Book Review - War on the West

 

 

Seeing through Lies

If you have ever sensed that something is out of kilter with the news we are force-fed by outlets such as the BBC, this is a book to read.

Douglas Murray, the author of the equally outstanding The Madness of Crowds, helps us to see through some of the lies made out to be truth and progress. 

Murray looks at Race, China, History, Reparations, Religion, Gratitude and Culture in turn; this review will draw out some highlights of a most fascinating read.

Overall, I found this book helped me understand some aspects of the twisted world of western culture we all swim in. 

The New Hatred of Western Culture

No-one can defend any culture or civilization blindly or wholeheartedly. Western culture today is riven through with major fault lines, not least, for example, the widespread acceptance and defence of murder. [Abortion is murder, except in the case when a doctor tries to save both mother and child and discovers to his deep sorrow that he can only save one.] 

As colonial powers the West did some evil (along with a great deal of good). (My father who lived in Pakistan for 12 years would have Pakistanis secretly confide to him, "We wish the English were still here."  Reason? After the 1947 partition, Empire was replaced by Corruption - and for some Pakistanis, benevolent empire was viewed as the better of two evils).

No-one should defend every aspect of western culture, but we should try to view it objectively, sieving out the bad and rejoicing (with gratitude) at the good.

Murray shows that starting in the 1980s and - you guessed it, starting in the Academy - the study of Western Anything became taboo. 

New fad, come on everyone, jump aboard! 

Mary had lots of little lambs...

Since Everything Western was the product of dead white males, Everything Western became toxic overnight. "Just a couple of decades ago, a course in the history of Western civilization was commonplace. Today it is so disreputable that you can't pay universities to do it." (page 8) 

How then do you go about discrediting everything about the West? Well, first you elevate every other culture, ignoring their numerous patent faults and evils. Then you assault every aspect of western civilization, line by line. 

That is what has been taking place. 

"The culture that gave the world lifesaving advances in science, medicine, and a free market that has raised billions of people around the world out of poverty and offered the greatest flowering of thought anywhere in the world is interrogated through the lens of the deepest hostility and simplicity." (page 10) 

In the place of careful discernment - let's accept this part, let's reject that element - the approach is to attack everything western, wholesale, relentlessly, irrationally. 

Murray helped me see that there is a savage war on the West today. Not being a believer, he cannot discern underneath this assault is most likely a spiritual attack on the truth, since so many of the benefits of the West are a direct consequence of an underlying Judeo-Christian consensus.

Race

Take race for example. Critical Race Theory (CRT - your poor kids or grandkids will have to read about it along with Marx, Freud, Darwin and every other has-been theory) wants us to read the history of the world through the lens of race. Every problem in the world, past, present and future, is the result of racism. Did you not know that? In that case you must be a racist.

Racism is an evil, prevalent around the whole world today, alive in every country, bar none. CRT however, ignores the rampant racism in all other countries and highlights it only - guess where? 

At a time when racism, factually, is at its lowest in the USA, for example, CRTs give the impression that it's at an all-time high. (Well, of course, if every problem in the USA is ultimately caused by race, then racism is a rather big problem.)

CRT advocates want to assign every person into one of two camps. Either you are an anti-racist - by which is meant someone who is actively campaigning for CRT -  or you are a racist.

Murray helped me to see the divisive and distorting effects of CRT on western media. 

Every time a race card is called, we need to check up the facts (something the BBC, for example, would never do on this particular issue.) 

Take the George Floyd case. Terrible and as inexcusable as it was, a worse police killing took place four years earlier in which a white man was held down gasping for air for 13 minutes (page 29; four minutes more than the 9 minutes Floyd was held down). But the world heard nothing about that earlier case and everything about George Floyd. How come? Because American culture had been primed by the mythology of CRT and was waiting for a George Floyd event; America "was ready and primed for a certain interpretation to burst out. That interpretation had been prepared in the academy." (page 30). 

Parents beware what your kids are being taught at school and university - especially in the humanities. 

History

This new attack on western culture necessitates an attack on western history and upon all the great (but, of course, equally flawed) characters of western civilization. 

The statements of every great historical figure are now scrutinized for the presence of 'modern sins', taking no account of historical locatedness - and thereby putting this generation under the risk of damming judgement tomorrow for its present and numerous foibles. 

Old statues are torn down, busts removed from universities. Before long no-one from history (except for today's myth spinners) will be standing. In order to destroy the reputation of Cecil Rhodes, for example, a whole paragraph was concocted out of a patchwork of selective quotations to give an impression totally alien to the actual views of that man. 

Of course colonialism becomes a major focus of this revisionist history. No-one justifies colonialism, no-one denies atrocities were committed under its reign, but was it all evil? Did not the colonialists do at least some good? 

Slavery is another terrible blot on western culture with no redeeming features, but slavery has been practiced across the globe throughout history, and is ubiquitous today, with present day estimates of some 40 million (see here). 

These facts do not justify western slavery, but it does set it in context. 

All the historical sins of the West are raised, while all the historical virtues ignored.  "History becomes the history of Western sins. And ignorance reigns not only over anything good the West ever did but over anything bad that anyone else ever did." (page 132)

Another 'gospel' for the churches

Murray laments on the way churches, such as the Church of England and the Episcopal church in the US, have lamely followed all these agendas uncritically. 

According to one of its own reports, the Church of England must "decolonize theology, ecclesiology and possibly examine official teachings of the church that follows prejudicial theological value systems." (page 186) All the while, a former evangelical bishop, Michael Nazir-Ali, who knows a thing or two about racism, warns against following this bizarre new gospel, since the church has a far better Gospel of our own to tell.

(BTW: Whenever churches preach another gospel, it's a sure-fire sign they have lost the original true one.)

Attack on Reason Itself

We may not be surprised that all this nonsense has run wildfire though the humanities, what needs to concern us is that it is now running through the sciences and engineering. 

Maths, you see, is elitist. Privileged. And so, you've guessed it, maths must be racist. And therefore attempts must be made to "dismantle the culture of white supremacy (meaning, logic, objectivity, written word, etc.) that exists within the math classroom." (page 197) 

Why call it Pythagoras theorem? Wasn't Pythagoras a white male? Let's call it instead "side-length relationships for right-angled triangles." (page 197). 

The idea that 2 + 2 = 4 is a cultural simplification of reality! You guessed it, a Western simplification. 

Gratitude

Murray has an unusual chapter on Gratitude. He believes that resting beneath much of the current animus is deep resentment, leading to anger and a desire for revenge. Destruction is their only (and wholly negative) modus operandi. 

But "To live in the West in this time is to enjoy a piece of historical good fortune unlike almost any good fortune in history." (page 211). And Murray urges us to be grateful.  "A life lived without gratitude is not a life properly lived." (page 212). 

Murray ends his book, pages 260 onwards, with a long list of the blessings of living in the West (recognised, not least, by the fact that the whole world wants to live in the West: "the migrant ships across the Mediterranean go only in one direction - north." (page 263).)

Just listing these wonderful blessings he has to call a "nuclear" action because people polluted by CRT will explode with anger when they read it. Here are some of the many blessings of living in the West:

• almost every medical advance
• almost every scientific advancement
• the oldest and longest-established educational institutions
• developed the world's most successful means of commerce
• developed the principle of representative government
  

Conclusions

I read this book on Holiday a couple of months ago. While I couldn't put the contents down, the book has to be read in small doses to allow reflection. We shan't and shouldn't agree with everything here.

My overriding impression was that the blessings westerners enjoy which are the direct fruit of the Gospel, are now under attack.

As our culture paganises, it will abandon its source streams, the Judeo-Christian consensus.  This book documents some of that fierce rejection of truth. 

Without God, trouble looms.

In so far as the West has been shaped by the Gospel, an attack on the West is also an attack, to some degree, upon the God of Scripture, and throughout my reading, the God who laughs came to mind:

"Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,  “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” Psalm 2

The Weirdest People in the World - a few gems from an unusual book

 

A (very) Long Read

It's taken me yonks to plough through the 489+ pages of this book, but finally I've made it and there are a few gems to be found here. Let me outline the main arguments of the book and then share four insights.

Joseph Henrich's basic contention is that we who have been brought up and shaped by the West are WEIRD, acronym for W-western, E-educated, I- individualistic, R-rich, D-democratic. 

More than an acronym, he means by 'weird' something close to the other meaning of that word: unusual.

(This review supersedes the partial reviews I've written in the past...)

How and Why are we Weird? 

"Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, we Weird people are (i) highly individualistic, (ii) self-obsessed, (iii) control-oriented, (iv) nonconformist, and (v) analytical. We focus on ourselves - our attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations - over our relationships and social roles." (page 21)

Most people in the world today, most people who have ever lived, do not, did not, bear these five traits, argues JH. And it is not just that we are different, it's that from many perspectives, westerners have been remarkably 'successful.'

Why are we so different?

Well, argues Joseph, the Church's teaching on marriage and the family made the primary and fundamental difference. The Bible's view of sex and marriage transformed European society and played a major role in Western Weirdness. 

Let's hear him out.

Before the Gospel took root in Europe, people related to one another, much as they still do all around the world, through intensive family kinship ties. These wide networks and relational webs - created through marriage of one kind or another - had a profound effect on how the whole society operated. 

The Bible's vision of sex and marriage - one man + one woman for life - revealed for example in Ephesians chapters 5 and 6, radically altered society by breaking down those extensive networks of obligations. Polygamy and marrying close relatives were all banned - and along with them a wide and inevitable tangle of relational obligations was severed. Freed from the duty to make every decision based on what my relatives or clan expects, I am now free to think and act in new ways (there's some individualism coming in). 

The primary societel building block became husband plus wife plus kids.

In effect, the Bible's vision of the nuclear family dissolved extensive tribal and kinship-based ways of doing things, ways that hinder 'progress.'

The impact of this seemingly benign new way of organizing society - around the nuclear family -  had profound impacts everywhere. 

Take commerce, for example. Most trade took place via relational - family - tribe lines. Now that these are dissolved, how will trade take place? New voluntary associations and guilds replaced family networks. If before I felt obliged to buy something from a distant relative even though it was much better and cheaper elsewhere, now I am free to buy it at a reduced price.

If before I had no motive for hard work and saving money because I may be obligated to give it all away to a cousin twice removed who was getting married, now, with that obligation removed, I have a motive to save.

If before I would only ever choose someone in my own tribe to rule, (not that a choice was available) now severed from that tribal obligation I can choose more objectively; observe here the seeds of democracy. 

If before I would not be prepared to think outside my tribe's box, lest I am excluded, now I am prepared, like Copernicus, to imagine that the sun not the earth is the centre of the solar system; observe the seeds of scientific endeavour.

The Reformation in Europe was then both a fruit of these deep societal changes (we don't need to dispute the fact that God can till the soil of a continent before planting Gospel seed) and a turbocharger of those changes, adding new components to this heady mix of Weirdness.

Martin Luther was prepared to go out on a limb - yes, a courage given to him by God - but also seeded by the dissolution of tribal impulses to conform.

And then, since the restored Gospel of the Reformation was based on a Book and required every believer to read, the Reformation spurred literacy (among men and women) and along with it analytical thinking. 

Innovation, wealth, democracy, science - all these were fruits of Western Weirdness. These products did not flow from the Enlightenment, very helpfully, argues JH. No, instead Enlightenment authors were merely the aristocratic spokespersons responding (rather late in the day), to the grassroots changes already running through Western society, changes seeded by the Bible.

Well, that's the argument of the book in a nutshell - I think.

Some Gems

There is a ton of stuff that we cannot take on board. Henrich, deeply influenced by the zeitgeist of the day uncritically accepts the concept of evolution and simply applies it to culture. Not only is the idea of evolution an increasingly discredited idea, the use of it to describe something as complex as human culture seems, itself, weird. Yes culture changes, but evolves?

Henrich seems to think that it is possible for small human minds to understand the whole world of human nature, behaviour and culture, and to gain a grand metanarrative all on our own. But of course that is impossible since we are so tiny. The Bible is - of course! - a far more reliable guide to the world of human nature and culture than this or any other humanly authored book.

In addition, we must surely question the intrinsic value of some of the qualities that make westerners seemingly unique. Is not individualism just as much a curse as a blessing? And is being rich really such a blessing?

And above all else, the true success of any people is the degree to which they believe the Gospel and follow Jesus Christ. And there is no J or C in Weird.

In spite of these faults, one can discern a few interesting gems...

#1  Modern Psychology is hopelessly non-representative

Many of us were already highly sceptical of psychobabble, now we know why. It's 'sure' findings are based not only on the strange behaviour of purely western subjects (who are unrepresentative of the peoples of the world) but even more narrowly, on the world views of graduate students in western universities! If ever there was a more unrepresentative group of people in the world...

So, putting it bluntly, we should place very little trust in the discipline of psychology: for sure it can offer no global analysis - or solutions.

#2  The Scriptural View of sex and the Family has very wide Impacts and multiple Benefits

Whenever sex is allowed to flow outside of the God-designed boundaries of one man one woman for life, it devastates not only the people involved but whole societies are impacted negatively. Tangled webs of relationships are formed which severely curtail the prospects of their members and people groups.

This should not surprise us since sexual immorality is regarded in Romans chapter 1 as the greatest indication of a society that has turned its back on God. 

Reversing that sinful trend, says Henrich in effect, makes a culture more prosperous in every way.

We can now see why Ephesians chapters 5 and 6 focus on relationships between husband and wife, between parents and children, and why they fail to mention obligations to wider kinship relationships created by webs of sexual infidelity outside of marriage.

If Henrich is right then if the church wants to see global reform its only route is to preach the Gospel. The Gospel will then reform sexual behaviour and family life, transforming both the individual and the surrounding society.

There is no way to transform a corrupt society directly, the only way is to preach the Gospel.

#3 The Influence of the Reformation

It is an intriguing notion that the Reformation both fed off the changes already seeded in European society through a Biblical view of marriage and turbocharged those changes. 

Some of the many historical facts, charts, tables and maps in this book are intriguing. In one chart (page 8) Henrich shows that literacy rates took off after around 1550. The only explanation for this is the Reformation, where an understanding of the Bible was regarded as vital. Interestingly, in Catholic regions literacy rates were much lower (page 10). 

This concern to read the Scriptures had knock on effects, including analytical thinking. Also, the reformation spurred the Industrial Revolutions; by the time of the Industrial Revolutions there was a pool of literate and educated people ready to understand and serve in the new industries. 

Notably, for those who falsely think Christianity is sexist, the Reformation "specifically drove the spread of female literacy." (page 14). 

Driving up literacy then drives up analytical thinking. 

#4  Cancelling the so-called Enlightenment

Secular boffin-types tend to give all the credit for democracy and science and innovation to the so-called Enlightenment.  These clever chappies influenced the plebs; it was all top-down, or so the arrogant theory goes. 

Not one bit of it, argues Henrich. The influence came from the Church, subversively, if you like, bottoms up. As a Biblical view of sex and marriage spread throughout Europe, and then as the Reformers insisted on the necessity of reading the Bible, so were the seeds of science, democracy and the industrial revolution sown. 

No help from the clever chappies.

We shlould have known the place of the so-called 'learned' from this one fact: it was unlearned disciples of Jesus that turned the world upside down.

"The bottom line is that the Enlightenment thinkers didn't suddenly crack the combination on Pandora's box and take out the snuff box of reason and the rum bottle of rationality from which the modern world was then conceived. Instead, they  were part of a long cumulative cultural evolutionary process that had been shaping how European populations perceived, thought, reasoned and related to each other stretching back into late Antiquity (300-600). They were just the intellectuals and writers on the scene when WEIRDer ways of thinking finally trickled up to some of the last holdouts in Europe, the nobility." (427-8)

These are a few of the many fascinating insights in this book. 

The real problem with books like these is that they are not written for the man in the street. The author is wanting to convince his peers, fellow boffin-types, making the book almost impossible to read for the rest of us.

What these authors need to do is to ditch their pride and write a book 40 pages long in simple English, for the ordinary reader. Who cares if the intellectual world moans and groans, the rest of us will be delighted.

Older Pastor to Younger Pastor

Photo: John Moeses Bauan on Unsplash

 The Value of Hindsight 

After 30 short years in fulltime ministry, what advice would I give to the next generation of pastors taking their first steps? 

Or, to put it another way, what would my older pastor self, say to my younger pastor self? What advice would I give myself if I was able to time-travel back down the years?

There is no calling in the world more wonderful and joyful than that of Christian ministry. The privilege of serving Jesus Christ, the joy of seeing Christians grow in grace. Pastors have the best job in the world. 

But the ministry is also a difficult place. Too many young men entertain romantic and unrealistic views - possibly a by-product of myths passed around on social media. Here are seven realistic truths from one pastor's perspective.

#1 You Never Stop Learning

No-one ever 'arrives' in ministry.

Of course not, since, a disciple is by definition a learner (remember: disciple = mathetes = learner). And because ministry is becoming more like the Great Shepherd. 

Until we reach the pearly gates we have an infinite learning curve to climb.

Continue to learn by constant prayer, meditation, reflection and reading. About the only thing one totally learns is how little one really knows. 

But don't be discouraged by the proverb, "The more I know, the more I realise how little I know, so what's the point studying?" 

Continue to learn all you can about the four Ps of ministry, Pastoral, Prayer, Preaching and Politics (=leadership).

#2  You can't solve every problem 

The young pastor discovers to his amazement that the church which everyone else views as being filled with lovely saints is, in point of fact, populated with a hundred and one pastoral issues. 

That's life in a broken world, East of Eden, even within the church.

The danger then is that the young pastor imagines he's responsible - and even more disturbing, able - to fix all these problems. Alas, he will soon discover that some roots run so deep that only the Great Shepherd can displace them. Some doubts and sins so firmly entrenched that they may take decades to untangle, if at all, this side of eternity.

Pastors are responsible to pray for all the sheep, to love them and to help them where we can. But we are not called to be healer of all. If a young pastor tries to carry that burden on his slender shoulders he will break under the colossal weight.

#3  Let the church fix the church

Let the elders carry big pastoral burdens with you. That's what they have been appointed for. And then teach church members to carry each other's burdens and thus fulfil the law of Christ. Organising the church into small home groups led by elders or godly leaders is one way to build natural mutual care into the flock. 

The practice of one famous London preacher of the last century whereby congregants queued up outside his 'office' after morning worship to have their problems solved by the 'expert' is unbiblical, ridiculous, preposterous and smacks of evangelical priestcraft rather than the priesthood of all believers.

What a joy to hear that all manner of problems were solved without a pastor's intervention, or even prior knowledge of! 

Sheep can care for sheep too.

#4  Sheep go astray

It's all too easy for the young minister to blame himself when sheep go astray. Of course sometimes we play a part in the blame, if we have not cared for, or sought out the lost wanderer.

But it is a brute fact of farming life that sheep go astray. I lost count of the number of times I drove through the roads of North Yorkshire only to find a sheep or two - or more - loitering dangerously at some hairpin bend in the road. 

It's not your fault! Wandering is what sheep do! Our Lord Jesus had to restore a rather senior wandering sheep by the name of Peter on one occasion and on another many 'sheep' just deserted him....

When sheep stray, don't blame yourself. Pray and see if you can bring them back. Sometimes you can't and then you'll have to entrust them to the Great Shepherd.

#5  Take all the holiday you are given 

(but not a day more)

Met the type who claim they hardly ever go on holiday, there is so much work to do? Ministry martyrs?

Remember then too the young minister on his deathbed who was convinced he would have enjoyed a longer profitable ministry had he not killed his 'horse' (horse = the body God gave him to carry himself from one place to another).

No church respects a lazy pastor - why should they? Hard work is one of the foundations of respect in any walk of life. But since we are human and not divine, and since our Man-God Example needed rest, it's OK to take a full 24 hour day off per week. It's OK to go on holiday to recharge batteries. It's OK to take sabbaticals.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

#6  Opposition is normal, get used to it

This is one of the hardest aspects of ministry, but probably only because of our foolish pride. Our Master was opposed at every turn - and we can expect nothing different.

Sometimes that opposition arises out of jealousy: people are jealous of your gifts or 'position' (whatever that means, seeing pastors are slaves of Christ). Sometimes because we have been the Lord's chosen instrument of rebuke to an individual or schismatic party. Sometimes opposition spreads from a ravenous wolf Satan has snuck into the flock, and the shepherds failed to spot and kill. 

Sometimes it comes from the most unexpected places. 

Sometimes people will blame-shift and criticise their pastor, vicariously, for their own wrong life decisions. You would truly be amazed what people blame their pastors for! 

Jesus wants us to be concerned only when everyone speaks well of us. To earn the crown of universal approval, what rebuke, praytell, have we failed to issue? What sermon have we refused to preach? What individual have we failed to rebuke?

Opposition is part and parcel of pastoral ministry. You will never get over it but you must get used to it.

#7  Never - ever - give up

And finally, never give up. Just keep going, through times easy and times difficult, through thick and through thin. Through weary times and eagle-soaring seasons. When everyone approves and when no-one approves. When resources are great and when resources are low. Through seasons of unity and moments of fractious dissension. 

Let absolutely nothing move you. 

Do not look for earthly rewards, for human approval, do not seek to climb illusionary pastoral career ladders. Instead look for the only approval that matters, the Lord's heavenly Well Done.

Church Plants - Eight reasons why some succeed while others fail

 

 Photo: Michael Kucharski on Unsplash

For the last 25 years of full-time church ministry I have had the privilege of working in church plants of one kind or another, all meeting in rented halls, schools and homes.

In those years I have been a keen student and observer of the church plant variety of kingdom flora. Some plants succeed while others fail. Here are eight leadership requirements of church plants borne out of that experience. All of them reflect, in one way or another, the fundamental qualification - which is that the local church must be founded on Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11), which in practice means that it must be founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. 

In one sense, the biblical leadership requirements of church plants do not differ from those of established churches. But since there are additional burdens placed on the shoulders of church planters, the requirements for those leaders are often higher.

Some positives and some negatives...

 #1  Church plant leadership must be broad

What do we mean? 

There are always exceptions to the rule, but strong leaders prepared to risk everything to initiate a church plant can so easily end up, longer term, as sole leaders unable to work with others. Although a pioneering spirit is essential for any church plant to get off the ground, plurality and breadth of leadership is essential for the next stage of church maturation. 

Rugged pioneers who can't work very well with others (and there are very good men in this vital category) must recognise this weakness and pass on leadership to a team. Because churches beyond the early plant stage need broad leadership to survive and mature.

#2  Church plant leadership must not be Nepotistic

The same fault - narrow leadership - can emerge in a church started by family members. Family ties will always be greater than other ties for blood is thicker than water, and this can very easily pose a hindrance to gifts from outside the family being recognized, let alone employed.

We should perhaps note that among the Twelve, there were two pairs of brothers. The greatest percentage of potential family influence among the Twelve was therefore 1 in 6 or a mere 17%. While this is a bald mathematical calculation, it did prevent any one family among The Twelve from unduly influencing the direction of the whole.

I know of church plants which were started - or at least dominated - by sole families in the early years.  In one case, decades later, no-one from the 'outside' has been able to break into the church. In another case it was well known that all the major decision were made 'around the kitchen table' of the founding family. 

We sometimes hear of megachurches - perhaps especially in the USA - who are led by successive generations of the same family over many decades. While that may be a practice known in Industry and Politics, it is unknown in Scripture and has great dangers built into it. 

#3  Church plant leadership musn't come from the ranks of the disgruntled

Some Christians simply can't get on with anyone, but for some odd reason these wontfits occasionally decide to bandy together and form a new church, somehow imagining that alchemy on this occasion at least - will turn lead into gold. What happens? Before long they all fall out with each other, but tragically, not before they have dragged some helpless, innocent and naive believers down with them. 

If church plant leaders come from among the disgruntled they could easily pass on the root of bitterness which defileth many. 

There will always be exceptions, but those who form new churches should come from the ranks of the previously happy.

 #4  Church plant leadership must be narrow

In the fourth place, and seemingly contrawise, the leadership of a church plant must be narrow. Church plants which begin as a group of Christians from diverse backgrounds all living in one geographical area and wanting to meet together soon discover that what divides turns out to be greater than what unites. Before long the practical and doctrinal gaps between them emerge and either the plant withers in rocky soil or it begins to founder soon afterwards.

A clear and narrow doctrinal and practical stance must be adopted by all who belong to the core group. It is unrealistic to place someone who wants to speak in tongues every Sunday morning in a church plant with someone who wants to sing the Psalms unaccompanied. It might sound sweet and ever so spiritually mature at the start, but it is unlikely to last for long.

#5  Church plant leaders must be Pauls not Timothys

I note from the New Testament that it is Pauls, not Timothys or Tituses, who plant and found churches. There is a very good reason for this. Paul has been around the block a few times; his doctrine and practice is secure and mature. He knows what's essential and what's not.

Someone 'straight out of Bible College' has no idea what is important and what is not. Until he has been round the block at least once, he will not know for practical-tested-it-on-the-ground sure, what's primary and what's secondary.

Someone who has never been a church pastor before is therefore faced with two enormous burdens, should they be appointed church plant leader. First, they are working out what's important and what's not, and secondly they are having to fashion foundations based on this forming and therefore partial and shaky understanding.

There will always be exceptions, but it's a big mistake for first-time young men to be given the responsibility for church planting. 

#6  Church plant leadership must be strong

Church plants by their very nature attract unusual people. Being small they attract the type that are looking for a small pond in which they can look like a big fish.   Some are escaping past experiences, some even escaping church discipline. Being quirky (a potentially good trait), church plants often attract believers who don't - or won't - fit in anywhere else. 

Everything is against the church plant leader right here. Leading a small congregation he eagerly snaps up the help of anyone who comes along and is tempted to trust folks far too soon. 

To handle the potential stream of would-be-leaders and misfits requires strength and unity in the leadership. 

To see through the flattery - by words or even by financial gifts - requires prayerful maturity. 

To discern that folk filled with bitterness from their last church experience will only pollute their next, requires pastoral insight and healing if possible. 

It is likely that the leaders of a church plant will have to send quite a few newbies away, if they are to avoid wasting a great deal of time and stay focussed on their real task, which is to win the lost.

We notice in Acts 20 that as Paul leaves the church in Ephesus to the younger leaders, he is concerned about wolves entering the flock. Why? Well, Paul was an experienced wolf-spotter-come-slayer. But he is concerned that the younger less practiced men might not spot a devious wolf - after all wolves dress up as sheep. And very nice sheepies too. 

Without experienced strong leaders in the mix, prepared to be bloodied in the task of slaying wolves, or at least shooing them away, a church plant could easily become pray to the self-centred Diotrephes of this world.

#7  Church plant leaders must be centred on the Gospel

Oh dear, this is a big one. How many churches have begun centred around a secondary - or even tertiary - issue! Eschatology is a common one. What binds this group together is not the Gospel, but some hobby-horse. 

In due time, of course, this kind of glue, for it is not Gospel cement, is insufficient to bind together people who by their very nature latch onto secondary and tertiary issues. 

Before long quaternary (of the fourth importance) issues raise their ugly heads and the whole fellowship implodes.

#8  Church plant leadership should be associated with the leadership of other churches

To strengthen the fellowship in its early years, church plant leaders should ideally be associated with other church leaders, for we can all spiral away if we are on our own. We should all be be wary of church plant leaders who refuses to connect to other churches. Down that path lie the cults.

Since church plants are tender vegetation, easily damaged by wind and rain, it is wise they are connected to the support of a large church, perhaps the church who birthed them and takes the time to care for them in the years to come. The Jerusalem church, for example, had a natural care for the church in Antioch and supplied Barnabas who in turn suggested Paul to help them along. 

Foundations, foundations, foundations!

All of these observations boil down to the fact that foundations are being laid in the first years of a churches life. Those foundations need to be solid, based on the Gospel and the Apostolic doctrines of the New Testament. If not the church will founder. Perhaps not right away, but in due time cracks will appear and the church will eventually collapse. 

Built on a solid foundation, with Christ as the cornerstone, church plants not only grow but thrive they also provide the single most effective way, under God, for the Gospel to spread.

How do I know God has called me into full-time Ministry?

 

Photo: Osama Saeed 

 Miss Nurse No-no

Once upon a time a nurse by the name of No-no felt sure she was called to be a missionary. So confident, in fact, that she told all her Christian friends - and anyone else who would listen.

But strangely, her exciting news fell on deaf ears. Few enthused with her, no-one was over the moon. 

Why? Because everyone knew she was not the world's most reliable or well-thought-of nurse. She had something of a reputation for poor quality service in her secular profession.

We might say that she had the inner call - she felt inside that she was called, but she lacked the outer call - the approval of those around her.

This is not only a true story but one which is replicated thousands of times across the world...

Everyone truly called by the Lord feels inwardly the voice or call of God, and that call must be reinforced and confirmed outwardly by other believers, and especially by the elders of their local church.

The Internal Call

The "Internal Call" is the conviction in our hearts that God has called us into ministry. It may not arrive as a voice from heaven as to the Old Testament prophets:

"Before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."  (Jeremiah 1:5)

 Or as a direct call from Jesus Christ:

 "Come follow me.." (Matt 4:19)

It may not come to us in a dazzling Damascus road experience:

"This is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles.... I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." (Acts 9:15-16)

But, however it comes, through thunder or in a still small voice the internal call is certain and settled. 

Without the internal call, no-one will survive the difficulties of ministry for very long. In the heat of the battle they will give up and walk away, filled with doubts and insecurities. But if they are sure of God's call they'll be able to look back and say "God called me, he set me apart, I heard his voice, I know it in my very soul."

The internal call must be hued with self-searching: Am I deluded? Am I proudful? Why do I think God has called me? Are there hidden sinful motives? Do I come up to the standards of godliness expected of those who minister? Am I very good at my present job? After all, as Tozer put it, if a donkey gets on a plane, he'll wiggle his ears at his destination. Donkey is always a donkey. Geography makes no diff.

Since anyone can suffer self-delusion, the other part of the call, the external call is crucial....

The External Call

This is where Nurse No-no got it wrong. The external call is the affirmation by others that God truly has called us. Barnabas, for example, introduces Paul to Antioch, convinced he is able to teach and build up the believers there (Acts 11).

It is essential that those who confirm our call are sufficiently objective and distanced from us not to be prejudiced by their association. Better a confirming stranger than a gullible relative.

If someone thinks they are called to be a missionary but no-one else does, they are not. If someone thinks they are called to preach but no-one else does, they are not.

End of.

No-one is self-appointed in God's kingdom. And endless mischief has been caused by self-appointed rouges.

Do anything else - if you can

A true call takes place when the internal call combines with the external call. Only then should we be set aside for Gospel ministry.

Someone once suggested that everyone who thinks they are called into full-time ministry should do anything else if at all possible. Bus driver, baker, chef, bottle-washer, burger-flipper, candlestick maker - anything. Ministry is not an option for those who have run out of career choices or who have failed at their regular day jobs and are touting around for 'someit' to fill their time with.

Ministry is for those who have been called, and therefore been equipped by God for the incredible privilege but equally certain suffering that accompanies all true and genuine ministry. 

Ministry is for those who are constrained by God and understand what Paul is on about when he says, "Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel." (1 Corinthians 9:16).