Two Quotes

I'm re-reading Susan Hunt and Ligon Duncan's book, Women's Ministry in the Local Church. It's a must read if you are seeking to set up a ministry for women in your church. I just want to leave you with two quotes which I believe are primary - the first which challenges our commitment to church in general; the second which challenges us to 'do' women's ministry in the context of the whole church.

"Dr Edmund Clowney wrote, 'If we lack interest in the church we lack what for Jesus was a consuming passion. Jesus loved the church and gave himself up for it'. (Ephesians 5:25)"

"Approach to women's ministry is not consumer-oriented ('we deserve a ministry that focuses on us'), but kingdom-oriented ('how can we invest in women in a way that equips them as disciples, for their own spiritual maturation, for the good of the marriages and families of the church, for the betterment of the total ministry of the church, and for their life in the real world?')"

How To Ruin A Women's Ministry

Wendy Alsup at Resurgence has just posted on her four top ways to ruin a women's ministry in church. So if you are running a women's ministry, or thinking of starting one, here's some advice on what not to do:

1. Make women's ministry your first priority. I'm not saying to forget your
husband and kids. I'm just saying to think of them as less fulfilling than women's ministry. I had a time in my life when I would drive to church praying intently that the Lord would bless my ministry there, guard my words, and guide my responses. Then one day, the Holy Spirit convicted me that I never prayed the same as I drove toward my house. Women's ministry at church had assumed the place of God's Big Thing in my life. And yet I knew that my ministry to my husband and boys was even more important than my ministry at church. Why was I allowing myself to find fulfillment in one and drudgery in the other?

I think this is Satan's big tool in ministry at every level. I hear about it from church planters and pastors all the time. They get their priorities out of order and sacrifice family on the altar of ministry. I want to be used by God to further His kingdom--but I must always remember that my kingdom influence begins in my home. How can I be a help to my husband in his obligations? How can I minister to my boys? And, from there, how can I minister to those outside of my home in a way that is a blessing and not a burden to my family? Whose needs get sacrificed first? I must be willing to say NO to church things if they interfere with my God-given obligations toward my home.

2. Become territorial. If you are approached by church leadership about restructuring your current pet project, take it personally, resent the leader, and stealthily sow discord among your coworkers in the ministry.

This is SUCH a temptation. I've watched it happen in many ministries over the years. I'm thankful that our elders have done a good job of modeling the exact opposite response. I really got a vision for this as I read Pastor Mark's book, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. It showed me that our pastors are serious about reaching those who need Jesus in our city, and they are willing to step out of their comfort zone to do it. They have all had pet projects that have been sacrificed over the years because they simply weren't the best use of our limited resources. But they take it in stride because they love Jesus and value the mission to reach Seattle above their personal
interests.

I've had my fair share of opportunities for bitterness in ministry over the years. All were temptations to me to take it personally, wear hurt feelings on my shoulder, and project disunity about the ministry to others. Instead, I needed to respect God's sovereign right to administer such things as He saw fit. We women can be some of the worst at being territorial and tearing at each other when we feel our territory threatened. But be warned--this is how women's ministries are fractured and destroyed. And women who participate in such sowing of disunity, in my humble opinion, need to step aside from leadership until they get a grip on the importance of humility. You cannot lead without it!

3. Resent your God-given authority structure. Don't seek your elders' input ahead of time for a big decision in ministry and resent their concerns when expressed. And if your husband asks you to pull back from a ministry opportunity because it interferes with family responsibilities, make him feel your disapproval whenever possible.

In reality, our God-given authority and accountability structure is there for all of our good. Each elder, deacon, and lay leader at Mars Hill has an accountability structure in place for their good and God's glory. We all need someone who can tell us when our enthusiasm has run ahead of our good sense. This is hard to take when you have a vision for something big. But if you believe in God's good hand in directing such authority structures, you'll soon see the safety net they provide for each of us in leadership.

4. Ignore life issues or stages of life that you haven't experienced personally. We tend to identify and empathize with people that share similar backgrounds to us and therefore are burdened to equip people in the areas with which we have struggled. But will your ministry only minister to people like you? Are you even aware of the people in your sphere of influence whose background and struggles are different from yours?

My advice is to surround yourself with counselors at different stages of life from you. Our current women's ministry team has singles and marrieds, with and without kids, including a grandmother. Our team also has ladies from different ministry departments. One is involved with community groups and can speak to the issues raised in this ministry. Another is involved with our addiction recovery/redemption groups and raises issues concerning the struggles these members face. Another represents our counseling ministry and speaks to the issues she sees there. We've only just begun using this system but believe it will help us keep a well-rounded perspective of the needs of our women as a whole. There are women crushed under the weight of raising their kids sitting by women crushed because they just miscarried or can't get pregnant. There's the woman struggling because she feels abandoned by the men in her life, while another is trying to figure out how to deal with a husband she despises. There's the 65-year-old childless widow and the 65-year-old grandmother whose husband was just diagnosed with prostate cancer. Are you aware and responsive to the variety of forms women's suffering and struggles take?

Worship & Family

I've found this article helpful since our oldest son (4) has been participating with us in our church services. It is a timely reminder as our 2 year old will do the same, not too long from now. Here's a snippet, but all of it is worth reading.

The greatest stumbling block for children in worship is that their parents do not cherish the hour. Children can feel the difference between duty and delight. Therefore, the first and most important job of a parent is to fall in love with the worship of God. You can't impart what you don't possess....

Sunday worship service is not useless to children just because much of it goes over their heads. They can and will grow into this new language faster than we think—if positive and happy attitudes are fostered by the parents.

Above All Earthly Powers

Today's post, as you will see, is not exclusively for women but valuable for all believers. Recently, the 2006 Desiring God conference took place: Above All Earthly Powers featured a superb line up of speakers including D.A. Carson, Tim Keller, David Wells, Voddie Baucham, Mark Driscoll and John Piper.

The general theme is how we proclaim Christ in a postmodern world. Some highlights include a talk on 21st century evangelism by Tim Keller, and two panel discussions dealing with this same theme. Among the other talks, Carson (profound), Driscoll (amusing), and Piper (enthused) are well worth a listen. If you don't have time to listen to the talk in full, listen to some of the highlights of each talk, courtesy of Desiring God.

David Wells

"The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World"

> Christ's Supremacy In The New Testament
> Christianity Is Becoming De-Westernized
> Fear In The West Is Not Of Being Unsafe, But Unsuccessful
> Risk In The West Is Not Of Danger, But Distraction
> Contextualisation And Foreign Missions
> Contextualisation And Preaching
> What Christianity Has To Offer

Voddie Baucham

"The Supremacy of Christ and Truth in a Postmodern World"

> Four Questions Everybody Asks
> Question #1: Who Am I?
> Question #2: Why Am I Here?
> Question #3: What Is Wrong With The World?
> Question #4: How Can What's Wrong Be Made Right?
> The Supremacy Of Christ In Education
> Argue For The Bible From The Bible
> The Risk In Racial Diversity
> Racism In Christian Cultures

Tim Keller

"The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World"

> All Theology Has To Be An Exposition Of The Gospel
> If You Think You Understand The Gospel, You Don't
> The Gospel Must Be Urbanized To Reach The Culture
> Contextualisation makes The Gospel Plausible
> We Must Confront Unbelievers With Compassion
> Argue Against A False Worldview Using Its Presuppositions

Mark Driscoll

"The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World"

> The Bible Is True For Everybody
> Without The Virgin Birth There Is No Jesus
> Christ's Death Saves Us From God
> Jesus Is The Only Way To God
> We Must Stress Both Christ's Humanity And His Divinity
> Everybody Believes In Hell
> Contextualising The Theology We Contend For
> John Calvin's Contextualisation
> Relativism vs. Relevantism

D.A. Carson

"The Supremacy of Christ and Love in a Postmodern World"

> Encouragment To Press On When You Feel Unsuccessful
> The Value Of Preachers Listening To Other Preachers
> How To Contextualise A Church Service
> Christian Unity Shows The World What God Is Like
> We Must Know Truth To Be Holy

John Piper

"The Supremacy of Christ and Joy in a Postmodern World"

> Encouragement For Pastors Of Small Churches
> Missions And Seeker-Sensitive Contextualisation
> The Personal Effect Of Writing What Jesus Demands From The World
> Affection For Emergents
> The Supremacy Of Christ And Joy In A Postmodern World: Short Version
> Why You Should Be Happy That You Are Less Valuable Than God

Speaker Panel
Various

A Conversation with the Pastors
Various

You can also watch video of the speaker interviews here

Rescuing Sunday

I'm just coming to the end of reading Joshua Harris' book, Stop Dating the Church: Fall in Love with the Family of God and it has to be the most clear, easy and succinct book I have read on: what the church is; being a part of the church; the importance of joining a church; and, what things to look for in a church. But the most helpful chapter in the book was by far: Rescuing Sunday, How to Get More from the Best Day of the Week.

If you are anything like me, or your house is anything like ours on a Sunday morning, I don't always feel like it's the best day of the week for me! Sunday mornings are the one day when you ALL have to be up and dressed, fed and ready to leave by 10am and things can get pretty strained when your hubby is either preaching, leading student bible studies or even preparing to lead the service. You find yourself running around trying to feed and dress all three members of the family before finally realising that you can't go to church in your dressing gown and that you must get dressed also! Anyways, perhaps you are in a similar situation to me, you have kids, maybe 3, maybe 4 and the getting to church experience parallels that of being thrown into a whirlwind, tossed around and spat out just in time to get into the car to go to church. Maybe you don't have kids, but the late night out with friends or watching a movie leaves you feeling tired and groggy and the thought of a nice lie in seems far better than getting up to meet with God's people and listening to his Word preached.

Well, if that describes any of you then I have 3 helpful hints courtesy of Joshua Harris. If you want more then you need to read the book! They have been particularly challenging to me as I seek to rescue what I can from my Sundays.

1. We need to see Sunday as God's day. Harris writes: "when your heart begins to beat for God's glory and God's people and you begin to glimpse his longing for you, Sunday changes...it becomes something extraordinary. Something sacred. Something essential."

2. We need to prepare for God's day. Not only do we need to make practical preparations, we need to get our hearts ready. Harris writes: "A great Sunday starts Saturday night. It begins with carefully deciding what you do and don't do the night before." Does that mean you need to get to bed earlier so that you have enough rest? Does it mean that rather than watching mind numbing TV you might be better prepared by reading or listening to something more wholesome and focussed on the Lord?

3. During the meeting, Harris comments, "remember the eternal significance of what you're joining. You are gathering with the people of God. You've come to worship God, and He will be present by His Spirit...you are not here to be entertained... you stand before the Audience of One."

If you have any more helpful hints, things you do to prepare for your Sunday why not drop us a comment, we'd be glad to hear from you.

Forgotten Women

Last Sunday at our home church, Charlotte Baptist Chapel we had a visiting speaker, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo from The Barnabas Fund. Again we were reminded of the suffering that our christian brothers and sisters go through because of their steadfast allegiance to Jesus Christ. Not so long ago I read a book, Hidden Sorrow, Lasting Joy: The Forgotten Women of the Persecuted Church. In it, Anneke Companjen tells of the many women whose husbands were imprisoned or killed for their faith and as a result their lives are marked by sorrow and fear. Companjen writes:

"These women have struggled with painful separation, loss and uncertainty. They have been ostracized by their culture, left alone to care for their fatherless children, and subjected to crushing poverty. Their faith has been stretched to the limit, and yet they have rarely been the subjects of prayer campaigns or human-rights projects...Hidden Sorrow, Lasting Joy is a tribute to such forgotten women."

In reading this book you can hardly but be reminded of the high calling to be a wife and mother, especially when those roles are marked by pain and suffering. Let's remember to pray for them.