This atypical educational institution focused on developing students at their own pace. Spurgeon approached ministerial preparation not in an industrialized fashion that is, quantity over quality , but instead in the context of meaningful and vulnerable relationships. To equip his students for ministry, Spurgeon spoke openly about the joys and struggles of the pastorate.
By approaching education this way, rather than inculcating some abstract theory, he invited future leaders to imitate his life and ministry.
Discipleship Deficit
And this was the biblical goal. Augustine and Spurgeon wanted to train leaders who would continue to emulate their lives and faith as they went on to lead congregations. If ministry leaders never invite others to follow them as they follow Jesus, who will? Churches need to see their leaders investing time and effort in others. In the life of our church, we try to replicate the wisdom of Augustine and Spurgeon in training our leaders. We prepare future leaders for ministry through classroom-style lectures, practical experiences e.
After examining the historically proven rhythms of discipleship throughout the history of the church, we landed on a few specific convictions for Redeemer:. Before you ever plant a church, you must be settled at a convictional level as to how you and your church body will approach the mission of making disciples. In fact, a man without a plan for making disciples should never plant a church. Consequently, these aspiring planters spend their time planning a top-notch worship service that they anticipate will draw the masses, but they give little attention to the mission Jesus gave us: You actually want to organize an event.
There is a difference. Church planting is all about making disciples. Therefore, look to the Scriptures for your mission making disciples and then look to history for the application discipleship methods and then contextualize your approach to your context. Conviction-driven discipleship is what gives birth to new churches and mature followers of Jesus. So, you planted a church and now realize that your discipleship efforts are unhealthy, unbiblical, or simply not fruitful. I would strongly encourage you to look to the past in order to chart your future course.
Regain a vision for making disciples that is grounded in Scripture and has historically borne much fruit. Church planters, by definition, like building and creating new things. I am a church planter. Yet the longer I pastor, the more I realize that church planters should be less concerned with new things and more concerned with contextualizing old things.
Our mission is ancient and yet it gives life to new churches every day. Lastly, the Memorial View i. One thing that most people are aware of is that there are different kinds of churches.
Some differences relate to the history and doctrine of the church. Other differences relate to different types of church government. Type of Church Government. Churches that are headed by the Secular National Government of the Country. The body of clergy is divided into various ranks reporting eventually to a single person like the Pope or Archbishop. Synods and General Assemblies appoint pastors and determine doctrine. Presbyterian, Lutheran and some Reformed. Ultimate authority for the church rests with the members themselves, ministry, budget, choosing leaders etc. The apostles were the highest authority of leaders in the early church.
But as one theologian states, it would seem unwise to give someone that title today. In addition when one looks at the criteria of an apostle, the New Testament makes it clear that 1 the person had to have seen the resurrected Jesus Act 1: Leadership in the church today according to the New Testament consists then of two offices: Paul tells Titus to appoint such leaders in the church. They are responsible to shepherd the flock of God 1 Pet 5: The New Testament also indicates that multiple leadership or a team of elders are to be present in each church.
This is seen in the plural use of the term. All of the New Testament examples that we have indicate a plurality of male elders who oversee the church. The second church office is the office of deacon. These individuals are also to be spiritually qualified Acts 6 14 ; 1 Tim 3: The tasks of these men was to assist the apostles in serving the church by meeting physical needs so that the apostles could focus on the spiritual needs of the church.
Six Lessons Christians Must Learn From Church History |
One question surrounding the office of deacon is whether or not the office is to be held by men only or also includes women. In the Acts 6 passage they are men, but in 1 Tim 3: How do we distinguish between Israel and the Church? In short, the Bible indicates that while there is a clear distinction between Israel and the church that needs to be maintained, there is also a relationship that needs to be understood.
One can start to examine this issue by comparing basic definitions. The church is both Jew and Gentile in the current age who believe in Jesus and are baptized into the body of Christ. This baptism took place with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 2. Israel used times in the Old Testament and 68 in the New Testament refers ethnically to the descendants of Abraham that came though Isaac and Jacob. Sometimes the concept of circumcised of heart Deut There is no place in the New Testament or entire Bible where the term Israel refers to or means the church.
The promise God gave to Abraham in Genesis It is important to understand though that Israel was under the provisions and requirements of Old Covenant while the church is under the New Covenant. The Old Covenant included: The church on the other hand is under the provisions of the New Covenant and directly stated requirements for it are included in the gospels and epistles.
There is both continuity and discontinuity in the relationship of these covenants to each other, that is some requirements of the Old Covenant are carried into the new while others are not. Paul clearly states that Christians are not under law as a system of requirements but under grace Rom 6: Lastly, there is a future for national Israel in which all the remaining Old Testament promises that God gave to them will be fulfilled: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
And this is my covenant with them , when I take away their sins. This does not mean that Christians have to agree with everything that modern day Israel does but it does mean that God has not abandoned his commitments of a future political and spiritual restoration of the that nation. The lesson started with reasons why people do not go to church. Now, it would be good to conclude with reasons that we should go to church.
Penguins are one of the few warm blooded animals that live in Antarctica during the winter. One of the main ways is that they huddle together, sometimes with thousands of penguins. Those on the outside of the circle as soon as they are faced with freezing to death move in toward the center while those in the center work their way to the outside.
Any penguin that gets isolated will die. Is there an application for Christians? God designed us to survive and thrive spiritually by the encouragement we gain from each other. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle Exod And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. God declares the end from the beginning. His purpose will be established and He will accomplish whatever He wants. History is one way that we see this. So what does history tell us about God?
What does it tell us about ourselves? As we turn back the hands of time, what lessons do we learn? What truths do we see? Here are a few of them. They come from different ages in church history, most of them focusing on the Modern Age. If church history teaches us anything, it teaches us that the truth is worth fighting for. Certain doctrines are worth defending at all costs. In the early years, the fight revolved around the deity of Christ.
The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus is God.
If in this city you ask anyone for change, he will discuss with you whether God the Son is begotten or unbegotten. Therefore, a man spoke up to refute the error. His name was Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria. He led the church in Alexandria for 45 years, and 17 of them were spent in exile.
And the exiles were turbulent at best. His people loved him and they could not stand to see him go and the authorities resented that, so it was written about one of his banishments that:. In the early hours of Thursday, June 13 [], after a service. And it was all worth it because the truth won out in the end.
Early on in his ministry, Athanasius helped write the Nicene Creed, which says:. We believe in one God, The Father Almighty. In other words, Jesus Christ is God. He is of one essence with the Father and the second member of the Trinity. Christians still hold to that Creed today. It was written 1, years ago and we still turn back to it to affirm our doctrine. Thanks to the Black Dwarf. He showed us that the truth is worth fighting for. With the Fall of Rome, the Christian world entered a time of unprecedented darkness that has been referred to as the Dark Ages or the Middle Ages.
It was a time when Europe was immersed in darkness and governed by one entity: The Catholic Church, to them, was the church that had its headquarters in Rome. Legalism is the teaching that you have to do good works to be saved. If anyone says that a man who is justified and however perfect is not bound to observe the commandments of God and the church, but only to believe, as if the Gospel were a bare and absolute promise of eternal life without the condition of observing the commandments, let him be anathema [damned].
Church History For Kids
In other words, faith is not enough to save you. You have to do good works too. You have to obey the commandments of God. Cults teach this today. So do the Mormons. According to Joseph Smith: He has gone to heaven. This is all nonsense. Such a character will never see heaven. The Roman Catholic Church, however, did not stop there. They also embraced the doctrine of authoritarianism, which says that they are the only real authority that God approves of.
The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living office of the Church alone [the Roman Catholic Church]. While that statement was made fairly recently, it summarizes the doctrine of the Middle Ages.
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The Roman Catholic Church is the only one who can interpret the Bible. They are the only ones who know what God really says. That sounds a lot like the teaching of Christian Science. It shall be the duty of all Christian Scientists to circulate and to sell as many of these books as they can.
The point is that church history shows us patterns. The atrocities that took place during the Middle Ages are not over. They are still being repeated today by the occult. This is the scary side of church history. When you glimpse into the past, you see that not everyone fights for the truth. Some people fight for lies. Some teach heresy and they persecute anyone who does not teach it too.
The good news, however, is that there are other patterns we see in church history which show us that. On the flip-side, church history also provides us with great encouragement. Another pattern that we observe in looking back is that there has always been a remnant. Not everyone has given into the heresies of legalism and authoritarianism. Some have fought it. A classic example of this comes from the Protestant Reformation.
An entire article in this edition of JTST will be devoted to this but let me just say that the Protestant Reformation occurred because a group of men did not cave into the pressures of Rome. They stood up to the Pope and his emissaries. Just to read those points is a breath of fresh air after the Middle Ages, but it came as more than a breath. It came as a hurricane. The people of Geneva, Switzerland summarized their impact in a Latin phrase that they posted all across their city: Every true progress in church history is conditioned by a new and deeper study of the Scriptures.
As the Scriptures were studied deeply, the church began to make progress. The deadness that had consumed it during the Middle Ages was replaced by a life and vitality that could be seen and felt and heard. People read about Jesus Christ in the Bible and were changed. They learned that salvation was not by legalism but by grace. They realized that the Catholic Church was not the only one who could give an authentic interpretation to the Scriptures. They could interpret the Bible for themselves. Let the man who would hear God speak, read Holy Scripture.
The Word did it all. Let the pastors boldly dare all things by the word of God.
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Let them enjoin everyone by it, from the highest to the lowest. Let them edify the body of Christ. Let them pasture the sheep, kill the wolves, instruct and exhort the rebellious. Let them bind and loose thunder and lightning, if necessary, but let them do all according to the word of God. The scripture is a light and sheweth us the true way, both what to do and what to hope.
And a defence from all error, and a comfort in adversity that we despair not. All of the Reformers taught the Bible. Luther translated it into German. Tyndale translated it into English. Luther and Calvin wrote commentaries on it, as did many others. Since it was not translated into French yet, Calvin took the Greek and Hebrew Bible with him into the pulpit and translated on the spot.
As he did that, he preached Sunday mornings on the New Testament, Sunday afternoons on the New Testament or the Psalms, and every morning of the week, every other week on a book from the Old Testament. He preached hundreds of sermons each year. He also led a college to train pastors and wrote the first systematic theology of the church: