RUF Back at Brown University
It's a little stale, but I heard the news yesterday that the RUF ministry at Brown University is being allowed back on campus. This is great news. Thanks to Dr. Clark for the info.
Labels: RUF
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
RUF at Brown University
As readers know, I have tremendous respect for Reformed University Ministries (RUM) and the Reformed University Fellowships (RUF) they have established at many college campuses.
This news about the RUF at Brown University is both disturbing and surprising. In addition to the three principles I've been writing about, one of the requirements for any RUF to be established is that it must be invited on campus. A campus minister may initiate a request to set up a RUF organization, but will not move forward without the school's permission. RUM does not do guerilla campus ministry. So for the RUF at Brown to move from welcome to unwelcome so quickly is surprising.
It is also disturbing in that it may be part of a mini trend that includes Georgetown University, according to this report.
Of course, in another sense it is neither surprising nor disturbing, as the New Testament is quite clear that Christians will suffer persecution for their faith. Pray for the RUF team and students at Brown.
This news about the RUF at Brown University is both disturbing and surprising. In addition to the three principles I've been writing about, one of the requirements for any RUF to be established is that it must be invited on campus. A campus minister may initiate a request to set up a RUF organization, but will not move forward without the school's permission. RUM does not do guerilla campus ministry. So for the RUF at Brown to move from welcome to unwelcome so quickly is surprising.
It is also disturbing in that it may be part of a mini trend that includes Georgetown University, according to this report.
Of course, in another sense it is neither surprising nor disturbing, as the New Testament is quite clear that Christians will suffer persecution for their faith. Pray for the RUF team and students at Brown.
Labels: RUF
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Right With God by Grace Through Faith
Continuing discusion of the second principle: justification.
Previous posts:
Three Principles
God at Work
Scripture is Enough
A Happy Change and Sweet Exchange
Justification - So What?
My first post emphasized the realities expressed in the first two sub-points on justification, that God declares believers forgiven of all their sins because Jesus bore their guilt and penalty on the cross, and that God also declares believers righteous on the basis of having Christ's righteousness credited, or imputed, to their account. This is the sweet exchange of the good news of the Gospel.
The second post on justifiction was a short reflection on the fourth sub-point's two first two sub-points, that understanding justification properly helps us understand and live in the knowledge that God accepts us based on Christ's work, not our own, and that this is the foundation for all the believer's life. A sound understanding of justification helps us avoid both pride and despair; pride in our own "superior" works (or "superior" knowledge of theology), or despair flowing from our accute sense of our own inadequacy.
Here I will try to briefly wrap up the remaining ideas outlined under this second principle.
A key point is that, "Justification springs from God's free grace and is received by faith alone." The Reformed University Ministries instructors emphasized that this principle is foundational for the teaching and preaching of the campus ministries. Young Christians, especially in the South where PCA churches are most numerous, have often been raised in an environment of "do and do and do" (to quote John Wesley Weasel from Walter Wangerin's Dun Cow books). Their spirituality was measured by how active they were in their local church and youth group. The better, more "spiritual" students were the ones who went to Sunday School, Sunday worship, Sunday evening youth group, choir practice, mid-week youth group, prayer group, Friday night outreach, Saturday prayer meeting, etc., etc., etc. This kind of Christian lifestyle leads to the wrong idea: that those who are right with God are the ones most active in spiritual activities and tasks.
Scripture, on the other hand, tells us that salvation is by grace through faith, the free gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.
Nothing we can do, nothing we fail to do, can add or takeaway one whit from our right standing with God. What matters is faith, faith in the work of God's Son Jesus Christ on our behalf. That work, His work, is offered to us as a free gift - we simply receive it by faith. O sweet exchange...!
However, this does not mean that works are irrelevant to the Christian life. They are necessary. To forget them is to fall back into one of the consequences of forgetting what justification is all about. We may understand what justification is, intellecually, and so forgetting pride and rejecting despair we conclude that works don't matter at all. The false conclusion is that works are completely unnecessary. And so the believer wrongly falls into anti-nomianism, the idea that he or she can do anything he or she wants, because their sin has been imputed to Christ and His righteousness imputed to their account.
However, those who know they are right with God based on His grace received through faith are rightly equipped to understand the commands of God in Scripture. They are necessary. They are required. They are imperative. They are what God has called us to do, what He prepared beforehand for us to do, now that we have received the free gift of grace by faith. And they are eager to do them, not to earn God's favor, but to express their love and gratitude to Him for what He had done for them.
These are simple truths, but the kind that need to be taught and re-taught, emphasized and re-emphasized. They are too easy to forget, too easy to drift away from, as we try to justify ourselves before God by our good works, our "superior" spirituality. Campus groups or new churches do well to emphasize these truths, and I'm convinced that if they do they set themselves apart from the mainstream of contemporary Christianity.
The kind of spirituality that God desires flows from justification and leads to sanctification, the third principle to be understood and committed to.
Previous posts:
Three Principles
God at Work
Scripture is Enough
A Happy Change and Sweet Exchange
Justification - So What?
My first post emphasized the realities expressed in the first two sub-points on justification, that God declares believers forgiven of all their sins because Jesus bore their guilt and penalty on the cross, and that God also declares believers righteous on the basis of having Christ's righteousness credited, or imputed, to their account. This is the sweet exchange of the good news of the Gospel.
The second post on justifiction was a short reflection on the fourth sub-point's two first two sub-points, that understanding justification properly helps us understand and live in the knowledge that God accepts us based on Christ's work, not our own, and that this is the foundation for all the believer's life. A sound understanding of justification helps us avoid both pride and despair; pride in our own "superior" works (or "superior" knowledge of theology), or despair flowing from our accute sense of our own inadequacy.
Here I will try to briefly wrap up the remaining ideas outlined under this second principle.
A key point is that, "Justification springs from God's free grace and is received by faith alone." The Reformed University Ministries instructors emphasized that this principle is foundational for the teaching and preaching of the campus ministries. Young Christians, especially in the South where PCA churches are most numerous, have often been raised in an environment of "do and do and do" (to quote John Wesley Weasel from Walter Wangerin's Dun Cow books). Their spirituality was measured by how active they were in their local church and youth group. The better, more "spiritual" students were the ones who went to Sunday School, Sunday worship, Sunday evening youth group, choir practice, mid-week youth group, prayer group, Friday night outreach, Saturday prayer meeting, etc., etc., etc. This kind of Christian lifestyle leads to the wrong idea: that those who are right with God are the ones most active in spiritual activities and tasks.
Scripture, on the other hand, tells us that salvation is by grace through faith, the free gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.
Nothing we can do, nothing we fail to do, can add or takeaway one whit from our right standing with God. What matters is faith, faith in the work of God's Son Jesus Christ on our behalf. That work, His work, is offered to us as a free gift - we simply receive it by faith. O sweet exchange...!
However, this does not mean that works are irrelevant to the Christian life. They are necessary. To forget them is to fall back into one of the consequences of forgetting what justification is all about. We may understand what justification is, intellecually, and so forgetting pride and rejecting despair we conclude that works don't matter at all. The false conclusion is that works are completely unnecessary. And so the believer wrongly falls into anti-nomianism, the idea that he or she can do anything he or she wants, because their sin has been imputed to Christ and His righteousness imputed to their account.
However, those who know they are right with God based on His grace received through faith are rightly equipped to understand the commands of God in Scripture. They are necessary. They are required. They are imperative. They are what God has called us to do, what He prepared beforehand for us to do, now that we have received the free gift of grace by faith. And they are eager to do them, not to earn God's favor, but to express their love and gratitude to Him for what He had done for them.
These are simple truths, but the kind that need to be taught and re-taught, emphasized and re-emphasized. They are too easy to forget, too easy to drift away from, as we try to justify ourselves before God by our good works, our "superior" spirituality. Campus groups or new churches do well to emphasize these truths, and I'm convinced that if they do they set themselves apart from the mainstream of contemporary Christianity.
The kind of spirituality that God desires flows from justification and leads to sanctification, the third principle to be understood and committed to.
Labels: Calvinism, Church Planting, RUF
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Justification - So What?
Continuing discusion of the second principle: justification.
Previous posts:
Three Principles
God at Work
Scripture is Enough
A Happy Change and Sweet Exchange
At our presbytery meetings candidates for licensure or ordination are asked a series of questions, many to test their knowledge of basic doctrine. The easiest way to give the right answer is to memorize the questions and answers in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Unfortunately, this can also come off as rote memorization, and you wonder what the poor guy really knows and really understands about the doctrine.
Lately presbytery members have taken to asking - after hearing the rote answer to "What is justification?" - the candidate what the doctrine means to them practically, how does it impact his day to day life?
I believe the doctrine of justification has two very important practical implications, summarized in the sub-principle quoted below: "A Christian's understanding that justification is the foundation for all subsequent Christian life and experience." Why is this so?
Understanding what justification is all about protects against two extremes.
The one extreme is pride. Philip Ryken says in his recent commentary on Galatians that the letter was written to recovering Pharisees. And we're all recovering Pharisees. Pharisees think their good works mean something to God, that those works make them better in the sight of God. But justification reminds us that we're all lousy sinners before God and can't do anything to save ourselves. In Christ, God provided all the righteousness we need, crediting Christ's perfect life to our account by grace through faith. Therefore we have nothing to boast of but Christ. There's no room for pride.
The other extreme is despair. The despairing person has the same problem as the prideful person; he thinks what he does - or doesn't do - matters in his salvation. But he despairs because he knows that he isn't good enough; there's no way a holy, righteous God would accept someone like him. But again, in Christ, God took away all the sin we have, crediting it to Christ's account by grace through faith. Therefore we have no reason to despair. It's not about us; it is about what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
So practically speaking, justification reminds me not to be prideful and not to despair, but to rest on the mercy and love of God in Christ. Practically speaking then, I can focus on those things God has called me to do (like being a husband, father, employee, student, elder, son, etc.) with gratitude and thankfulness. I can do them to the best of my ability without keeping score of how well or poorly I'm doing, and trust that God will work through me because I'm doing what He's called me to do.
Previous posts:
Three Principles
God at Work
Scripture is Enough
A Happy Change and Sweet Exchange
At our presbytery meetings candidates for licensure or ordination are asked a series of questions, many to test their knowledge of basic doctrine. The easiest way to give the right answer is to memorize the questions and answers in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Unfortunately, this can also come off as rote memorization, and you wonder what the poor guy really knows and really understands about the doctrine.
Lately presbytery members have taken to asking - after hearing the rote answer to "What is justification?" - the candidate what the doctrine means to them practically, how does it impact his day to day life?
I believe the doctrine of justification has two very important practical implications, summarized in the sub-principle quoted below: "A Christian's understanding that justification is the foundation for all subsequent Christian life and experience." Why is this so?
Understanding what justification is all about protects against two extremes.
The one extreme is pride. Philip Ryken says in his recent commentary on Galatians that the letter was written to recovering Pharisees. And we're all recovering Pharisees. Pharisees think their good works mean something to God, that those works make them better in the sight of God. But justification reminds us that we're all lousy sinners before God and can't do anything to save ourselves. In Christ, God provided all the righteousness we need, crediting Christ's perfect life to our account by grace through faith. Therefore we have nothing to boast of but Christ. There's no room for pride.
The other extreme is despair. The despairing person has the same problem as the prideful person; he thinks what he does - or doesn't do - matters in his salvation. But he despairs because he knows that he isn't good enough; there's no way a holy, righteous God would accept someone like him. But again, in Christ, God took away all the sin we have, crediting it to Christ's account by grace through faith. Therefore we have no reason to despair. It's not about us; it is about what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
So practically speaking, justification reminds me not to be prideful and not to despair, but to rest on the mercy and love of God in Christ. Practically speaking then, I can focus on those things God has called me to do (like being a husband, father, employee, student, elder, son, etc.) with gratitude and thankfulness. I can do them to the best of my ability without keeping score of how well or poorly I'm doing, and trust that God will work through me because I'm doing what He's called me to do.
Labels: Calvinism, Church Planting, RUF
Friday, October 20, 2006
A Happy Change and Sweet Exchange
The second principle from the Reformed University Ministries campus ministry conference was that "justification is God reconciling sinners to Himself in Christ."
I thought I might be able to cover this in one post. Silly me. I'll simply try to introduce the topic now.
Here's how they outlined this second principle to be understood and committed to:
I thought I might be able to cover this in one post. Silly me. I'll simply try to introduce the topic now.
Here's how they outlined this second principle to be understood and committed to:
- Justification is God's declaring the believer forgiven of all his sins on the basis of Christ's bearing the guilt and penalty of his sins on the cross.
- Justification is God's declaring the believer righteous on the basis of the imputation of Christ's righteousness to him.
- Justification springs from God's free grace and is received by faith alone.
- A proper understanding of justification leads to:
- A Christian's continual acknowledgment that his acceptance by God is based totally on the work of Christ.
- A Christian's understanding that justification is the foundation for all subsequent Christian life and experience.
- A Christian's knowledge that sanctification necessarily flows from justification.
There are two quotes that I love in connection with this doctrine:
So, making a happy change with us, He took upon Himself our sinful person, and gave unto us His innocent and victorious Person; wherewith we being now clothed are freed from the curse of the law.and
From Martin Luther's commentary on Galatians
But when our iniquity was fulfilled and it had become fully manifest, that its reward of punishment and death waited for it, and the time came which God had appointed to manifest henceforth his kindliness and power (O the excellence of the kindness and love of God!) he did not hate us nor reject us nor remember us for evil, but was long-suffering, endured us, himself in pity took our sin, himself gave his own Son as ransom for us, the Holy for the wicked, the innocent for the guilty, the just for the unjust, the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the mortal. For what else could cover our sins but his righteousness? In whom was it possible for us, in our wickedness and impiety, to be made just, except in the son of God alone? O the sweet exchange, O the inscrutable creation, O the unexpected benefits, that the wickedness of many should be concealed in the one righteous, and the righteousness of the one should make righteous many wicked!Justification is at the heart of Reformed theology - not election, not predestination, not the five points of Calvinism (TULIP). It was emphasized as the heart of campus ministry, and so also it is the heart of church planting. The good news of the Gospel is this happy change, this sweet exchange, and so it should be front and center.
From the Epistle to Diognetus, 2nd/3rd century
Labels: Calvinism, Church History, Church Planting, RUF
Monday, October 09, 2006
Scripture is Enough
Now that our computer seems to be virus free, back to regular posting!
Down below I wrote about the three principles I learned at a campus ministry seminar. The first of those principles is that, "The Bible is the Word of God given through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit." What does this have to do with campus ministry? What does this have to do with church planting?
This first principle is expanded into three sub-points:
Down below I wrote about the three principles I learned at a campus ministry seminar. The first of those principles is that, "The Bible is the Word of God given through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit." What does this have to do with campus ministry? What does this have to do with church planting?
This first principle is expanded into three sub-points:
- The Scriptures are trustworthy, inerrant, infallible and authoritative.
- The Scriptures are sufficient to reveal God, the way of salvation, and the will of God for men.
- The Scriptures are clear enough to be understood by any Christian using ordinary means with the aid of the Holy Spirit.
None of the above is rocket science; all of the above contain historic Christian teaching about God's Word.
Where I think they particularly apply in today's world is in the sufficiency of Scripture and its capacity to be understood by any Christian. Not that the other ideas in the above three points are any less important, nor are they any less under attack nor all too easily forgotten. But Scripture's sufficiency in telling us what we need to know about God, salvation, and us, and Scripture's clarity to any Christian seem to be most forgotten, abused or neglected in the modern chuch.
We have methods. We have polling. We have marketing techniques. Use them and your church will grow!! But in the methods, in the pollng, in the marketing we too often forget that God promises to work through His Word.
I find it fascinating, as I read through various books and articles on church planting, that the methods proposed so often are bolstered by quotes from Scripture, as if to justify the validity of the method. What is missing is any sense that we should rely on Scripture rather than method. And what is so disappointing is that all the proponents of various methods emphasize that the "success" of a church plant is ultimately dependent on God. That acknowledgement is refreshing and welcome, but disappointing in that it misses the point of how God promises to work.
How has God promised to work? Through His Word. In Isaiah God states that His Word does not return to Him void, but goes out and accomplished what He purposes for it to accomplish. What does Paul instruct young Timothy to do? Preach the Word, in and out of season.
Today's emphasis on method, polling, technique, etc. betrays a lack of faith that God's Word is sufficient as defined in #2 above, and a lack of faith that God's Word can be understood by ordinary means (i.e., it doesn't need special packaging to be understood!).
Rather than technique or method, a new church plant must put its hopes in the sufficiency and "understandability" ("perspicacity" in theological terms) of God's Word. The new church should commit itself to faithful preaching and teaching of God's Word, but that is not all. If all the new church has is a commitment to preaching and teaching God's Word then all it has commited to is another method. The new church and its leaders must also have faith that God will work through the ordinary means of communicating God's Word. James tells us that faith without works is dead; so also are works without faith, no matter how biblical those works are.
One of the speakers at the campus ministry conference related how another campus minister with a different ministry was amazed at how many students attended the RUM sponsored Reformed University Fellowship. The RUF folks didn't aggressively evangelize. They had programs but seemed to have fewer, or at least different (e.g., small group Bible studies as prevalent as fellowship activities) kinds of activities and programs. He wanted to know how the RUF minister got so many kids to come to their weekly large group meetings. What are you doing? (Read: what's your method?)
The speaker's response? We invite kids to come to our weekly meeting, and there I preach the Word.
God's Word was - is - effective.
When/if I am called to plant a church, I pray that it will be a church that focuses on God's Word and has faith that His Word is effective.
Labels: Church Planting, RUF
Thursday, September 28, 2006
God at Work
One of the readings for the class I'm taking this semester is an article by Gene Veith on calling, or vocation. In it he mentions Martin Luther's concept of everyone having a vocation from God and that we are His masks as He does His work through us. God provides us with food, our daily bread, but it doesn't just appear miraculously on the kitchen table. God works through the farmer, the miller, the baker and others to provide that bread for us.
The podcast I posted about yesterday echoes the same theme. Shaun and Matt talk about how it is God who calls out men for ministry and sends them (see Acts 13 where Barnabas and Paul are set apart and sent out). The reason we ought to use the ordinary means that God has given us is because ultimately it is Him who does the work, through us. We need to get out of the way (i.e., quit trying to use our own methods and ideas, and also taking the credit) and let God use His own tools through us.
I think the same idea is behind the three principles from RUM's campus ministry seminar. And not just behind the principles or foundational but, to borrow again from Luther, "in, with and under" those principles.
The first principle is that the Bible is God's Word, given through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That couldn't be much more clear. God is at work giving His Word - He initiates and makes it happen. "All Scripture is breathed out by God..." (II Timothy 3:16, ESV, here and following) and "...men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:21) both establish the principle. God doesn't just give His Word, He makes it effective, useful. The Timothy passage speaks to how profitable the Word is, but my favorite passage is from Isaiah 55:10-11. Here God tells us that just as water falls from heaven and brings forth the earth's bounty, "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." So in the first principle God is at work. We need to let Him work through His Word.
The second principle is that justification is God reconciling sinners to Himself in Christ. Again the statement of the principle affirms that it is God who is working. He's the one doing the reconciling, not us. The Westminster Shorter Catechism (#33) answers the question "What is justification?" with, "Justification is an act of God's free grace..." Justification is God's act, not ours: "...he [God] made him [Christ] to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (II Corinthians 5:21). God is abundantly at work also in the second principle.
The third principle is that sanctification is God conforming sinners to the image of Christ by the work of His Spirit. Once again the principle itself clearly states that it is God who is at work in re-creating disobedient sinners into obedient servants. We are God's workmanship, His carefully crafted work, "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). It is God's work that forms us into who He wants us to be, re-making us in Christ so that we are eager to do the things God has already set aside and prepared for us to do. Sanctification also is "the work of God's free grace..." (WSC #35). God is the worker in the third principle as well.
God initiates - He sends His Word as a profitable, fruitful gift. God calls out and separates men and women for Himself - He justifies sinners, reconciling them to Himself. God sends and equips them to do His work - He sanctifies sinners into the image of Christ, who lived only to do His Father's will.
One might ask: if God's doing all this work, why should I do anything? Why not just sit back and take it easy? Because just like with the farmer, miller, baker and others through whom God providentially provides our daily bread, so also in the work of the kingdom God uses the likes of us to accomplish His work.
The principles only make sense if it is ultimately God doing the work. We have a part to share in that work, but it is ultimately His.
A new church plant, a college campus ministry, an established church, a mission work, whatever field we labor in, we do well to remember that it is God's work, not ours. Sometimes I think we try too hard, we get too clever, we want to see results and feel we had some success in our work. As I wrote earlier, it is better to be conscientious than clever. Who is cleverer than God? He gave us the means, and He promised that they would be effective. It is a measure of faith to simply plug away at the tasks God has called us to do, and trust that He will work through them.
The podcast I posted about yesterday echoes the same theme. Shaun and Matt talk about how it is God who calls out men for ministry and sends them (see Acts 13 where Barnabas and Paul are set apart and sent out). The reason we ought to use the ordinary means that God has given us is because ultimately it is Him who does the work, through us. We need to get out of the way (i.e., quit trying to use our own methods and ideas, and also taking the credit) and let God use His own tools through us.
I think the same idea is behind the three principles from RUM's campus ministry seminar. And not just behind the principles or foundational but, to borrow again from Luther, "in, with and under" those principles.
The first principle is that the Bible is God's Word, given through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That couldn't be much more clear. God is at work giving His Word - He initiates and makes it happen. "All Scripture is breathed out by God..." (II Timothy 3:16, ESV, here and following) and "...men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:21) both establish the principle. God doesn't just give His Word, He makes it effective, useful. The Timothy passage speaks to how profitable the Word is, but my favorite passage is from Isaiah 55:10-11. Here God tells us that just as water falls from heaven and brings forth the earth's bounty, "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." So in the first principle God is at work. We need to let Him work through His Word.
The second principle is that justification is God reconciling sinners to Himself in Christ. Again the statement of the principle affirms that it is God who is working. He's the one doing the reconciling, not us. The Westminster Shorter Catechism (#33) answers the question "What is justification?" with, "Justification is an act of God's free grace..." Justification is God's act, not ours: "...he [God] made him [Christ] to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (II Corinthians 5:21). God is abundantly at work also in the second principle.
The third principle is that sanctification is God conforming sinners to the image of Christ by the work of His Spirit. Once again the principle itself clearly states that it is God who is at work in re-creating disobedient sinners into obedient servants. We are God's workmanship, His carefully crafted work, "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). It is God's work that forms us into who He wants us to be, re-making us in Christ so that we are eager to do the things God has already set aside and prepared for us to do. Sanctification also is "the work of God's free grace..." (WSC #35). God is the worker in the third principle as well.
God initiates - He sends His Word as a profitable, fruitful gift. God calls out and separates men and women for Himself - He justifies sinners, reconciling them to Himself. God sends and equips them to do His work - He sanctifies sinners into the image of Christ, who lived only to do His Father's will.
One might ask: if God's doing all this work, why should I do anything? Why not just sit back and take it easy? Because just like with the farmer, miller, baker and others through whom God providentially provides our daily bread, so also in the work of the kingdom God uses the likes of us to accomplish His work.
The principles only make sense if it is ultimately God doing the work. We have a part to share in that work, but it is ultimately His.
A new church plant, a college campus ministry, an established church, a mission work, whatever field we labor in, we do well to remember that it is God's work, not ours. Sometimes I think we try too hard, we get too clever, we want to see results and feel we had some success in our work. As I wrote earlier, it is better to be conscientious than clever. Who is cleverer than God? He gave us the means, and He promised that they would be effective. It is a measure of faith to simply plug away at the tasks God has called us to do, and trust that He will work through them.
Labels: Calling, Church Planting, Ordinary Means, RUF
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Three Principles
A few years ago I got to attend the Foundations of Campus Ministry conference put on by Reformed University Ministries, the college campus ministry of the PCA. This was one of the best conferences I've ever been to. There is one interesting testimony to its high quality. At the same time and in the same location there was a church planter training conference being held. A number of former campus ministers, guys who had been living and practicing the ideas we were being introduced to, would skip out on parts of their training to come and sit in on ours. They were looking for a refresher on some great foundational ideas.
During the conference we were introduced to three principles "to be understood and committed to." This was part of what the church planting guys were interested in hearing again. I remember thinking at the time that these principles are applicable to any ministry: college campus, established church, church plant, mission work, chaplaincy, etc.
God willing I'll explore them over the next few days. Just to get started, here they are:
During the conference we were introduced to three principles "to be understood and committed to." This was part of what the church planting guys were interested in hearing again. I remember thinking at the time that these principles are applicable to any ministry: college campus, established church, church plant, mission work, chaplaincy, etc.
God willing I'll explore them over the next few days. Just to get started, here they are:
- The Bible is the Word of God given through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
- Justification is God reconciling sinners to Himself in Christ.
- Sanctification is God conforming sinners to the image of Christ by the work of His Spirit.
Pretty simple, right? But how profoundly would our ministry be impacted if we worked diligently to keep these principles front and center?
Labels: Church Planting, RUF
About me
- Martin
- From Orange, CA
- Husband; Father; Son; Brother. Ruling elder at church. Loan Officer for Christian lending institution. Seminary student. I hope to be a pastor and plant a church in the near future.
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