. Why? Because we think it is important to reach postmodern people and we will only do so through relevant dialogue...

My colleague Mike Young hosted an "emergent conversation" in Chattanooga last week. I was not able to attend, but I understand that it went well with about 20 people present. It was intergenerational and ecumenical (for want of a better word). As with most "emergent" gatherings, the gathering just "mushroomed" overnight, the fellowship was good, and the meeting concluded with no specific goals for the future. That's fine. One thing with which this movement struggles is how far can it go and how effective can it be without becoming organized or institutionalized. A couple of people have asked me recently, "What is the unifying force behind the emergent movement?" (Another question asked was "What is the emergent movement?" but I will address that at another time.) A common thread for those involved in the movement seems to be a bad personal experience with fundamentalist (or propositional) religion. Many of the leading voices ...

Amy Mears, left, was one of the preachers and a seminar leader at the women's preaching conference last weekend. She is talking here with Melissa Roysdon, pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Cookeville. Amy, co-pastor of Glendale Baptist, Nashville, not only delivered a wonderful sermon at the conference, she shared significant insights about how women might be perceived in the preaching role.

I will admit up front that I am treading on dangerous ground here. I fear that I will fall into stereotypical assessments of the qualities that a woman might bring to the pastoral task, but I welcome being challenged on these observations. What particular strengths might a woman bring to the pastoral ministry? First, I certainly think that she would be more concerned and, perhaps more importantly, sensitive to relationships than many men are. From a male perspective, we often fail to detect the signals that someone is hurting, puzzled, or just plain angry. Second, I think that most women ministers would be more concerned about aesthetics than the majority of men in the ministry. We tend to be interested in the content rather than the context. Male ministers are concerned about the task and reaching the goal, while females in the ministry are more concerned about presentation--"How will this be perceived? Will it be acceptable?" Third, because women have so often been placed i...

I just returned home from our first women's preaching conference which was entitled "Celebrating the Preaching Voices of Women." Tammy Abee Blom, TCBF's associate coordinator for leadership development, planned the program with the assistance of Cheryl Prose, Carolyn Blevins, Nennette Measels, and Amy Mears. Amy Mears and Elizabeth Evans (a former TCBF scholarship recipient) preached. Danny Chisholm and Amy led seminars. It was a good (OK, an excellent) meeting, and I will be debriefing it on this blog for awhile. The gathering reinforced my conviction that "moderate" Baptists in the South have missed the mark by doing little to encourage women to pursue their calling to the pastoral role. To be very clear, we don't consider women as viable candidates to pastor our churches. Yes, we talk a good game, but the recent study by Eileen Campbell-Reed and Pam Durso on the state of Baptist women in ministry should cause us to hang our heads in shame. I ma...

In the last several years, I have noted a trend in churches away from talking about "Christian education" to discussing "spiritual formation" or "Christian formation." Churches are no longer looking for "ministers of education" but are seeking "ministers of spiritual formation" or some similar title. My question is, "What has driven this shift in nomenclature?" Is this just a fad or does it represent a fundamental change in our approach to adult faith development? If it is a fundamental change, does this mean that Sunday school is on the back burner and has been replaced by something else or does it mean that we are still looking for viable alternatives to SS?

Some weeks, I find myself asking, "Why would anyone want to be a pastor?" Many pastors I know are struggling. They see needs and try to lead their churches to meet those needs, but they run into resistance. They think they understand what their church members expect of their pastor, and suddenly find that they have it all wrong. They go the second and third miles in ministry, but they find it is not enough. Therefore, many pastors of my acquiantance are disappointed and even depressed. They are seeking other places of service or even considering leaving full-time ministry. Is it any wonder that many of our young adults go to seminary, but boldly declare, "I don't want to serve in a local church!" We have to find ways to help our pastors lead and serve. Maybe then more people will want to be pastors! Am I just having a bad day?

I sincerely believe that it takes different kinds of churches to reach different kinds of people. One type of church that has appeared recently is the emergent church. I won't try to describe what an emergent church is, but most are urban, skewed toward young adults (although others are not excluded), draw on many aspects of the Christian heritage for worship, and tend to be relational and experiential. Emergent churches bring a new edge to the Christian movement. We could use a few in the CBF movement! The catch is, do emergent church planters and leaders want to relate to any institution, even one as loosely structured as CBF? Emergent leaders tend to be very entrepreneurial. They already have a vision of what they want to accomplish and a way to get there. So do they want coaches? Probably not. Are they looking for funding? In most cases, no. They are a bit afraid of the "ties that bind" and are afraid that this will be selling out. What do they need then? ...

There was a recent article about the work of E. P. Sanders in THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY that I found interesting. Sanders has suggested that we need to rethink "common wisdom" about rabbinic Judaism of the first century. Sanders questions if the Jewish leaders of the first century were as legalistic has we have been led to believe. I am not sure that I follow all of Sanders' argument, but I do remember there are times when I have felt that many of us who are "religious leaders" may have more in common with these first century leaders than we wish to admit. Sometimes the "good" that we attempt to do falls far short of what the world really needs. "Let the one without sin cast the first stone."

What are you reading? I just started PRACTICING GREATNESS by Reggie McNeal and purchased PLANTING MISSIONAL CHURCHES by Ed Stetzer.

Our SS class is studying the BCE material on the Ten Commandments. Our teacher spent some time this morning describing the context, according to the Book of Exodus, in which the commandments were presented. The Hebrews had been an enslaved people in the richest nation in the world--a nation of polytheism, slavery, and a religious dictatorship. They were unmotivated, rebellious, and uncertain about where they were going. The commandments provided a basis for conceiving the world in a new way. They provided a new definition of the territory--the world they found themselves in. Although he did not use the term, the Decalogue introduced a meta-narrative--a way of bringing order to a disordered world. Is this where we find ourselves today? In a postmodern world, what do we base our lives on? What is lacking for many in this world is a meta-narrative--a story to help them make sense of the world. Maybe the commandments are a good place to start.

When I encountered three friends talking with each other as I strolled the halls of the Georgia World Congress Center during the CBF General Assembly, I suddenly realized that all three of these folks had been campus ministers at one point and are now pursuing other roles in moderate Baptist life. Over the next two days, I started keeping a mental list of folks that I met and talked with who had been campus ministers/BSU directors/collegiate ministers at one point and are now part of the moderate Baptist movement. I am not talking about simply former participants in Baptist collegiate ministry, but those who had served as leaders. Some made the leap several years ago and found new places of service. There is the person who is now a leading Baptist journalist, another who is a pastor, another who is a pastoral counselor, and several who are working for state and regional CBF organizations. Some others are still in transition, seeking new places of service, obtaining additional train...

Jack Snell has done an excellent job as interim CBF Coordinator for Global Missions. He has brought a pastoral spirit and local church "smarts" to the role. A parting gift to Fellowship Baptists was this candid comment at the commissioning service for new field personnel in Atlanta on June 23: “Our offerings are flat. We haven’t reached our Offering for Global Missions goal in several years,” he said. “In many cases our passions are dulled and our compassion is defeated by fatigue. Yet there continue to be unbelievable statistics that tell us one of four has not yet had the opportunity to hear and respond to the word of Jesus Christ. The world is groaning. I challenge you to be no less than Christ in a hurting world and challenge all of us to become nothing less than global disciples. Jesus is calling us to see the need, to be gripped by compassion and to move out from this place into the harvest field.” In Tennessee, state budget gifts have declined. Thankfully, the Tenne...

Trinity, our new church start in Murfreesboro, had its fourth Community Gathering on Sunday afternoon. Joel Emerson, associate pastor at Brook Hollow Baptist Church, and his wife, Ann Bassett, pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Spring Hill, led our worship. The worship experience on "grace" included hymns, readers theater (with the children involved), readings, multimedia, a sermon,and communion (with Ann as the officiant). Not sure that I can handle all this stimulation in worship! Joel's approach is probably a good example of what Robert Webber calls "ancient-future worship." This means that everything is on the table; we can draw from the entire Christian experience in planning worship. This is an advantage of a new church--we can try new things. What have you tried in worship recently that was "out of the ordinary"?

One of the things I hear continually from "moderate" or progressive Baptists is that our future lies in starting new churches. If this is so, why aren't more of us investing ourselves in this effort? I can think of at least five possibilities for new church starts just in the middle Tennessee area, but there is little or no interest in supporting such efforts. There is all kind of informatin available to testify to the value of starting new churches. New churches reach unchurched (and dechurched) people, identify new leaders, and allow the freedom to try new methods of worship, Christian nurture, and outreach. The group that I work with is trying to find ways to start churches with very little money and with part-time, bi-vocational, or volunteer staff. I came to the conclusion last year that I could not really gripe about the lack of interest in new church starts unless I tried to do it myself. I am pleased that a good group of leaders from the church that I attend ...

Hello! I'm Ircel. Trying a blog is something of an adventure for me, but I am willing to give it a shot.