eChurch Christian Blog

A cross-post from CyberBrethren, covering a stunning article by David Nienhuis:-

The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy

Here’s an interesting analysis of a “problem”that is, in truth, a crisis. Thanks to Justin Taylor for this post. David Nienhuis, a professor at Seattle Pacific University, has a helpful piece in the Modern Reformation on the problem of evangelical students “familiar” with the Bible but still essentially illiterate.

Here’s an excerpt on how it happened:

Christians schooled in this rather anti-intellectual, common-denominator evangelistic approach to faith responded to the later twentieth-century decline in church attendance by looking not to more substantial catechesis but to business and consumer models to provide strategies for growth. By now we’re all familiar with the story: increasing attendance by means of niche marketing led church leaders to frame the content of their sermons and liturgies according to the self-reported perceived needs of potential “seekers” shaped by the logic of consumerism. Now many American consumer-congregants have come to expect their churches to function as communities of goods and services that provide care and comfort without the kind of challenge and discipline required for authentic Christian formation to take place.

He goes on to describe the difference between those transformed by the Word and those who are merely informed quoters of the Word:

To make a real difference in people’s lives, biblical literacy programs will have to do more than simply encourage believers to memorize a select set of Bible verses. They will have to teach people to speak the language of faith; and while this language is of course grounded in the grammar, vocabulary, and stories of the Bible, living languages are embedded in actual human communities that are constituted by particular habits, values, practices, stories, and exemplars. We don’t memorize languages; we use them and live through them. As Paulo Freire reminded us, literacy enables us to read both the word and the world. Language mediates our reality, expands our horizons, inspires our imagination, and empowers our actions. Literacy therefore isn’t simply about possessing a static ability to read and write; it is a dynamic reality, a never-ending life practice that involves putting those skills to work in reshaping our identity and transforming our world. Biblical literacy programs need to do more than produce informed quoters. They need to produce transformed readers.

Toward the end he lays out his vision:

We want to create a community ethos of habitual, orderly, communal ingestion of the revelatory text. We do so in the hope that the Spirit of God will transform readers into hearers who know what it is to abide before the mirror of the Word long enough to become enscripturated doers; that is, people of faith who are adept at interpreting their individual stories and those of their culture through the grand story of God as it is made known in the Bible.

The whole thing is worth a careful read.

Cross-posted from Cranmer’s Curate:-

This by Cranmer’s Curate appeared in Friday’s Church of England Newspaper:

An excuse some Anglicans make for commuting away from the small parish churches where they live is that we are ‘boring’. This prompts this parish plodder to offer some reflections for his own ministry and hopefully for that of others in a similar situation:

• We must resist the temptation to compete. That can manifest itself in a tendency incessantly to think numbers at our services and on nurture courses such as Christianity Explored or Alpha and to exaggerate the numerical growth since we arrived. That is likely to lead to discouragement and ineffectiveness in serving Christ in the face of evangelistic reality in most small church parishes.

• We mustn’t be starry-eyed about the large churches either. Realism (hopefully not cynicism) will help us to think straight. The reason the large churches and their church plants can attract commuters is not necessarily because the preaching is superior quality. What these churches can offer that we often can’t is music in a contemporary form and that is undoubtedly a draw in the pop culture. They can also offer peer group on a scale that we can’t. These are facts of life – we just have to live with them, not get discouraged by them and get on with evangelism in the power of the Holy Spirit.

• We in the smaller churches need to operate on the ‘little and often’ principle in feeding our congregations with God’s wonderful Word. That means sermons of no more than 20 minutes that are geared towards ministering God’s Word in digestible form to people who have probably not had much biblical teaching. Their edification in Christ needs to be at the front of our minds, not what may impress our absent peers from the preaching conference.

• We should try to be creative with the limited resources that we have. Manageable variations to our services include interviews with members of the congregation, children involvement in prayers and Bible readings, and leading the congregation in memorising Bible verses (which done with gusto can be great fun). These things may sound about as innovative as shepherd’s pie at a harvest supper but they are often brand new on the menu of a small church.

• We should hold our nerve in maintaining a mix of traditional hymns and the more modern choruses (provided in our settings they can be played on the organ and/or with the limited range of musical instruments at our disposal). Good traditional hymns really can reinforce the biblical message we are trying to introduce to a small congregation in a way that some of the repetitious modern choruses can’t.

Small parish churches that have an agreed agenda to grow are actually very exciting places to be. The living Christ is at work as his Word is proclaimed. We mustn’t allow ourselves to be bounced off the ball by the arrogance of the ‘you’re boring’ accusation. At the same time, we need to work hard to ensure that there is no justification for such a fundamentally consumerist rationalisation for driving past the door of a small church where God is at work.

I do believe that you live in the place where God wants you to worship and serve. How can you impact your local community if you are worshipping elsewhere?

I have always felt that in the ‘mega’ churches, many folks become lost in a sea of faces and it can all feel very impersonal. These churches also have a tendency to become very ‘polished’ and ‘businesslike’ and the feeling is more akin to watching a performance.

It is a catch 22 when folks scuttle off to the large ‘happening’ church, especially in relation to families with younger children, as smaller churches need families to attract other families.

The following is from the Biased BBC website and highlights how the BBC attempts to ‘mind mold’ us into favouring murdering the weak euthanasia:-

Biased BBC

See that the BBC is pushing the merits of “mercy killings”. A poll for Panorama seeks to inform us that almost three quarters of respondents would support assisted suicide for the terminally ill. The liberal BBC agenda has been a fervent advocate of the death cult of assisted suicide and this Panorama poll is but the most recent manifestation of it. I do appreciate the sensitivities surrounding this issue and the great pain people go through, including the families of the person with the terminal illness but I have to say that the BBC persistently pushes just ONE side of this debate, as it chooses death.

And the BBC is at again this evening:-

Terry Pratchett ready to be test case for suicide law

Sir Terry Pratchett has said he’s ready to be a test case for assisted suicide “tribunals” which could give people legal permission to end their lives.

The author, who has Alzheimer’s, says he wants a tribunal set up to help those with incurable diseases end their lives with help from doctors.

A poll for BBC One’s Panorama suggests most people support assisted suicide for someone who is terminally ill.

Sir Terry is due to set out his ideas in Monday’s Richard Dimbleby lecture.

In the keynote lecture, Shaking Hands With Death, the best-selling author will say that the “time is really coming” for assisted death to be legalised.

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Lead Kindly Light – Wells Cathedral Choir

Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till the night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I
Have loved long since, and lost awhile!

Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life.

This is a guest post from one of my favourite bloggers and one of the most prolific and skilled defenders of Christianity against modern atheism, Mariano @ Atheism is Dead:-

To all,—and in the original Greek all means all; sorry, a little apologetics humor—very little )

A gentlemen who run an atheist org has challenged me to debate.
Thus far I know it will be in Canada, after February and on morals.

Please 1) pray for finances with which to travel (I support my wife and 4 kids on 1 income) and 2) pray for wisdom as I ain’t got too much of the smarts.

Thank you and aDios,
Mariano

Mariano also runs lifeanddoctrine.