Ray Ortlund, When God Comes to Church:
Do we want to guarantee that our children will run in the opposite direction of our most cherished biblical convictions? All we have to do is sterilize our churches. Make them rigid, unresponsive, grim. Require of our ministers that they play the role of scolding, scowling Reverend Eat-Your-Peas. Treat the gospel as a theological system only, rather than also as a personal remedy. Use the Bible as ammunition for “culture wars” rather than as food for life. Withdraw from the historical situation in which God has placed us. Build up the walls, reinforce the barriers, and make certain that no experience gets in here. Ignore the fact that “doctrine only” is not itself a biblical doctrine.
HT: JW
Update: A friend of mine, Pastor Kipp Soncek, was familiar with the quote above and sent me the paragraph that follows. It's well worth adding, with a new title: "We DO Want to Do This!"
Update: A friend of mine, Pastor Kipp Soncek, was familiar with the quote above and sent me the paragraph that follows. It's well worth adding, with a new title: "We DO Want to Do This!"
But do we want our children to embrace our biblical convictions with joy? Let our churches become environments fertile with revival potentialities. Let’s shape our churches with the deliberate intention that their content and tone may encourage our children, and all others, in true experience of God. Let our convictions open up to their eyes a glorious vision of God and to their hearts the succulent pleasures of God. We cannot trigger a divine visitation on our churches, but it is our responsibility prayerfully to offer our Lord a church steeped in the gospel and tenderly responsive to his presence. His Spirit’s blessing should not have to work against the logic and ethos we create.Amen! Thanks, Kipp!
Chris,
ReplyDeleteCame into possession of an e copy of this book when I became an email follower of his (and Jani's) Renewal Ministries site. I have been greatly edified by it so far and sent this paragraph and the one following out to some folks, because it was so good. Here is the following paragraph:
"But do we want our children to embrace our biblical convictions with joy? Let our churches become environments fertile with revival potentialities. Let’s shape our churches with the deliberate intention that their content and tone may encourage our children, and all others, in true experience of God. Let our convictions open up to their eyes a glorious vision of God and to their hearts the succulent pleasures of God. We cannot trigger a divine
visitation on our churches, but it is our responsibility prayerfully to offer our Lord a church steeped in the gospel and tenderly responsive to his presence. His Spirit’s blessing should not have to work against the logic and ethos we create."
Sorry for the length, but worth every spent letter.
Blessings my brother,
kipp