Daley Ponderings

Total Church: Evangelism

jondaley — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:00:46 -0400

"Francis of Assisi is alleged to have said, 'Preach the gospel always; if necessary use words.' That may be a great medieval sound bite, but it falls short of what the Bible teaches about evangelism."

I used to like that quote, and the evangelism models it leads to, and felt comfortable in thinking that the street preachers (and other more direct evangelism models) had no place in actually making a difference in people's lives.

But, while spending the summer at the Ocean City Beach Project (speaking of community in my last post, OCBP was a good community experience for me, not perfect, but perhaps that is what real community is) in 1997, we went to New York and traveled on the Staten Island Ferry and there was a lady who was (almost) yelling at the people, talking about heaven, hell, God, Christ, etc. and I couldn't see anything good in what she was doing - various people were turning away from her and making comments about Christianity, etc. Apparently, none of the other students that I was with seemed to care much, and my original tactic was to avoid her by going to another part of the boat, but she ended up in the same section I was... At one point our eyes connected, and I asked her if she thought she was doing any real good in anyone's life. She sat down and we talked for a while. She said that she didn't always know if it was any good, but that "[God's word] shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)" and that she didn't always preach, but some days she felt a prompting to bring her bag of tracts and speak to the people on the boat. (She worked in the city, and so rode on the ferry every day). I was not at all convinced that God was pleased with her actions, though I did appreciate that she didn't simply preach every day, but desired to follow God and believed that He had certain people for her to talk to. But, as we were talking, a rough looking guy came up in tears, (Rob, from last week in the Dominican would say that he "had his skirt on") and said how much the words had struck him, and talked about circumstances that he was going through, and how life looked hopeless in different ways. I don't know about the long term effects on his life, but at least the short-term, we prayed for him and his wife and his job and I believe that God did speak to him that day. And to me too - as I no longer look disdainfully on people preaching on the street. I am still not convinced that it is the "best" way, and I don't really ever expect to find myself preaching, but definitely God uses those that do.

The second thing that God taught me about evangelism was when a number of us went to a "Contagious Christian" conference put on in Pittsburgh by the evnagelism director of the Willow Creek Church. There were various things that were good that weekend (including a strong validation of the gift of discernment that God has given me - I look back on that weekend whenever I start to doubt that maybe I'm just crazy and probably just making up things when I see into people's (particularly the "random" people on the street) hearts and minds), but as far as evangelism goes the only quote I remember is "there are all kinds of Christians to speak to all kinds of non-Christians". He gave various examples of people in his church, from the praying 90 year old woman who hardly ever made it out of her house or spoke to anyone to the street preacher to the guy who was the most relational guy he ever met, etc. The question the workbook asked was, "What kind of evangelizer are you?" I think it is probably stated a little strongly, as I do believe in diversity of gifts, and that while we should all seek all gifts, in the end, God gives different gifts to different believers.

"Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." - 1 Corinthians 12:4-14

Back to Total Church:

"Before they are preachers, leader, or church planters, the disciples are to be lovers! This is the test of whether or not they have known Jesus."

The authors go onto say that though doctrinal orthodoxy, ingenious strategizing, commitment to preaching, innovative approaches to planting, are all important and necessary in their own way, it is "our cross-love for each other than proclaims the truth of the gospel to a watching and skeptical world."

We were talking the other night with some friends about church splits and why does that even happen at all and particularly "ugly" conflicts. Certainly, there will be differences of opinion, and even differences over important and essential truths (is there any truth that isn't important? Maybe.) But, why would it ever have to be ugly? I suppose the easy answer is simply "sin", but I think to trivialize sin is a dangerous course of action, and we shouldn't expect sinful actions to drive our community, but love, forgiveness and walking out our faith in holy fear.

One challenge to the street preachers is the example of a street preaching friend of the authors:

As the conversation began, it was clear that George thought we were selling out in some way. But as we talked about sharing our lives with unbelievers, about evangelism that was 24/7, about opening our homes, George's tone changed. At the end of our conversation he admitted, "I'm not sure if I'm up for that kind of commitment."

I love the end of Ephesians 3, particularly the King James Version, that so clearly shows how big God is, and how much He desires for us. He doesn't merely pray that "Christ would dwell in your hearts by faith, and to be filled and know the love of Christ," nor merely that God can "do anything", but he prays much bigger statements than that:

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." -- Ephesians 3:17-21

Reforming Marriage by Douglas Wilson

jondaley — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:00:39 -0400

I won't do a whole review, as I probably wouldn't do all that good of a job, but I'm re-reading it because a friend from church asked to borrow it, and I thought I would read through it again before I loaned it to him, so I could better recommend it appropriately.

Dave Skiles recommended the book to me, and added his own subtitle, What's Wrong with your Marriage, and Why it is Your [the husband's] Fault, and while some might end up in condemnation thinking about that title, I have found it quite good, and when I'm tempted to wonder why Heather is doing such-and-such, I can think back on this, and realize (or if I don't realize it, Heather can tell me, like she did yesterday) how my attitude and how I am leading the family is affecting everyone.

I read the chapters on "Effacacious Love" and "Keeping Short Accounts" this morning, and was thinking that there was so much good stuff that I should write a blog post about it, but now when I go back, I think perhaps there is too much to quote, and I'm having a hard time picking which things to mention.

He has a section on beauty and speaks about the bad tendencies in our culture to place focus on outward things (one example he gives is the difference between playing with dolls with the girl in the role of the mother versus playing with Barbie dolls with the girl playing the role of the doll) but goes on to say that some in the church react to that by saying beauty is only inward, and ignoring the outward beauty that God has created. He quotes various Old Testament scriptures that speak of the outward beauty that the women had (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Abigail, Bathsheba, Tamar, Esther) He humorously says that you may be saying, "Duh, everyone knows there are pretty women..." But, he also says, "a man who marries biblically should expect his wife to be visibly lovelier on their tenth anniversary - and if she is not, he knows that he is the one responsible. But as the one responsible, he has to know where true beauty begins." As Heather and I approach our ninth anniversary, I can say with confidence that Heather definitely is on the right track, despite my failings.

"When a woman is lovely in her spirit, that loveliness cannot be contained. It enchants her husband."

"As he loves her, she bears fruit. As she bears this fruit, it delights him. In this delight he loves her more, and she bears more fruit. The wife is to cooperate fully, receiving his love, but he is the one responsible to give it."

Another challenging and convicting quote:

"A husband cannot say, 'All my behavior notwithstanding, I still honor my wife, even though I never show it.' Husbands must honor their wives. This is a demonstration within marriage of an attitude which we should see elsewhere in the church."

In the "Keeping Short Accounts" chapter, I found a good analogy in picking things up off the carpet and confessing sin immediately. That while the end result looks the same, picking things up immediately, rather than letting them sit for 6 months is quite different.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -- 1 John 1:9

He says that while our justification is not affected by confession of sin, "refusal to confess sin does affect the quality of a person's enjoyment of his justification." And reminds us of Psalm 51, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation".

Total Church: Why Gospel? Why Community?

jondaley — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:31:44 -0400

It's definitely a telling commentary on my life that the first chapter of Total Church, "Why Gospel?" was less exciting to me than the following chapter, "Why Community?". I think the former is in my head only, where the latter is in my head and heart.

I do like the one section that talked about needless division over "word-centered" and "Spirit-centered" churches and the polarization over whether the sermon or the "ministry time" is more important. And also people who reject "intellectualism" or "emotionalism". I guess there are two ways to not be extreme in either: one, to be "moderate" and neither think or feel "too much" and end up with a religion that is neither relational nor thought provoking. I'd like to think that I fit into another category, where the heart and mind is part of a whole Christ-following person.

"It is tempting to stress the need for balance as if what we need is a bit of word and a bit of the Spirit or a bit of intellectualism and a bit of emotion. But this is unhelpful. The truth is that in the Bible word and Spirit always go together."

"When Jesus promises to send the Spirit, he says the Spirit 'will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you... when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.' ... It is the Spirit who makes Christ's words known to us, applying them to our lives and making them live. They are not dead words, ancient history, a static set of instructions, or an encyclopedia of belief. Through the Spirit they are the living, life-giving words of God."

The authors quote a friend who "struggled as a Brit fitting into American culture", because she would meet people who would say, "let's do lunch", but never scheduled anything. "[It] was just an idiomatic way of saying farewell". I learned sometime during college to always say what I mean. Practically what that meant was that I didn't say I would pray for someone when they brought up something, and I don't ask people how they are doing as much as I used to. I can't remember the movie, but there is a movie set in the future where instead of saying, "hello", people say, "hello-how-are-you-good-thanks-nice-weather-yes-i-agree", and I think it shows a truth of how people treat each other when meeting each other - they aren't actually listening, and don't actually care how people are doing. For a while in college, a friend and I tried to actually answer people when they asked how we were doing, and prepared an answer (because otherwise, people have already walked past you if you stop to think how you are actually doing) and we discovered that people would often not even hear what we said. Mom had a friend who used to answer telemarketers when they would ask how she was doing, "well, actually, this week has been really rough, I just found out that my husband is having an affair, my dog died and my son hasn't gone to school in a month." She would get varying responses, but some telemarketers actually said, "good, I was wondering if you would be interested in buying ...."

Once I realized the truth about whether I actually cared about people's responses, it made me much more aware of how I was living, and then people learned that when I asked how they were doing, or said I would pray for them, etc. that I actually meant it. (I have another sermon about saying you will pray for someone versus praying immediately, but that's for another day).

Back to the book...

"The New Testament word for community is koinonia, often translated by the now anemic word 'fellowship.'"

"The prevailing view of life today is that of an individual standing on his or her own, heroically juggling various responsibilities -- family, friendships, career, leisure, chores, decisions, and money. We could also add social responsibilities like political activities, campaigning organizations, community groups, and school associations. From time to time the pressures overwhelm us, and we drop one or more of the balls. All too often church becomes one of the balls."

Heather said that when I was in the Dominican Republic, she was in "survival mode", and praying constantly just to make it through the next hour. (She has often wondered how single moms manage). But, she realized how really, we ought to be in "survival mode" all of the time, completely dependent on God and not trusting in ourselves to make it through the next day.

"In our experience, people are often enthusiastic about community until in impinges on their decision-making. For all their rhetoric, they still expect to make decisions by themselves for themselves. We assume we are masters of our own lives."

The authors live in a community house called, "The Crowded House", and have had various experiences in a real community (I say "real", because I think people often think they live in a "community", but they have accepted the "anemic" definition instead of any real definition of community).

I like the close to the "Why Community?" chapter:

"If you are warm to this vision of Christian community, then start where you are. Sell the vision by modeling the vision. Don't become a pain to your existing congregation, telling them everything are doing is wrong [or forcibly breaking down the walls they hide behind, like I tend to do]. Become a blessing by offering hospitality, showing practical care, dropping in on people. Create around you a group of Christians who will share their lives and encourage one another in the faith."

I can get so impatient with people and how long it takes people to get "comfortable" and willing to take a brick or two out of their wall. I think the only people I know who talk/think about community the way I do bring a whole lot of other beliefs to the table and a lower priority of the bible than I think can be true.

Is there anyone out there who believes that God is best glorified and the gospel effectively shared is through relationships and intentional community as we seek God's kingdom and to follow the steps He gives us, and believe that when God said things in scripture He actually meant them instead of trying to explain away scriptures so they don't mean anything?

Total Church: Introduction

jondaley — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:47:52 -0400

I've just started reading a book I ordered from the library. I don't remember who recommended it - probably either someone at Jubilee, or else a blog I read.

Based on the number of things I've liked so far, and I'm only through the introduction, I suspect I'm going to really like this book. They start out by giving four people with different stories. I'll quote this one because it is exactly me:

"Cathy became a Christian in her first year at university. It was great. She spent hours hanging out with her Christian friends, talking through their faith, praying together, sharing the gospel with other students. But two years after graduation she feels spiritually flat. She goes to church each Sunday and attends a home group on Wednesday evenings. But she misses the intimacy of the relationships she had at university. She misses the discussions, the enthusiasm, and the late night prayers. She laughs to herself at how immature they were sometimes. But she can't help wondering whether 'grown-up' Christianity is any better. If only there were a different way of doing church."

As I read the one sentence to Heather just now, I realized that the "discussions, enthusiasm and late night prayers" are exactly how I just spent my last week in the Dominican Republic with various college-aged folks. I do truly miss it - I know various people who have told me that I inspire them in these areas - where they feel too caught up in "life" to slow down or something. But, I don't think I know anyone who has really changed much, though they might say they'd like to.

More quotes from the book:

"The theology that matters is not the theology we profess but the theology we practice."

"Being both gospel-centered and community-centered might mean ... having churches that are messy instead of churches that pretend."

"In practice, conservative evangelicals place a proper emphasis on the gospel. Meanwhile others, like those who belong to the so-called emerging church, emphasize the importance of community. Each group suspects the other of being weak where it is strong. We agree with the conservative church that the emerging church is too often soft on truth. We also agree with the emerging church movement that conservative evangelicals are often bad at community."

"Oh, why are we not more holy!"

jondaley — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:38:44 -0400

"Oh, why are we not more holy!", he would exclaim with loving insistence. "Why do we not live in eternity, walk with God all the day long? Why are we not all-devoted to God, breathing the whole spirit of missionaries?

"Alas, we are too much enthusiasts, looking for the end without faithfully using the means. Do we rise at four or even five in the morning to be alone with God? Do we fast once a week, once a month? Do we even know the obligation or benefit of it? Do we recommend the five o'clock hour for private prayer, at the close of the day? Do we observe it? Do we not find that 'any time' is no time?

"Oh let us stir up the gift of God that is in us. Let us no more sleep as do others. Let us take heed to the ministry that we have received in the Lord, that we fulfil it. 'Whatsoever thy findeth to do, do it with thy might.'"

-- John Wesley, as quoted in Hudson Taylor's biography, "In the Early Years".

Scripture Memory

joyful — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:11:58 -0400

Hide 'Em In Your Heart scripture memory CDs by Steve Green gets my hearty recommendation for anyone with or without children who wants to memorize scripture in a fun and easy way. We heard about them from our pediatrician (who is a Christian father of young children) and got the first CD from Grandma and Dad-o for Noah's birthday.

I like this CD because the songs are fun, not cheesy. They tend to run through my head, but it's good because that way the scripture does, too! Before each s

Taking His Name

joyful — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:53:17 -0400

"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Exodus 20:7 (KJV)

I've been thinking more recently about what this means. I grew up thinking that it pretty much just meant don't use "God" or "Jesus" as swear words. But surely to be one of the Ten, God meant it to mean something much deeper than that.

First I ask, what does "taking the name of the LORD" mean? Well, God himself makes our relationship with him analogous to the marriage relationship. So this is where my thinking is going.

When I married Jon, I took his name. Now, everything I do affects how people think of the name "Daley." Not only that in general, but how they think of my husband in particular.
Who I am and how I act is part of what makes our family.

So, one sense of taking the family name in vain is to ignore all these repercussions and act in a selfish way, not caring how it affects my husband and family.

This helps me extend the idea to being in God's family. When I became a Christian, I took the name of Christ - on the one hand, as an adopted child, taking His name as an heir, and additionally, as part of the bride of Christ, taking His name in marriage. So I must consider my actions and attitudes in addition to my words (and the way I say them!) as reflecting on His name.

How many thousands (millions?) of people in our country have been and are turned away from following Christ because those who take His name do so in vain!

May my life be a reflection of Christ. May I call Him Lord in my actions as well as my words. Oh, God, let me not take Your name in vain - may my life be lived such that those who see me want to become part of the family, too!

Bible Quiz

jondaley — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:26:23 -0500

You scored as NASB - New American Standard Bible. You are intelligent, responsible, and understanding. You strive to do your best possible in all areas of life and are generally quite successful. You do not mind being different and sometimes taking risks, but you simultaneously find no virtue in completely doing away with the past.

NASB - New American Standard Bible

75%

KJV - King James Version

40%

NWT - New World Translation

35%

CEV - Contemporary English Version

25%

NRSV - New Revised Standard Version

20%

What version of the Bible are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

From Talking Out Of Turn

Fasting and Feasting in Lent

jondaley — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 12:04:04 -0500

Good thoughts here: Fast and Feast in Lent

Mark 10:15

joyful — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:07:33 -0500

"Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein."

Last week some time, Jonathan asked me to read him a story from his "Ark book" - which is the rhyming children's Bible that we have. We started from the beginning and quickly got to the part about Adam and Eve's disobedience. I was reading, and not really paying attention to Jonathan's face, so when I got to the end, right at the part where God banishes them from the garden, I was startled to hear him burst in to tears. I quickly brought him to my lap (he had been standing on the couch) and cuddled him and we talked about how terribly sad it was that Adam and Eve had sinned and had to leave the garden and God's presence.

But of course the story does not end there! How glorious to live on the other side of God's redemptive plan! I opened the book again, turned to the end, and read about Jesus on the cross (the wages of sin is death) and of his resurrection (conquering death!)

We had such a sweet time together talking about it, and God gave me a glimpse of what he meant by entering the kingdom as a child. The gravity of the fall and its consequences is not something I think much about on a regular basis, and Jonathan's horrified sorrow reminded me of what my reaction should be. And how truly wonderful Christ's work of redemption really is!