Our church is located in a town of 8,000 people.  That’s big by Nebraska standards, but rural to many Americans.  About 7 out of 10 people in our county belong to a church, although the percentage is steadily declining.  In our town most people attend one of three varieties of Lutheran.

When you get right down to it, we are a small church in a middle-class town with some wealthy well-attended churches.  We have been a church plant for twenty years, with varying levels of unity and vision.  Then I look at myself.  Tiffani and I are just into our fourth year of paid church ministry.  This is the first church that has only known us as “pastor.”  Who are we fooling, at any level?

Is this a fool’s errand?  Yes.  We need to get that.  We need to sink in that it any lasting progress will only be by God’s Spirit energizing and leading us through his Word.  Last night I was reading Psalm 53.  Remember it was King David writing this song for worshipers.  He had blatantly done wrong with Bathsheba, yet the burden of the kingdom was still on his shoulders.

Have mercy on me.  Wash me, cleanse me from my sin. Only against you have I sinned.  Purge me and I will be clean.  Wash me and I will be white.  Hide your face from my sin.  Read this passage and you will be transported to a broken king, speaking the gospel long before the cross.

In verse 10 he gets to a pivotal point that just reached out and grabbed me last night.  ”Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”  When I think about the Holy Spirit, the energizing leadership of God in my life comes to mind.

And then I go from imagining a history lesson, back to looking around me.  We need to ask hard questions sometimes, like if anything would actually change if the Holy Spirit were gone.  Do I live in dependence?  Man.  Today is not an entrepreneurial freak show to see how I can scheme and meet my way to success.  Today is not a place for wallowing in self-pity.

We need to get, I need to get, deep deep down inside that God cares far more about the good news of his son Jesus than I do.  He is far more committed than I ever will be to seeing the cross take root in our church.  Lord, please don’t take your Spirit away from us.  We need you so much.  Do your work here, create and renew, restore our joy in you.

Jon Wymer

York, Nebraska

• fundamentalist: “militantly anti-modernist Protestant evangelicalism.” George Marsden
• secondary separation: “I hope, I hope, we can disagree about who we hang out with, ok? Because a lot of traditional fundamentalists have said: ‘No, if you hang out with somebody that I believe I should separate from, then I’m gonna separate from you.’” John Piper

Significant Battle Lines

My coming-of-age first within fundamentalism and then conservative evangelicalism has witnessed the surfacing of several key battle lines:

• Fundamentalism: which methodologies are critical to being distinctly Christian, and who ends up being on “the other team”
• Gender: whether women ought to serve in the role of pastor-elder
• Music: falsely called worship wars, the real debate is over musical and lyrical styles
• Politics: what prominence moral or political themes should have within the church
• Technology: the proper role or use of electronic and media resources in ministry context

My growing sense of conviction in this matter is that these different issues may be important, but they really are not where I would choose to draw battle lines.  I am not certain evangelicalism is well-served by placing its resources according to a vision based on one or more of these points.

Suggesting A Different Emphasis

Even by using battlefield terminology, I realize this article could come across as fundamentalist.  My point is not that we somehow need to be driven by angst or negativity.  I am referring to the deployment of resources and the emphasis we place within evangelical ministry.

In my vast experience (sarcastic, for those of you who didn’t pick that up), there are two critical points of emphasis that need to be in place for me to find deep partnership with anyone else who claims to be a Christian.  Notice what I did not say.  I did not say, “I will not cooperate on any level with someone unless they meet these two criteria.”

In my ministry context, my desire is to cooperate as much as possible with the Christian ministers in my town.  My first concern is not their denominational affiliation, but the project we are considering working together on and then work backwards from there.  I can hold hands with a Catholic priest and a Mormon bishop in public protest of abortion.  It is not even a question if the ELCA minister approaches me to pray together.  Would I team-teach on baptism with the Missouri Synod pastor?  Depends on the context, but maybe not.

Two Ministry Watersheds

To be deeply partnered in ministry with another pastor, church, or ministry, I am finding two pivotal areas that really have to be in place for functional partnership.

• The gospel as grace – Having been well-exposed to fundamentalism and conservative evangelicalism, I can say with certainty that adherence to standard doctrinal statements does not equal affirmation of the historic gospel of Jesus Christ.  The moralistic, guilt-driven heresy of the pulpit far outweighs the orthodox doctrinal statement of many churches.  It is very difficult to offer solutions in partnership with someone who disagrees first about what the problem is (human sinfulness) and second about what the solution is (Christ’s finished work).
• The church as organism – Even once I find myself in a room with ministers who affirm “the gospel as grace,” I still find this is not enough of a criteria for deep partnership.  Those very words cause me to shiver, because Jesus Christ is the only common ground that matters.  What I find though, is that among those who affirm the gospel there are still a fair number who understand the church to be an event, a place, or a program rather than an organism. To better explain myself, the problem I find with these types is not that the gospel is not enough but that they themselves might in some cases separate from me because they have added their methodology as a criteria on top of the gospel. Simply put, I believe the gospel is enough but this is the primary way I am finding people adding to the gospel.

In the near future, I hope to unpack more clearly and biblically what I mean by “the gospel as grace” and “the church as organism.”  It is pretty apparent through what I have written here and in my own mind, that there are very few churches in the Midwest doing this.  And this puts me in a position of choosing to encourage and emphasize both as much as possible, without resorting to a “secondary separation” or negatively-bent focus. Looking forward to you joining the conversation.

Jon Wymer

York, Nebraska

I just spent the past couple of weeks reading Church Planter by Darrin Patrick. The word “spent” is no joke, and a good investment it was. Some readers may find Patrick’s title contradicts his content. This isn’t really one more church planting book: it serves as a manual for what it means to be a pastor-elder or a minister of the gospel. In other words, this is a book for pastors of all stripes.

Patrick builds his picture of ministry using three categories: man, message, mission. I felt the book had already paid for itself by the time I finished the “man” section. My prediction is that this book may become a seminary textbook, largely for the value of this first portion. Patrick explains with accessible illustrations and solid Scriptural foundation the biblical requirements of an elder, ministry calling, and triperspectivalism just for starters.

I don’t think the remaining two sections of this book were as impact-ridden for me as the first portion. Let me tell you a little about them. The “message” portion explains what it means to be gospel-centered and provides a basic primer in how the gospel relates to the idolatry of our hearts. In his “mission” section, Patrick builds a case for missional church, contextualization, and mercy ministry. Perhaps because I have been so focused on these areas in the recent past, I find the back 2/3 of this book to be competent biblical primers. This brings me back to the idea that Patrick’s book is a readable, biblical introduction to ministry and would serve as an excellent seminary textbook.

Patrick won me over with his writing style. He offers rich footnotes, which I found offered me a number of new trails to follow. This aspect of a book gives a hungry reader significant value beyond the text itself. The other thing I appreciate about this book is that Patrick is very biblical without simply becoming dry and technical. It seems like so many authors wander into academic theology or swerve the other direction into a minefield of cute stories. Patrick does neither, and I found him to be readable and helpful.

If you are a pastor or want to become a pastor in any form, I highly recommend you read this book. Darrin Patrick will confront your arrogance, encourage your weakness, and provide a competent primer of what gospel ministry is.

I received a free review copy of this book from Crossway Books.

This review on Amazon.com

This review on ChristianBook.com

I’m not sure why, but this matchup has served kind of like New Year’s, a birthday, or the end of a deployment to make me think about life.

I left home for Bible college back in 2001, just before the terrorist attacks. At home there were some very good things (hard work ethic, drive to succeed, emphasis on good reputation) and some very bad things (blatant hypocrisy, abuse in many forms). I was homeschooled from birth through high school, and even took my first semester of undergrad at home by distance from Moody Bible Institute. My parents’ beliefs were characterized probably most accurately by an especially separatist version of fundamentalist Christianity combined with an arch-conservative political agenda [the Tea Partiers bring back memories].

My world got up-ended when I started school at Faith Baptist Bible College in 2001. It was a move out of very narrow separatism into what was more like a separatist conservative evangelicalism.  Still ended up being too narrow for my understanding of Scripture, but at least they talked to people they disagreed with every now and then.  As the various professors taught their view of the story line of Scripture and particularly the end times, I began to be separated out by their dispensationalist requirements.  The Scofield/Ryrie pill was too bitter to swallow.

Long story short, I ended up moving in 2003 to Nebraska becoming part of a Reformed Baptist church with a pastor that was a dedicated Cornhusker fan.  It’s all been down hill from there.  Now I’m in my eighth season rooting for this football team and looking forward to see their matchup with the Huskies.

How did this end up as a blog post? Sometimes things happen in life that bring back memories or help you see how you have changed.  God in his grace has continually invaded my life.  The abusive shadows of my past are fading and I needed this reminder.  Now it is time to let the past go and build through the gospel for a grace-oriented future.  I am excited about how God has just steered and blessed and gospeled my life, and I needed a silly football game to realize it.

Jon Wymer

crossrooted@gmail.com

From the very start, I found Mike’s writing style to be engaging and unpretentious.  When I picked up the book I saw that it was from 9Marks.  In the past couple of years I have kind of avoided 9Marks because I felt like some of the material I had seen was more divisive than necessary.  I don’t have a problem with Mark Dever, but I do know that Capitol Hill Baptist is kind of like Bethlehem Baptist in terms of being one of the “cool” churches among conservative evangelicals to do an internship at.  My point here is not to sow any negative seeds, but just to say that I was slightly biased against this book when I picked it up.

This is not a very Scriptural book, and I don’t mean that as a slam.  If you pick it up looking for a Bible-spackled manual of church revitalization you will probably be disappointed.  No, let me rephrase, you will be disappointed.  In a way it is like nearly every other book coming out these days about church planting, just in the sense that recounts practical ministry experiences.  That said, I find Mike’s emphasis very refreshing in the same vein I find Eugene Peterson’s pastoral theology refreshing: there need to be more voices saying that the ministry is about ordinary faithfulness to the gospel.

If your perception of Dever or Capitol Hill Baptist was that they are slightly stuffy or academic, I think you will find Mike’s style to be very refreshing.  He is respectful without kissing up, and has some delightfully sarcastic digs.  Reading his book has intrigued me and I want to look back into 9Marks and reconsider my previous exile from their website.

This book is probably not for most people.  If you attend a small or dying church, I think you would benefit from reading it.  Mike offers realistic, gospel-oriented perspective.  He mentioned several resources that I am checking into personally.  As a staff pastor who moved into a revitalization work nine months ago, I have already found much of what he talks about to hit very close to home.  Mike says his overarching purpose is to help people realize that faithful gospel ministry is truly extraordinary.  I think he accomplishes his goal.

Jon Wymer

York, Nebraska

This review is also posted at Amazon and CBD.

1. From running programs to building people
2. From running events to changing people
3. From using people to growing people
4. From filling gaps to training new workers
5. From solving problems to helping people make progress
6. From clinging to ordained ministry to developing team leadership
7. From focusing on church polity to forging ministry partnerships
8. From relying on training institutions to establishing local training
9. From focusing on immediate pressures to aiming for long-term expansion
10. From engaging in management to engaging in ministry
11. From seeking church growth to desiring gospel growth

The book is worth picking up if you have ever wondered why American churches look so much different from what the Bible says about church.

Why is it important to be a perpetual student?

Some quick answers based on personal experience:

• You don’t want to be “that guy” who has been in the ministry twenty years and is still quoting a seminary professor.
• You should desire something better than being a pastor who develops new materials for the first 5-10 years of ministry, and then reuses that material for the next 20 years.
• The Bible itself doesn’t change, but that does not rule out advances in biblical studies and theology or developments in culture.
• When you do not have the posture of a student, you lose the curiosity and humility essential to effective teaching.
• People who are poor students are more likely to get defensive when their ideas are challenged.  Have seen this way too many times in “old” pastors.

What are you studying?

This category could also accurately be called, “What were the gaps in your seminary education?”:

• Biblical theology: what is the unifying theme of Scripture and how does that work out in each genre/book?  how does the gospel flow through the Bible?  what is the progress of redemptive history?
• Worship: No, I do not mean music.  how might a gathering be led to hear and respond to God?  what are the elements and options for effectively leading in this way?  how to include contemporary and historical resources?
• Culture: Why is it that so many pastors are concerned with culture, yet seminaries don’t even offer a basic survey?  anything related to missiology – how can we be missionaries within our culture?  what are the elements and movements within Western cultures?  how can we be biblically faithful without being separatist weirdos?
• Secular material:  I used to read U.S. News and World Report, but it has turned into a mish-mash of national ranking reports of various institutions (hospitals, colleges, etc.), advertisement space that seems to reproduce with each issue, and pro-Israel rants in the op-ed finale.  My current periodicals are New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly, which I find sharpen my thinking and allow me to interact with secular thought.

If you are a pastor or thinker, what are you studying or looking into?  Do you think it matters if Christians are perpetual students?

Introductory

There is tension in my mind as I sit down to write this post.  My belief structure would probably be most consistent with conservative evangelicalism, and yet it seems nearly impossible in the contemporary context to venture into any position short of bashing homosexuals without some statement verifying my credentials as a lover of Scripture and God.  I am going to resist defending my own orthodoxy and invite you to respond to this biblical content rather than attacking my character.

In some sense this post is a response to the current push for so-called civil unions.  If gay marriages are anything like many heterosexual marriages, “civil” might not be the most appropriate word.  It is a curiosity to me that many evangelical Christians are so militantly opposing such a push, rather than quizzically scratching their heads.  The push among alternative lifestyles for marriage is a backward compliment to traditional marriage if imitation is indeed flattery.

This post is also a response to the high priority evangelical Christians have put on “fighting” homosexuality through boycotts, political activity, letter-writing campaigns, etc.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds the “hate the sin but love the sinner” mantra at least slightly disingenuous.

Biblical Context

Putting pleasantries aside, it would be significant to consider how the Bible talks about homosexuality.  Such a treatment in the current political setting absolutely demands something more than simply taking a position and then pulling proof texts from the Bible.  If evangelicals want even an ounce of credibility in a day when so many of their apparent kin are decrying homosexuality with a twisted mixture of power politics and religious prejudice, we will have to be honest to Scripture and careful with the statements we make.

The Bible declares homosexuality is sin.  Yes, it’s true, now the cat is out of the bag about where I stand.  But wait just a moment.  Most of my adult life and all of my pastoral ministry has been in the Midwest.  Typically when statements such as the first sentence of this paragraph are uttered, one gets the feeling that the words are biblically oriented but the underlying belief is actually more of a personal and political prejudice.  Let me break this down a little.  The belief that homosexuality is sin seems to be felt so strongly in part because of the Bible, but it also fits quite nicely with the prevailing political animosity for liberalism of any sort and personal prejudice against alternative lifestyles.  In other words, the evangelical Christian is actually expressing a conservative Midwestern prejudice and happily has the additional weaponry of the Bible.  If you have seen what I am talking about in action, you realize there is a significant difference between proof-texting the Bible on this issue and offering an approach to the biblical emphasis which is true to what God says about homosexuality as well as everything else.

It is unfortunate and damaging that conservative evangelicals have so carelessly entered into the culture war, as if by preventing civil unions and opposing homosexuality they can somehow better our country.  While trumpeting one aspect of biblical truth (homosexuality is sin), incredible damage has been done to a faithful witness to the gospel in related areas.  What about the other sins that are equated in the Bible with homosexuality?  If you are going to trumpet the Bible’s declaration of this sin, why would you neglect to trumpet just as loudly a biblical response to sin?  Is it right to demand Christian behavior from people who do not even claim to be Christians?

Key Passages: Sodom

Gen. 13:13: When Abram and Lot parted ways, the Bible says “the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.”

Gen. 18:20-21: God sent angels to verify whether Sodom was as bad as he had heard, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me.”

Gen. 18:23: Abram knows how bad Sodom is and immediately goes into intercession mode with God, negotiating  and pleading, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?”

The primary evidence in Genesis for the homosexuality of Sodom is recorded in Gen. 19.  It is very clear that the town intends to take God’s angels by force for sexual pleasure.  Lot offers his virgin daughters for sexual pleasure in vs. 8 and is strongly rebuked.

It still seems a major jump to declare that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexuality.  Grant the horrifying homosexual incident of Gen. 19 as evil, but recognize it is not horrifying simply as a homosexual incident.  What about the issue of a sexualized society, where this conversation is public and shameless?  What about the question of violence, where they are going to take these angels by force?  What about the underlying assumption of power seen in the response even to Lot in vs. 9?

If you think I am reducing a clear case to a vague one, consider other biblical texts:

• Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Amos, and Zephaniah all compare other nations with Sodom’s spiritual pride and idolatry.
• Ezekiel 16:49 says Sodom’s sin was selfishness, the city “had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.”
• Jesus declares multiple times that those who reject him will be worse off than Sodom (Matt. 10:15, 11:24; Luke 10:12).
• 2 Peter 2:6 refers to the judgment of Sodom as an example to the “ungodly.”
• Jude 7 is the most specific equation of Sodom with homosexuality beyond Genesis 19, referring to the city’s sins as “sexual immorality” and the pursuit of “unnatural  desire.”

The consensus is clear: (a) homosexuality is a sin and it was one of Sodom’s sins, and (b)selfish pride is the issue emphasized in Scripture as the reason for judgment.

Key Passages: Romans 1

There is a clear indictment of homosexual behavior in Romans 1:26-27.  You can read the passage for yourself.  I will point out that 1:24-25 and 1:28-32 are not uniquely homosexual.  Paul is drawing a picture of a society that has turned away from the knowledge of God.  In vs. 26-27, he is describing homosexuality as one aspect of this God-suppressing society.  This passage is a careful and explicit indictment of a culture that has turned away from God.  It should be noted that homosexuality is one of the sins of this culture, but it should be noted that the big picture that Paul is painting does not stand or fall primarily on this issue.

Key Passages: Misc.

Another aspect of biblical testimony about homosexuality is the places where homosexuality is listed along with others sins.  The primary examples I would give of this are biblical law such as Leviticus 18 and 20, then over into the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 6:9.  Yes, homosexual sex was punishable by death of both parties.  A conservative evangelical will readily tell you such a thing.

What they will not tell you or proclaim on national television is what else God included on the list: incest, bestiality, hitting or cursing a parent, letting your dangerous animal kill someone, profaning the Sabbath, committing adultery with your neighbor’s wife, serving as a medium, a foreigner coming near the tabernacle, etc.  That’s just a partial list from the Old Testament.  Paul’s list includes these other sins with homosexuality: sexual immorality, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, and swindlers.

It would be obvious to you if you have looked up these various passages that in no way is homosexuality prioritized as “most evil” nor is it at the top of any list.  I am in no way seeking to lessen what the Bible says about homosexuality.  What I am trying to do is point out that the Bible says the same things about many other sins, that somehow American evangelicals are strangely silent about.

Conclusions

Perhaps the header for this final paragraph should be “disclaimer.”  I will warn you that this is hardly a highly-nuanced position on engaging the question of homosexuality in American culture with a biblical emphasis.  My goal is simply to bring what the Bible actually emphasizes back into the conversation.

Some conclusions I would offer and invite your interaction on.

• Homosexuality is neither the first or the worst of sins.
• Homosexuality is a serious sin, one of many serious sins.
• The biblical response to homosexuality is not different than the biblical response to other forms of sin; the gospel should always be brought to bear.
• We owe it to sinners who happen to be homosexual to offer more grace and nuance than simply to reflect cultural prejudice against homosexuality and slap Bible verses on it.
• Like Sodom, America is in far more danger from our underlying selfishness, pride, and pushing away of God than we are from the specific sin of homosexuality.

On one hand I am left interacting with sinners through grace, and when pushed I need to be clear that the Bible does talk about homosexuality as one of many types of sin.  On the other hand I want to push back at the evangelicals I have known who support organizations like the American Family Association and other approaches that do not even remotely resemble a gospel approach to sin.

I welcome your interaction.

My bro posted this on Facebook earlier.  If you would like to contact him directly, send an email to andrewwymer (at) gmail.com.

Hi all! Just to bring everyone up to speed. This past March I was accepted to Drew University’s Theological School. The scholarship offer was quite attractive, and I had been hoping to attend Drew, among a few other schools, for several years. We have been in the process of apartment hunting and job hunting since I accepted the offer in March, and this has been something to which we have been looking forward with great excitement.

Unfortunately, Hannah has applied for a great deal of jobs of many varieties, and she has only heard back from a very few. I fear that our distance from New Jersey has proved to be a strong inhibitor in the job area. Places of employment are reticent to hire someone who does not yet live in the area. Back in the spring we flew out to find an apartment, and we found a very nice one in the perfect location at a very reasonable price. However, we have just learned that our application for a lease was denied due to the fact, of course, that we did not yet have jobs in the area. This is the catch twenty-two with which we are dealing.

Fortunately, I have found out that I can defer my acceptance to Drew for up to two semesters; however, our place of employment has known, since March, that we were going to leave around the end of July. Replacements have been hired, and we strongly feel that we need to honor our word in leaving our current jobs.

We are at a very desolate crossroads of sorts. Do we empty the financial envelope and move out to Drew without employment? Should we move to Kansas, where Hannah’s family is from, for awhile in order to save money and prepare to move out for the spring semester? Unfortunately, we also do not have jobs or good prospects in Kansas, either, so the whole saving money thing will possibly meet with disaster.

Hannah and I do not feel quite ready to be in the ministry as of yet. We have seen God work in our lives and provide healing and grace, as we discover who we are in Christ. However, we feel that we need a bit more time to figure out where we fit into Christianity and to continue to heal from the past. I would love to work as a paid intern or assistant to a wise, godly pastor; however, such opportunities are rare.

Basically, we are at a crossroads of sorts. It is still possible that we would move out to New Jersey. If God were to provide a job in the next two weeks, we could still figure out some ways to make it work. My cut-off date to either pay my school bill or defer is August fifth, and it is fast approaching. In lieu of any rich uncles, we really need to have a decent paying job by then. If that does not happen, we have to decide where to move. We are moving on August third, and we thought we would be moving to New Jersey. However, we are now not sure whether we will be heading east or west.

Please pray for us. This has been especially hard on Hannah. There is nothing quite like the job hunt for someone with a degree in women’s ministries from a Christian (not to mention fundamentalist) college. This has been difficult on Hannah to apply for many jobs and to not hear back positively from anything. It is also difficult to come down to the wire without knowing what our future will hold. I have a strong desire to teach and write in the field of worship studies, and my heart is burdened for the Church in this area. However, these impending decisions could possibly contain some long range implications. I really just don’t know.

Please pray that…
-We would be able to get a job somewhere. (I would prefer you pray for New Jersey, but we are just in need of something anywhere.)
- Our hearts would be focused on God, still before Him, overwhelmed with His grace, and looking expectantly for Him to do something.
- Please pray for wisdom as we discern what the short-term and long-term future holds.

Thanks,

Andrew