Gilbert's Diagnostic Questions

Below is a portion of Greg Gilbert's follow up to his article on music that I linked to a few days ago. Find the whole article here.

Greg says, "My hope is that these questions, and the
thoughts they provoke in you, will help you to be on guard against your
spiritual life becoming unhealthily dependent on anything it should not be
dependent on. I hope they're helpful to you:

- Do you get bored when someone reads a longish
passage of Scripture in your church? Do you start wishing they’d get on
with the music?

- Do you need music playing in the background for the
reading of Scripture to affect your emotions?

- Does a prayer seem too “plain” or “stark” to you if
it doesn’t have music playing behind it?

- Do you feel depressed a few weeks after a worship
conference because you haven’t felt close to God in a long time?

- Do you desperately look forward to the next
conference you’re going to attend because you know that, finally, you’ll be
able to feel close to God again?

- If you’re in a big church with great music, are you
able to worship when you visit your parents’ small rural church?

- Do you ever feel worshipful in the middle of the
week, at work, at school, etc. just because of thinking about God and his
grace? Or does that only happen when the music’s playing?

- Do you tend to feel closer to God when you’re alone
with your iPOD than you do when you’re gathered with God’s people in your
church?

- Do you feel like you just can’t connect with other
believers who haven’t had the same “worship experiences” that you have?
Can you only connect with other believers who “know what it feels like to really
worship?”

- Is your sense of spiritual well-being based more on feeling close to God, or knowing that you are close to God because of Jesus Christ?"

Great questions, Mr. Gilbert.

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Stuff I Read Today

A couple of quotes I ran across in the blogosphere today.

First, following up to Greg Gilbert's article about Church Music that I linked to previously, Greg adds today:

From Breitbart News:
Canadian folk rock legend Neil Young said he has lost all hope that music can change the world, as he
presented a documentary about his 2006 anti-war concert tour at the
Berlin film festival on Friday.

"I
know that the time when music could change the world is past. I really
doubt that a single song can make a difference. It is a reality," Young
told reporters.

Second, Justin Taylor brings us this very timely quote from Carl Trueman (which Justin got from Tony Reinke):

“A world, and a church, which is hooked on novelty like some
cultural equivalent of crack cocaine needs the cold, cynical eye of the
historian to stand as a prophetic witness against it. And make no
mistake, when it comes to my approach to trendy evangelical claims to
epoch-making insights, beneath the cold, cynical exterior of this
particular historian beats a heart of stone.”

-Carl Trueman, Minority Report: Unpopular thoughts on Everything from Ancient Christianity to Zen Calvinism (Christian Focus, 2008), p. 26

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Church Music

Greg Gilbert has written something over at the 9Marks Blog that all Christians everywhere need to read.

Click here to go to it.

Let me just say that I fully concur with Greg and I am glad he has brought this matter up for discussion. Also, I assume that his post will either be ignored by the multitudes who need to heed it, or else he will be lambasted for his statements. God forbid. May we never make musical style the litmus test for measuring a church's faithfulness or vitality.

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Christianity in a Sentence

If you had 5 seconds to share the gospel with someone, what would you say?

Admittedly, that is not enough time to say much, but we often waste much time telling nonessential facts and irrelevant opinions when we speak with unbelievers. Let me repaint the scenario: Suppose a nonbeliever asked you what the message of Christianity is in one sentence. What would you say?

The "Of First Importance" Blog (which is excellent for daily reading) gives us this from Herman Bavinck:

“The essence of the Christian religion
consists in this, that the creation of the Father, devastated by sin,
is restored in the death of the Son of God, and recreated by the Holy
Spirit into the kingdom of God.”

- Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol 1

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The Problem With Magic Bullets

Upon reading this title, one may think that I am about to launch into a tirade against the "Magic Bullet" kitchen utensil advertised on TV infomercials. No, actually I own one of those and use it daily. No problem with that magic bullet. The problem I want to address is the never ending attempt of church leaders to find a "magic bullet" by which they can grow their churches.


The Washington Post brings us a story about the NFL's smackdown on church Super Bowl parties (HT: Tony Reinke). Jacqueline Salmon writes, "Last year, Vienna Presbyterian Church planned a party in its fellowship hall for its
middle school and high school students, airing the game on its 12-foot
video screen. Church leaders had hoped to use the game to draw in the
teenagers, often a tough crowd to get through church doors. 'We thought we had found our magic bullet,' said Barb Jones, the church's director of communication."

Let me be perfectly transparent here. You will not find a bigger sports fan than me. In fact, I often wrestle against letting my interests in sports become too much of a priority in my life. Last year, when my beloved Chicago Bears went to the Super Bowl, I greeted our congregation as they exited the sanctuary on Super Bowl Sunday morning wearing my Bears cap. But, two things I did not do. I did not cancel evening service so that people could stay home to watch the game, and I did not plan a church super bowl party. Rather, we gathered for worship and Bible study (and I stood at the podium wearing a Bears jersey). I won't be so pious to condemn those who offer Super Bowl parties as a means of Christian fellowship. It can be a wonderful opportunity. But, I will take issue with those who see the Super Bowl party or any other "trick" as its "magic bullet" for church growth.

While these churches may grow in attendance, that growth will not be gospel-driven or discipleship-centered. It has been well said by many: What you win them with, you win them to. Thus churches who rely on "magic bullets" are like drug addicts who find that they constantly need to up the dosage. If we show the game on a six foot screen this year, then we will have to outdo those who show it on an eight foot screen next year, because if someone puts on a better show than we do, we will lose all of our people to that church. And the consumers bounce from place to place looking for who is putting on the best show.

I will acknowledge the unlevel playing field that the NFL has adopted in allowing the big game to be shown in sports bars but not in church fellowship halls. I believe that this is driven by the mass quantities of money pumped into the NFL by its alcohol advertisers. But it would be more fair to ban the event from both, or allow it in both, rather than giving sports bars a singular special exception. That being said, church leaders need to watch the whole game, especially that little tag line that Joe Buck always says shortly after the winning coach is baptized in Gatorade. "This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our
audience. Any other use of this telecast or any pictures, descriptions,
or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent is prohibited." It is the same as the law pertaining to DVD usage. That WARNING screen that pops up before the movie starts says that you can only watch this DVD in the privacy of your home, and that it is not licensed for public viewing. Churches would do well to obey these laws, even if we don't agree with them. Renegades make for poor witnesses.

So, one may ask, "Do you have a magic bullet?" Surely no one charting the growth or lack thereof of any churches I have pastored would ask that question. I don't have a great track record of tremendous growth. And the only magic bullet I have is in my kitchen, used for making smoothies. Rather than magic bullets, I have put my confidence in a sword -- the Word of God. Either the Word will build the church, or else it won't be built. So it must be faithfully taught, preached, and shared in the marketplace by the pastor and every member to the ends of the earth until Jesus comes. This is the message and the method. And what we win them with we will win them to.

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