Archives For Church

Around the Interweb (07/11)

Aaron Armstrong —  July 11, 2010 — Leave a comment

Matt Chandler on Realigning Your Church to the Gospel

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HT: The Resurgence

In Other News

My friend Matt Svoboda made an exciting announcement this week: He’s replanting a church in Kearney, Nebraska! I’m very excited about this opportunity for him; I hope you’ll join in prayer for much fruit in this ministry.

Tim Smith at the Resurgence offers some practical ideas for family worship.

Meet the Rizers: Got kids? Want to give them something that’s actually pretty decent to listen to? Try Meet the Rizers; check out the sample or buy the whole record:

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Meet the Rizers, posted with vodpod

In Case You Missed It

Here are a few of this week’s notable posts:

Who are the real heroes of social justice?

Book review: Surprised by Grace by Tullian Tchividjian

Preaching is not Speeching

John Calvin: Self-Ignorance Deceives, but Knowledge Humbles

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The Real Heroes of Social Justice

Aaron Armstrong —  July 5, 2010 — 2 Comments

I’ve been home now for a little over a day and have been thinking about how to wrap up my thoughts on this trip. There’s so much that I could write about. More experiences with children and families, why writing letters actually does make a difference… But the thing I keep coming back to is social justice.

Social justice is a weird animal.

Why? Because there is always a question of “who is the hero?”

Photo by Yuri Fortin, Compassion Honduras

There are a number of answers one could give; more often than not, though, the answer will be (overtly or covertly) a way of saying, “We are!”

It’s a real challenge for every organization.

Who is the hero of social justice organizations? The program? The supporters? The fundraising model?

You?

Want to know something that’s really, really freeing?

NGOs are not the heroes in the lives of kids like these. Neither are the programs, the supporters or the funding model.

So, who is then? Continue Reading…

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Small Talk

Aaron Armstrong —  July 2, 2010 — Leave a comment

Over the last several days, we’ve met dozens of children, but I’ve never really been able to have much of a conversation.

I think this has a lot to do with expectations; being so concerned that I need to say something profound that will impact these kids lives forever, or avoiding saying something that would inadvertently damage them beyond measure. (No pressure, huh?)

Thursday was different.

In our last project visit, I had a chance to really just relax and have some fun. And after an intense game of volleyball, I took a seat on the stairs to have a drink and recharge.

Carmen sat down next to me and started talking.

I learned that she was eleven years old and has one brother named Pedro who is also at the project. She has two cats, named “White” and “Black.” She loves science & social studies, and she wants to be a lawyer.

I asked her why and she said, “I just like what they do.” (Seems as good a reason as any, I think.)

She asked me whether I play any instruments, and I told her about how I used to play the trombone when I was a bit older than she is now. We talked about music, drawing, family, our favorite colors, what I do for a living…

We just talked. No pressure, nothing seriously profound. Just a nice conversation.

I think it’s what both of us needed.

I wonder how often our expectations get in the way of us simply enjoying the opportunities and connections that God brings into our lives? To miss the trees for the forest sometimes. (Yes, I meant to say it that way in case you were curious.)

If I’d been stuck in that mode, I don’t know that I would have been able to enjoy this time with Carmen.

Her sitting down with me was a wonderful gift from God. Our conversation may not have been earth-shatteringly profound, but it made an impact. And I’m grateful for it.

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Travel, Tortilla Soup and Treats

Aaron Armstrong —  June 27, 2010 — Leave a comment

Saturday was the first of our big travel days on this tour of Honduras. We flew from Toronto to Miami and finally to San Pedro Sula, where we arrived very late in the evening.

San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in Honduras, is the industrial hub of the nation, but it’s also one of the most dangerous. Ayax, a colleague from Compassion Honduras, shared with state of the city, as we drove to our hotel. Even though it’s dangerous, even though there is so much poverty, there is still hope.

Why?

Because of the Church.

The Church is here and God is working through her. Children are meeting Jesus and they’re telling their families about Him, too.

It’s amazing.

This is just a small portion of the items we brought for the kids - we ended up with four suitcases, four boxes and six bags worth of gifts!

After we arrived at the hotel, we set to work putting together packages of gifts for children at the church projects we’ll be visiting. With all 22 of us working together, we got it taken care of pretty quickly and then enjoyed a small meal before bed (in my case, tortilla soup, which was delightful, in case you were wondering).

Perhaps the biggest treat of the trip so far has been meeting the Compassion Honduras staff—including my old friend Alexis.

Alexis is the third from the left in this photo; Ayax is on the far right.

He and I met in 2006 when I was here on a missions trip; he was one of the four translators who worked with us. We also joined Compassion’s staff pretty close to the same time (within a few months of each other). He’s an amazing guy who loves the Lord and also really loves Compassion. I’m looking forward to spending some more time with him and all of our staff throughout the week.

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David Platt on the South & Young Pastors

Aaron Armstrong —  June 27, 2010 — Leave a comment

Dustin Neeley sat down with David Platt, Pastor of the Church of Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL and author of Radical, at the Advance the Church 2010 Conference. In this video, he shares his thoughts about the Spiritual Landscape of the South, his counsel for younger leaders, and his “one thing” for pastors.

HT: The Resurgence

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Truth and Lies: Kevin DeYoung on the Contemporary Church

Aaron Armstrong —  June 19, 2010

Kevin DeYoung, pastor of University Reformed Church and author of Just Do Something, and Why We’re Not Emergent & Why We Love the Church (with coauthor Ted Kluck), was the second speaker at The Exchange. His message addressed the Truth and the Lie in the Contemporary Church.

In his message, DeYoung asserts that there are four lies we’re told about the gospel, the Church, divine revelation and discipleship.

The Gospel

The lie: The gospel is not about doctrine, it is simply an invitation into a way of life.

The truth: The gospel is a message of historical fact plus theological interpretation.

DeYoung cites one popular author who says, “The gospel is an event to be proclaimed, not a doctrine.” Another says that orthodoxy is about how you live; that it’s a vision for a new way of living.

“You may have heard this quote from St. Francis of Assisi, ‘Preach the gospel, use words if necessary,’” says DeYoung. “This has a number of problems—first, there’s no record that he said it, second, there’s no indication that he lived by it, and third it’s a confusion of categories.”

“We want to adorn the gospel with good deed, but without the proclamation we have not shared the gospel.”

In other words, lifestyle evangelism should not be code for “I don’t evangelize.”

“I really don’t think my neighbors are going to come to me and say, ‘Kevin, you don’t swear, can you tell me about Jesus?’ or ‘You have a fair trade coffee; tell me how to go to heaven?’”

People want to emphasize the gospel as a way of life because of a veneer of cultural Christianity. It’s more than getting a doctrinal formulation correct, but it’s no excuse for turning the good news into “good advice.”

“Without doctrine, ‘It’s about Jesus,’ becomes a meaningless mantra,” says DeYoung. As Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 15:1-11: Continue Reading…

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Truth and Lies: Dr. Peter Jones – Speaking the Gospel in a One-ist World

Aaron Armstrong —  June 18, 2010 — 4 Comments

Dr. Peter Jones is one of the world’s foremost experts on paganism and founder of Truth Xchange. Interestingly enough, Jones also grew up with John Lennon.

When Jones came to America in 1964, he was shocked—he’d never seen a culture so impregnated with the Christian faith.

Jones believes that the real American Revolution happened not in 1776, but in 1966—because there you see a massive change about how people think deeply about everything.

He says that while the rising generation of Christians is optimistic, and there is a genuine revival of solid Christian faith, we continue to be unaware of the spiritual revolution. Too much optimism can blind us to the opposition, and we can sometimes be seduced by the “progress” proposed by today’s version of “the Lie.”

That brings us to the real issue:

Are we regressive or progressive in our beliefs?

Christians today are called “regressive” because of so-called old fashioned values; the modern spin seeks to intimidate people to keep them from speaking the old story of Christian faith.

The problem according to Jones is not one of outmoded values, but that we are in the context of two worldviews in profound conflict with the other. And neither can be called progressive.

There is nothing new: These worldviews are as old as the hills.

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. (Eccl. 1:9-10)

“Everyone goes backwards—even the people doing yoga are going backwards to the Buddhist practices from the 6th Century B.C.,” he said. Continue Reading…

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Book Review: ReChurch by Stephen Mansfield

Aaron Armstrong —  June 15, 2010

Title: ReChurch: Healing Your Way Back to the People of God
Author: Stephen Mansfield
Publisher: Tyndale (2010)

“You are likely reading this book because you believe that you have been hurt by a church or you know someone who has,” writes Stephen Mansfield in his introduction to ReChurch: Healing Your Way Back to God.

Mansfield knows this all too well. A former pastor, he suffered a devastating experience with the church he pastored that left him embittered toward that church in particular and the Church in general. But his friends—some godly men who loved him too much to let him stay in that place—helped him heal those wounds. And in ReChurch, Mansfield shares the tough love he received.

Mansfield is a very efficient writer. He doesn’t waste a lot of time coddling readers and making sure everyone’s feeling okay. That’s not to say that he’s insensitive; rather, he is pastorally blunt as he serves as the reader’s coach through the healing process.

The first lie he attacks is our feeling of being alone in struggles; that because of what we’ve experienced, we can’t possibly be useful in God’s service. “It may be hard for you to believe this. . . . But this is a lie—unless you choose to live small. Unless you choose to give in to the bitterness and the rage. . . . The confirmation of history is that we are not called despite our wounding and betrayal; we are wounded and betrayed because we are called,” he writes (p. 39) Continue Reading…

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Around the Interweb (06/13)

Aaron Armstrong —  June 13, 2010 — Leave a comment

Introducing PLNTD

This week, the PLNTD Church Planting Network officially launched. Distinctively Baptist and confessionally Reformed, its vision is “to cultivate community for church planters and assist churches in the process of becoming church planting churches.”

Our purpose is derived from text and context.  Textually, we see that church planting is the natural outcome of enduring commitment to the Great Commission.  Contextually, we believe that a church-based network is not only the best way to advance God’s kingdom in an area but also the best place for church planters to be trained and supported.  It is our desire to be able to facilitate both: developing church planters as well as church planting churches.  

Find out more on their site or follow them on Twitter.

In Other News

You’ve still got a couple weeks to take advantage of ChristianAudio.com’s free download of the month, Forgotten God by Francis Chan. Download code is JUN2010. (Incidentally, I reviewed the book a few months back in case you want to get an opinion before you download.)

Terrace Crawford needs your help. The other day Terrace announced that his position as Minister to Students at Crossroads Community Church, Yorktown, VA, has been cut from full-time to part-time as the church continues to struggle financially due to the economy. If you’re looking for a guest speaker in the Virginia and surrounding area, drop him a line.

Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (Trailer):

Who Tithes?

In Case You Missed It

Here are a few of this week’s notable posts:

A review of Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson

Perhaps we should work harder at getting to the point?

Reflecting on Ed Stetzer’s stats on Candian Youth and Christianity

Rejoicing in Foreknowledge, a few reflections on Psalm 139

Battling sin is hard, let’s play a game instead

George Whitefield on the necessity of intercessory prayer

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Canadian Youth and Christianity

Aaron Armstrong —  June 9, 2010 — Leave a comment

Recently Ed Stetzer released some of his research regarding Canadian young adults and their view of Christianity & the church. After taking a look at some of the data, there were a couple of things that were interesting to me:

  1. Unchurched[1] Canadian youth are far less hostile toward the church than their American counterparts
  2. They’re far more open to a Christian sharing their faith than you’d think (89% responded positively), but far less likely to examine the Bible for themselves (51% say they’d be willing to study the Bible if a friend asked them, and only 32% would be willing to join a small group to learn about Jesus and the Bible)

Now, I get that stats and numbers aren’t all that compelling or even all that interesting for most of us; however, there’s something important for us to learn:

If people are willing to listen to us share our faith, shouldn’t we be doing so?

This has been the experience of some friends from church who are a part of our evangelism team. Every week, they’re out talking to people, sharing the gospel whenever they can, praying with people…

And the people they’re talking to are willing to listen.

So, what would happen if today—and I’m just saying if—we asked a random person if we could talk about our faith with them?

What’s the worst thing that could happen?

That they ignore you—or that they say, “yes”?

1: The “unchurched” are defined as those who do not belong to or participate in a local church

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