Paul Helm on Christian Hedonism

In concert with reflections on religious affections, Paul Helm has also written a couple of pieces on the topic of 'Christian Hedonism'. I think he makes some very helpful and, although his interest in not aimed at this, some pastorally-necessary observations.

Part 1 - Baring Our Souls

Part 2 - Further Thoughts

Middle-aged & gloomy?

Then you might want to have a read of this...

a Christological defeat

Christianity Today has published the reflections of several prominent church leaders to the events of 9/11 and the decade that has followed. Here are the thoughts of Will Willimon, presiding bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. (HT: Scot McKnight - with apologies for replicating his post)

On 9/11 I thought, For the most powerful, militarized nation in the world also to think of itself as an innocent victim is deadly. It was a rare prophetic moment for me, considering Presidents Bush and Obama have spent billions asking the military to rectify the crime of a small band of lawless individuals, destroying a couple of nations who had little to do with it, in the costliest, longest series of wars in the history of the United States.

The silence of most Christians and the giddy enthusiasm of a few, as well as the ubiquity of flags and patriotic extravaganzas in allegedly evangelical churches, says to me that American Christians may look back upon our response to 9/11 as our greatest Christological defeat. It was shattering to admit that we had lost the theological means to distinguish between the United States and the kingdom of God. The criminals who perpetrated 9/11 and the flag-waving boosters of our almost exclusively martial response were of one mind: that the nonviolent way of Jesus is stupid. All of us preachers share the shame; when our people felt very vulnerable, they reached for the flag, not the Cross.

September 11 has changed me. I'm going to preach as never before about Christ crucified as the answer to the question of what's wrong with the world. I have also resolved to relentlessly reiterate from the pulpit that the worst day in history was not a Tuesday in New York, but a Friday in Jerusalem when a consortium of clergy and politicians colluded to run the world on our own terms by crucifying God's own Son.

in my seat

Events do not shape leaders; decisions do

A very interesting article over at HBR about a leader's role in a crisis. Worth pondering for anyone involved in serving the church, not only in times of crisis but more generally.

the ambiguity of all language

Over at Koinonia, Bill Mounce asks the question, Who reigns in the millenial kingdom? Maybe not the kind of question you worry about too much, but his point is more about language and translation and interpretation. His concluding paragraph makes salutary points:

I am coming to believe that language is the stringing of one ambiguity after another. Having served on two translation teams has only strengthened this conviction; what one person hears is not always what the other person hears. An important point for all preachers to ponder. For the exegete, we must see that language is not always precise, and so our exegesis must see the range of meaning for a word or grammatical construction, and then as always make a decision in light of the context.

metaphors for ministry

Over the summer holiday, I read John Stott's fine book The Preacher's Portrait. These were addresses given in 1961 at Fuller Theological Seminary in which he considered 5 metaphors used in the New Testament for the work of ministry: Steward, Herald, Witness, Father and Servant.


A similar track is taken by Derek Tidball in his helpful work Builders & Fools: Leadership the Bible Way. He also explores ministry metaphors, choosing to focus on Ambassador, Athlete, Builder, Fool, Parent, Pilot, Scum and Shepherd (he kindly arranged them in alphabetical order, for the obsessives amongst us....).


Both books I've found really helpful, in all sorts of ways, but I want to ask some questions and to invite you to help me think some issues through (there is some overlap in how I've framed them):


i. To what extent are the metaphors used in the New Testament tied to their cultural situation or would you see them as trans-cultural?


ii. How transferable are they? How ought we to appropriate them? How would you, for example, apply the metaphor of 'herald' today? How do we delineate the notions behind the metaphors?


iii. Ought we to also seek to employ metaphors for ministry from today's world? If so, what might they be? Do they need to be modern equivalents of the biblical ones or can we expand the list - that is, are the Bible's metaphors descriptive or prescriptive?

overwhelmed with stuff to do?

Need to make your to-do list actually doable? Maybe the good folks at Lifehacker can help you.

Character or gifts?

It's clearly a case of both/and but where should the emphasis lie/ Here's an interesting post by David Murray, himself a college dude, on the need for seminaries (& churches) to focus on character, rather than gifts. He notes that the focus ought to be on what a Pastor is to be and not what he's to do.

The Collects of Thomas Cranmer

As I recall, I first read about this little book via Tim Keller, somewhere, somehow. All I can say is, 'Cor, thanks Tim!'

It's a real gem. You get the collects themselves, a brief history and then a meditation upon the collect - wonderfully stimulating, properly deep and engaging.

What is ministry about?

Here's a list of Paul's words to Timothy about his ministry - seems like a good place to start.


1 Timothy
command certain people not to teach false doctrines etc (1:3)
fight the battle well (1:18)
hold onto faith and a good conscience (1:19)
point-out wrong teaching (4:6)
avoid old wives tales and godless myths (4:7)
train yourself to be godly (4:7)
set an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, purity (4:12)
the public reading of scripture (4:13)
not neglecting his gift (of teaching?) (4:14)
be diligent & give yourself to these things, so your progress is visible (4:15)
watch your life and doctrine closely & persevere in them (4:16)
don't rebuke an older man but exhort as though your father (5:1)
treat younger men as brothers (5:1)
treat older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with purity (5:2)
proper recognition to widows who are really in need (5:3)
no partiality or favouritism (5:22)
not hasty in laying on of hands (5:23)
look after yourself physically (drink a little wine) (5:23)
flee greed and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance & gentleness (6:11)
fight the good fight of faith (6:12)
take hold of eternal life (6:12)
command the rich to put their trust in God (6:17)
guard what is entrusted to your care (6:20)
turn from godless chatter (6:20)


2 Timothy
fan into flame the gift of God (1:6)
don't be ashamed but join in suffering for Christ (1:8)
keep the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love (1:13)
guard the good deposit entrusted to you (1:14)
be strong in grace (2:1)
entrust teaching to those who can train others too (2:2)
suffer like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2:3)
reflect on what Paul is saying re. focussing on pleasing God (2:7)
remember Jesus Christ (2:8)
remind God's people of 'these things' (2:14)
warn them not to quarrel (2:14)
present yourself to God as one who handles the word of truth correctly (2:15)
avoid godless chatter; it leads to ungodliness (2:16)
flee the evil desires of youth (2:22)
pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace (2:22)
have nothing to do with stupid arguments (2:23)
don't quarrel or be resentful but be kind to all (2:24)
gently instruct opponents (2:25)
have nothing to do with professing Christians who live ungodly lives (3:5)
continue in what you've learned & become convinced of - don't fall away (3:14)
preach the word, in season and out (4:2)
correct, rebuke, encourage - with great patience and care (4:2)
keep your head in all situations (4:5)
endure hardship (4:5)
do the work of an evangelist (4:5)
discharge all the duties of your ministry (4:5)
be supportive of others (4:9)
be on your guard against those who harm the gospel (4:15)

The Reason For God (interview)

HT: Justin Taylor

a different kind of low & high church

These words by Steven Covey (HT: Matt Perman) are very challenging when applied to church culture:

A low-trust culture is filled with bureaucracy, excessive rules and regulations, restrictive, closed systems. In the fear of some “loose cannon,” people set up procedures that everyone has to accommodate.

The level of initiative is low — basically “do what you’re told.” Structures are pyramidal, hierarchical. Information systems are short-term. The quarterly bottom line tends to drive the mentality in the culture.

In a high-trust culture, structures and systems are aligned to create empowerment, to liberate people’s energy and creativity toward agreed-upon purposes within the guidelines of shared values. There’s less bureaucracy, fewer rules and regulations, more involvement.

Are you fostering a low-trust environment or a high-trust one?

Are people flourishing, truly?

asking questions

It's a skill, and a deeply necessary one at that, in both pastoral and evangelistic ministry. Ron Ashkenas writes with business and management in view but his points are transferable and worth pondering.

Hubris in the church

This is a very perceptive piece by Thom S. Rainer.

For example:

Hubris often manifests itself in the idolatry of ministries, programs, or preferred styles of worship. Those ministries that were once a means to the end of glorifying God become ends in themselves. Inevitably the church will experience conflict when any leader attempts to change or discard those ministries, programs, or worship styles. They have been become idols. They represent in the minds of some the accomplishments of the church rather than just an instrument to glorify God.

overcoming procrastination

Take Breaks After Starting the Next Part of a Task, Rather Than In Between

When you take a break, don’t take your break at a natural stopping point. Instead, get to a natural stopping point, and then start into the next segment of the task. This gets you into it a bit and gets your wheels turning. Then take your break. While you are on your break, your mind will be inclined to get going again, since you’ve already started in to it. So it will be easier to come back from the break and avoid letting the break turn into an extended period of procrastination.

Matt Perman

How do you get to hear about books?

I guess for most ministers, books are constant companions. But how do you get to know about them? How do you discover what's out there, let alone what's worth reading?

Years back, I'd hear about books in magazines. I'd browse a bookshop and, later, the college library. Maybe someone would mention something they'd been reading. Just occasionally I might get hold of a catalogue or two. And that was about it.

Now things are so very different. I still see book reviews in the occasional magazine but they're not often new to me or they tend to be a little too obscure. Bookshop scours are far rarer, certainly Christian bookshops. Ditto for theological libraries. Far and away the most extensive exposure to books is online.

But that needs to be broken down further. Blogs are a large source of information of what's new and what's helpful. And when a book is mentioned, it's only a few clicks to check it out on Amazon, read some reviews and add it to the wish list.

And then there's Amazon itself and Kindle - looking at what other customers have bought; clicking on an author's name and instantly seeing what else by them is available. Sometiems it's by personal recommendation but far and away it's the personal trawl and discovery.

late in the afternoon (tracey thorn)

love this song and it's great to see it performed live (at home)

how late in the day is it with you and yours?

Baptism and Fulness

(the best books - no.10)

Subtitled 'The work of the Holy Spirit today', I first read this little book by John Stott in about 1986/87 when there was a lot of debate about charismatic issues. It's great strength is that it is down-to-earth exposition of biblical material - you'd probably call it 'sane' and it is, but it's more: it's real; it's properly deep without being dense or inaccessible. Just a great book to recommend to anyone working through the issues.

"the overwhelming emphasis of the New Testament letters is not to urge upon Christian readers some entirely new and distinct blessing, but to remind us of what by grace we are, to recall us to it, and to urge us to live by it." (p.44)

believing and doing: how do they stack up?

There's been some ongoing discussion all over the place about statements of truth and commands to obey in scripture (indicatives and imperatives).

I found Kevin deYoung's latest piece a helpful response, especially his answer to the question, "Should Christians be exhorted to obey the imperatives or does sanctification so invariably flow from justification that the way to get obedience is always and only to bring people back to the gospel?"

(Clue: the answer is 'yes, they should' because 'no, it doesn't and it isn't')