reformedtree.net

I was surfing around and found www.monergism.com a website devoted to the correct view that the “Holy Spirit is the only agent who effects regeneration of Christians”.  The link below is to caricatures of contemporary reformers of our churches and I found them quite funny. 

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/bio/contempreform.html 

How is a church to pick a pastor? I was thinking about this question in preparation to preach 1 Samuel 9-10. So many people look to a man’s outward appearance or his public speaking abilities as the main criterion, but in 1 Samuel we see the dreadful consequences of judging a book incorrectly by its cover.

In 1 Samuel 8 Israel demands a king, “that we also may be like all the nations.” In chapters 9-10 God agrees to their demands and gave them a king, Saul, who turns out to be more like the kings of pagan nations then a king of Israel should have been. The biblical author describes Saul in the first two verses of chapter 9 as wealthy, tall and handsome. But then we get a description of his actions which are much more telling of his internal character and nature. When his father looses some donkeys Saul is charged with finding them. So off he goes wandering aimlessly all over the country side until he eventually gives up.  His servant suggests that they visit the man of God in a nearby city, but Saul is concerned that he has nothing to pay the man of God. The servant is able to produce some money so off they go to see the man of God who is also known as a Seer. When they meet the man of God, it is Samuel the famous Judge over all Israel, but Saul does not know him.

What we have is a not-so-subtle biblical author telling us much about Saul, that I will summarize for you. (1) Saul is not a man with ideas for solving problems; note his aimless wandering in search of the donkeys. (2) Saul is not a man to finish a task; note that he gave up without success. (3) Saul is not a man to turn to God for help; it never occurred to him to seek the Lord’s help until his servant suggested it. (4) Saul does not know free unconditional grace, as he worries about having something to pay the man of God. And finally, (5) Saul is a man who does not know the Lord, as evidenced by his complete ignorance of Samuel the man of God who was leader over all Israel (note that Saul grew up in Gibeah, only a few miles from Samuel’s home in Mizpah).

So in this typical narrative fashion we get a wealth of information about Saul and by all accounts he is the wrong man for the job, though he looks that part (wealthy, tall and handsome). As soon as Israel is shown their new king they see his tall stature and shouted “Long live the king!” I fear that too many of us are too swift to proclaim, “Long live the king” as we elect a new pastor.  May God give us the grace and wisdom to look past his nice suit for signs of a strong character and a heart for God, before we call him as pastor.

Time magazine recently published an article on the “Simple Church” or the “House Church” in America.
www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1167737,00.html
Time reported that the Simple Church in America is becoming increasingly more appealing to Christians from traditional building centered churches, citing the possible reason as a spin off from mega-church “cell” groups. I am not sure why the increasing interest but for the last 2 years I have wanted to see one in action. Not one that is loosely grounded in theology but one that is solidly committed the Word of God and is committed to the Doctrines of Grace. I refer you to Christ Fellowship in Kansas City as an example of this kind of church. Jim Elliff is one of the pastor’s and I have had some encouraging correspondence with him on their simple church 
www.christfellowshipkc.org/
Advantages that I see are:
1) Simplicity; no buildings and property to support and maintain. No pressure to soften the ministry of the Word because of fear of loosing constituents.
2) Intimacy; I have been a member of 6 churches in my life and I can honestly say that intimacy is very difficult, though not impossible, to achieve in a traditional church. The reason Mega-churches have cell groups and traditional churches have Sunday School may be summed up in one word, intimacy. In our society to be known in the context of community is very rare, but also very appealing. Maybe, personal discipleship happens best in a personal setting, like a home, more readily than in a sterile environment like a Sunday School room.
3) Expanded Community Presence; A group or association of house churches would have a presence in neighborhoods that modern churches may no longer have. Church buildings are built now in visible, noticeable, high traffic places so that they can be seen. But imagine a neighborhood abuzz with the fact that Christians are meeting in the house down the street to worship. This might just open the doors of opportunity to share the gospel.
4) Pastoral flexibility; I am a bi-vocational pastor and until recently served one congregation alone preaching 3 messages per week.  Thankfully, another called man has been called to share the load and it is working marvelously (story for another time).  But, when it was just me I felt like there was not enough hours in the week to do what I needed to do.  Fixed building churched need a high level of activity to maintain themselves.  But a simple church consisting of 3 to 6 families would be a more manageable task for a bi-vocational minister.
Just some thoughts, interested to hear anyone else’s take on this.