I will be writing a series of ongoing devotions for church tech servants over at churchproduction.com.  You can read the first one, from Romans 12:3-8 right here.

Dr. Benjamin Merkle’s book, Forty Questions about Elders and Deacons deals with the issue of church polity in the format of question and answer.  Having completed his doctoral dissertation on the subject, was encouraged by others to write a more general book on the topic of elders.  Out of his experience teaching the topic to seminary students on two continents, as well as within the context of local churches, Dr. Merkle rightly recognized the need for a practically organized and accessible treatment of the overall issue of church polity.  The books two main strengths are indeed this practical format of question and answer, and its synthesis of excellent scholarship with accessibility.

Dr. Merkle addresses the most common questions, certainly in the Baptist context, about the teaching of Scripture on church leadership.  He begins in the first section with a general overview of the offices of church leadership, including some treatment of the views taken by hierarchical models of polity. In the second section he addresses the office of Elder, a topic which for many Baptist holds much mystery. Building on the research of his dissertation, he addresses the question of whether the words translated Elder and Overseer are the same or different, concluding that they represent the same office and should not be seen as supporting the role of bishops who oversee multiple congregations.  Perhaps this stands as a strength of the book as Merkle, who admittedly comes from a congregational Baptist perspective, deals etymologically with the terms and comes to a conclusion as free of bias as is humanly possible. He deals extensively with the issues both of the qualifications of Elders, as well as their selection, employment, and removing. He quite thoroughly answers questions related to the type and extent of authority given to Elders, as well as their relationship to the congregation.  This section on Elders, the largest section of the book, will doubtlessly help make this book an important resource.

He then deals with the office deacons, its nature and specifics.  This section is vital for Baptist churches to employ as many within the tradition have adopted an understanding of the office of deacon that is essentially a conflation with the office of elder and causes much confusion and disunity within those churches.  He discusses the subject of women deacons in a very balanced and helpful manner, giving churches dealing with this question a helpful framework.

Along with the treatments of the questions one would expect on the topic, Merkle includes some more unique, but extremely helpful questions.  One example is the question of whether the offices of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, and Priest are appropriate for the modern church.  Another is the question of whether or not it is important to use the Biblical titles of Elder and deacon for leaders within the modern church.

Despite all of the books currently in print on the topic of Church Leadership structures, Forty Questions about Elders and Deacons by Benjamin Merkle is important for two primary reasons.  First, it represents careful and detailed scholarship that is specifically intended for application within the local church.  Many works on the topic either do not bring the same level of scholarship to bear on the subject, or are not as accessible or easily applied as Merkle’s work.  The Second is that its format is specifically designed as a resource for the answering of the questions that make up the chapter titles.  This can especially useful for a church that is investigating the Biblical teachings on polity, or for a pastor or other church leader who is helping his congregation think Biblically about the issue.

Growing up, my Dad used to say about any small town that if you
blinked while driving through it you would miss it altogether.

Interestingly, I feel like this has been my experience with Christmas most years.  As a child I could hardly focus on anything besides the one thing I really wanted that year.  This focus would often start as early as October and carry me headlong into Christmas morning. Visions of the particular item would “dance in my head” to the point that nearly anything else was drowned out.

And then it was over. Gone.  The truth is that whether or not I
received the item in question, I had missed Christmas.  By mid-morning the emptiness of unsatisfiable materialism would often set in.

As an adult it often takes a slightly different, perhaps more
altruistic form. We desire to give good gifts to our kids, family and friends.  Maybe we are hosting family and so we work hard to those ends.  Such things (like everything) are good until they take the place of God in our lives as the object of our desire and worship.

Two Very Good articles that I have read in the last two weeks deal with the topic of the real meaning of Christmas for Christians and how it should be lived out.  First, from Fox News, John Fea writes in “Have a counter cultural Christmas This Year”, that the primary drive for the celebration of Christmas in the United States has never in fact been the birth of Jesus.

Second, Nathan Finn wrote an article on his blog titled “I Deserve the Coal” in which he relates excellent commentary on the way Christians celebrate Christmas.

Lets all try to slow down, think of the cradle and the cross, and not miss Christmas for what it is this year!

Today I’m going to add a new category to A Relevant Orthodoxy: Art By Christians.  I have chosen these exact words carefully.   Matt Papa’s music is a perfect example of the type of Art I intend to feature: that which has theological content and/or motivation as well as a genuine form (not merely created to sell to the masses).

First up is Matt Papa.  When I first heard his music, I was instantly impacted both by the theological nature of the lyrics and the creative musical aspects of his sound.  Below are the 13 questions I asked Matt and his answers:

I prayed a prayer in church when I was 7 because an old man was on stage screaming about hell.  I was quite frightened.  When I was 12, I understood a bit more clearly, and at a church camp I trusted Christ.  My youth pastors then discipled me.

8) Describe the significance and purpose behind your latest album Scripture Songs and Hymns 2

Pray that I can be a Christ-like Husband, a fun daddy, and a good church member – in the midst of all my “music stuff”.

I want to thank Matt for taking the time to answer these questions so thoughtfully.  You can learn more about Matt at his website which is, appropriately: mattpapa.com.

I wrote the following as part of a recent email newsletter sent out by Church Production Magazine.

Recently an interesting question was posed to Church Production Magazine regarding whether technology operators should pray during worship services rather than concentrating on operating their equipment. In this particular church there was disagreement over whether or not the techs should place a higher priority on being a prayerful example for the remainder of the congregation during prayer times rather than on the execution of their assigned technical role.  This is an interesting question because it is likely that both parties are chiefly concerned with achieving the same goal: undistracted, orderly corporate worship (1 Corinthians 14).

In fact, if worship is not the goal of everyone involved in your corporate worship services, then conflict is bound to come up on a regular basis.  In the real world it is solely an issue of the heart. The difficulty comes because two people or groups who hopefully have essentially the same goal and motivation (worship) go about it in different ways. One group feels that it is distracting for the technology folks to continue operating their equipment during prayer time.  Some feel they are a poor example for the church.  The other group feels that the priority should be on the job at hand — operating the equipment. In a sense, both groups are right,

Our purpose in the church is to facilitate the worship of God. This comes from our original and ultimate purpose as humans: to give glory to God as that part of His creation that was made in His image and given the mission of filling the earth with worshippers (Genesis 1 and 2, Isaiah 43:6-7, 1 Corinthians 10:31). We have become disconnected from God (Genesis 3, Romans 3:1-20), and it is only through the work of Christ on the Cross that we can be reconnected both with God and our purpose as worshippers of God (Romans 3:21-31, 2 Peter 1:3).

Enter the Church, the assembly of the saints.  The Biblical purpose of the Church is to live out worship and to fill the earth with worshippers.

Our decisions about methods, tools, and processes must flow from this.  We use technology in the church primarily to help us better communicate the redemption story and to direct our corporate attention in worship towards God.

So here is the key question: is the operation of technical equipment for the purpose of facilitating worship of God by the church an act of worship in itself?  The answer is “maybe”.  It is certainly true that some folks who gravitate to technical service positions are those “behind the scenes” folks who struggle to do anything more deep and significant than critically analyze any event or service they may attend. This attitude does not represent proper worship to God.  If you are a technical director you may be saying, “But those are my best technical servants!”  But is their service worship to God or worship to an idol such as self, excellence, or relevance?  One sure-fire test of this is attendance at spiritual events where the person is neither serving nor visible at all.  We must view our service to God through technology as worship which is much more than a job.  It is the pastor in authority who has the responsibility to shepherd the servants in this way.

However, the act of willingly forgoing an opportunity to engage in corporate worship in order to facilitate that same opportunity for the rest of the church must be seen as worship — if properly motivated.  The issue of judging motivations is a purely pastoral one that each church must handle differently and with great care.  If everyone not serving during times of corporate worship is engaging God, they will not notice the open eyes of those worshipping God through their service.

An Argument for the use of the Creeds in the Modern Church

The corporate recitation of Creeds has historically played a vital role in the Church both as a means for determining and demonstrating apostolic continuity[1] as well as reinforcing the corporate nature of the Christian life as it is to be lived out in unity within the gospel community (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:12-13, Acts 2:41-47).  While the Baptist tradition of which I am a part has largely moved away from the use of congregational recitation, and perhaps for some good reasons, there is much to be gained from corporately speaking the truths that undergird our very identity as heirs of the kingdom of God assembled as the bride of Christ.  As with all methodological questions under consideration within the church, both the motivation and implementation must be evaluated in light of a thoroughly biblical ecclesiology.

Historically the creeds served to facilitate basic doctrinal instruction and identity within the church, especially where literacy or access to written documents were limited.  They were used not only instructionally, but as both expression and maintenance of continuity with the apostolic tradition[2]. It is important to note the explicit devotion in Acts 2:42 of the very earliest Christian church members to the “apostles teaching” as much more than a mere intellectual assent to the truths presented by the apostles. The word in verse 42 often rendered devotion, which describes the Christians’ orientation with the teaching of the apostles, is a Greek word which means literally to give constant attention to the object in question.

As these believers were still attending the synagogue, and lived communal lives that hardly reflect the context of the modern western church, it would be fallacious to draw a direct imperative application from this text.  However, given the role that the creeds have played throughout church history and the principle of devotion to the teachings of the apostles, a well-grounded motivation for their use within our context can be made.

We can add to this the reality that in our western context we bring an overly individualistic worldview to our faith, as opposed to the largely corporate worldview of Scripture and the culture in context. The corporate expression of the truths upon which our identity as the church rest, is nothing new. This has historically been one of the principle uses for music within the church, though some music has left the theological in favor of the purely experiential. When we consider the fact that as Dietrich Bonhoeffer states, “The basis of the Spiritual community is truth” [3], we see that the creeds can potentially help us to meditate corporately on the source of our identity.

The reason many within the Baptist tradition have rejected the corporate use of creeds is related to the baptistic and biblical emphasis on regenerate church membership.  With a purely ritualistic and unexplained use of the creeds in corporate worship comes the passive communication that all who recite the creeds believe them and are regenerate.  In fact, the creeds were never intended to have salvific value, but rather throughout church history have been a manner in which the body has corporately expressed and held on to salvific truth.  Alister McGrath proposes in his work I believe: Exploring the Apostles Creed, that the creeds can have at least three valuable functions within the contemporary church.  The first is as a summary of, but certainly not the essence of, the Christian faith.  The second is the avoidance of anemic understandings of the Christian faith.  The third is that the creeds assist us in the modern age of the church to experience both apostolic continuity and community[4].

Having established a tenable motivation for their use, the question of implementation must be asked: Can the creeds be implemented in a way that does not undermine the biblical understanding of church membership and salvation?  Perhaps this issue will bring into view a set of questions which should be applied to any methodology, especially that which relates to our local assemblies’ times of corporate worship.  It is true that as creatures of habit and likely idolaters, any form our worship takes, whether corporate or personal, has the potential to become either an idol or something to which we give undue importance.  The Creeds must be given similar consideration as they are not directly commanded in Scripture as are the two ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  Perhaps a thorough explanation of the proper understanding of the Creed and it’s purpose could be given before its recitation.  Another consideration could be to avoid their predictable use.

Certainly there is sufficient motivation for the use of Creeds in the modern Church given their theological and corporate nature.  In conclusion, while there always exists the potential for any methodology to distract from the Gospel, a proper understanding and implementation of the Creeds would likely help to enrich the life of the modern church.

[2] Ibid, 16.

[3] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. (New York: Harper and Row Publishers), 31.

[4] Alister McGrath.  I Believe: Exploring the Apostles’ Creed.  (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter Varsity Press) 1991, 14-16.

Dr. Ken Keathley, author of the previously reviewed Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach, recently wrote a very important post at the Southeastern Seminary Faculty blog entitled When Writing about Those with Whom You Disagree. I think this short article is worth a few minutes to read because it is a healthy expression of Christian charity that so often is lacking within the Church.  Dr. Keathley has handled the controversy surrounding Salvation and Sovereignty with such grace and charity that this post holds extra weight.  Enjoy!

Stephen J. Nichols. Jesus: Made in America; A Cultural History From the Puritans to the Passion of the Christ Downer’s Grove Illinois:  Inter-Varsity Press, 2008. Pp. 237. $24.95, paperback.

In his book Jesus: Made in America; A Cultural History From the Puritans to the Passion of the Christ, Stephen J. Nichols analyzes how culture has influenced American views and understandings of Jesus.  Certainly he has succeeded in illustrating the degree to which culture in Christian America has made Jesus into its own image.  The tone of the book is set on the very first page of the introduction. Here Nichols, while acknowledging the negative influence of German higher scholarship upon American understandings of Jesus and the New Testament, does not blame those outside of American culture for the shortcomings found in his research.  Instead he calls to mind two cornerstones of American culture, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, who both held views, though perhaps less sophisticated than those of Albert Schweitzer, that certainly undermined the Biblical accounts of Christ and therefore the American cultural understandings of Him (11).   Methodically, he begins with the first Americans to agree upon a defined Christology: the Puritans.  Working toward the present day, Nichols tests each concept of Christ by the New Testament, praising certain aspects found to be Biblical such as the Puritan’s reverence for Him, while honestly illuminating the less Biblical elements of a given Christology such as the puritan’s impersonal understanding of Jesus (20).  This allows the reader the opportunity to follow Nichol’s analysis of unique American Christology.

Each successive chapter gives reflections upon a different American Christology.  It seems that, though imperfect, Nichols finds the Puritan Christology to be the most Biblically faithful.  It must be said that he seems to give Puritan theology more of Christological flavor than the overall body of their extant writings suggests save Jonathon Edwards who truly viewed God’s Sovereignty through a Christological lens.  He also gives the puritans somewhat of a pass, given their sometimes violent treatment of their detractors, in saying that they sometimes did not act Christ-like (40). Using the Puritan’s strict, dogmatic approach to Christology as a measuring stick naturally places other Christologies in a less Biblical light.

The pragmatic virtue-heavy Christology of the founding era of our nation focuses primarily on manifestations while de-emphasizing the doctrinal essence of the second member of the trinity.  Certainly much mis-information has propagated about the nature of faith held by the majority of our nation’s founders.  He assigns much blame for this reality to the cultural desire for the founders to be seen as heroes by a culture that demanded at least the ascribing of Christian faith.  The scholarly heresy of Thomas Jefferson receives a thorough discussion and criticism both for its nature and its affects upon the wider culture of the United States up until this day.

He discusses the versions of Christology attributed to the Frontier with Jesus as a sort of deified Cowboy and also of Victorianism with a gentle and soothing idea of Jesus.  This Flows into the20th century battle between evangelical orthodox and liberal Christology, in which the question of whether Jesus primarily is an example of faith or the object of faith. Nichols rightly notes that in the culture at large Jesus becomes merely one to follow.

Chapter five “Jesus on Vinyl” discusses the cultural reality of a Jesus expressed through the arts, or more specifically through music.  While he deals with the development of Christian music and its commercialization, and discusses the doctrinal basis for earlier forms of music for corporate worship, he quickly moves to a discussion of the current state of Christian arts.  He rightfully laments the “paucity” of “praise” music containing little or no doctrinal content in favor of a shallow love song mentality towards the Creator of the universe who bore the awesome weight of our Sin at Calvary.   The core question is left begging here and in the next chapter on film; what does it mean to culturally create in a Gospel-centered way?  Current efforts are rightfully noted as primarily being inescapably shallow and more akin to the “luke-warm” food Jesus said He would spit out of His mouth.  However, Nichols never presents us with a better way of thinking about these issues as this is, after all, a history text.

One element that Nichols rightly incorporates drawing from these chapters towards the end of the book is the element that capitalistic consumer culture has played in our commoditization of Jesus.  While certainly this idea is much to blame for poor Gospel art, the degree to which Christian culture fads such as the WWJD bracelets took off are the best example of mindless consumerism converging with and shaping a view of Jesus.

The final chapter deals specifically with the relationship between Christianity and politics that Nichols views as hinging greatly on Carter’s having described himself as being born-again. The reality is that the invoking of Christianity in American politics has largely left out a prominent Christology.  Nichols asserts that the passing ode to God which lacks any overt Christology at all, serves more to draw Evangelicals towards a political party than to faithfully reflect our Lord and Savior.

As a whole this book is engaging.  At times Nichols writes a history of American Christology while at times the book reads more like a vehement criticism of Christian Culture.  While not exactly on the level parallel of Jaroslav Pelikan’s Jesus Through the Centuries or H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture, neither is it merely a polished rant against Christian culture.  This book has intrinsic value for modern believers and Christian leaders as its thesis is well argued and its primary goal of examining the realities of culture in shaping American Christology is a success.

I wrote an article for the August 2010 issue of Church Production Magazine entitled Questions for “Gospel Stewardship”.  In the article I lay out 8 questions to help a church make technology purchasing decisions in a way that reflects the Biblical mission of the church.  It can be read at churchproduction.com or below.  I would love to have your feedback on this concept of Gospel Stewardship so please comment on this post and I look forward to reading your thoughts and ideas…

Planning and Purchasing Audio, Video and Lighting

Good stewardship begins with a series of questions designed to assist you through the process.

by Rob Connelly

Most church leaders would agree that planning for and purchasing large items within the church is not nearly as simple as doing so for individual use. However, I have run across few churches that have a systematic framework to assist them in this area. The purpose of this article is to define and briefly apply a series of questions for purchasing and planning audio, video and lighting that will help pursue what I call gospel stewardship.

Gospel stewardship is quite simple: Making disciples who worship God with their lives is the primary mission of the church, according to Matthew 28. Everything we do and buy should be directly linked to this mission. This worship is also expressed through caring for the poor and hurting, caring for creation, serving our communities where real need exists, by essentially loving what God loves. Actually living this mission out in the church is quite complicated. In order to make disciples and facilitate worship, the gospel message and indeed the gospel community (the church) must be “contextualized” appropriately to the culture.

This idea of “contextualization” is debated greatly with differing opinions of how much contextualization is too much. In other words, at what point have we somehow altered the gospel in an attempt to contextualize it? While the church should use relevant methods, the message of the Bible and the end goal of making disciples must motivate their use. Each church must have a vision: a stated understanding of how the biblical mission of the church will be contextualized to unify and drive all of what they do.

The following three scenarios (regarding the purchase of audio, video and lighting, respectively) apply these gospel stewardship questions to reach effective decisions. For the sake of this article we won’t ask all questions for each example, but only enough to give readers a better understanding of the process.

When you’re considering equipment upgrades for your church, answers to some questions may be obvious, while other questions may require meetings, conversations with consultants and prayerful consideration to reach accurate conclusions.

Eight important questions:

1. How does the function of this equipment enhance the accomplishment of our long-term vision?

2. Do we have the budget to do it right legally, safely and with quality?

3. Are we prepared/able to put in place the proper infrastructure to make this a good kingdom investment for the long-term?

4. Are we willing to pay someone from outside the church (unless a volunteer experienced in A/V system design for houses of worship is available) to help us with both the decision and the integration?

5. Will this equipment be operable by our volunteers/staff in such a way that it will add its theoretical value?

6. Are there any technical issues that this upgrade might cause that would be a detriment to the vision?

7. Is there another piece of equipment that may cost less, be easier to operate, require less infrastructure or has only the features we need and none of the ones we don’t, which would bring the value we desire?

8. Should we have other priorities based on the heart of God for our money, which would better reflect the Gospel, such as feeding the poor or taking the Gospel to the nations?

AUDIO-Transition from Analog to Digital Console?

Let’s say a church is thinking about replacing a large-format analog console with a new digital console. Question number one would ask what gospel value is added by this purchase? How does a digital console facilitate accomplishing your vision? If gospel contextualization leads you to have multiple services and events taking place each week, then the instant setting recall of a digital console will facilitate that.

Question five would ask whether the console would be too advanced for your operators. If they have neither the expertise nor the ability to acquire the expertise, then the purchase will not embody gospel stewardship. Another mixer may have a more appropriate feature set that comes with a lower price tag. This is one case where a trustworthy outside consultant can be more helpful than merely finding out what another church is using or merely searching the internet for the best price.

VIDEO-Switching from SD to HD?

Let’s now consider a video upgrade from an SD 4:3 system to HD 16:9. Question six answers most issues. Certainly, the cost of HD projection has come down considerably in recent years, but such an upgrade is still expensive for most churches. There are a myriad of issues that must be considered with large-format video displays yet another reason to hire a qualified consultant or integrator. Some spaces are not large enough to truly benefit from HD, not to mention that the demographics of your congregation/target-group may or may not dictate the need. Also, most new projectors have the ability to project in 16:9 widescreen format, so a setting change along with a tweak to your screens may give the effect of HD without the cost or the technical considerations.

LIGHTING-New System or Not?

Finally let’s consider a complete lighting overhaul. Let’s use the example of an older congregation that is meeting in an older building, with an antiquated lighting system already in place. Let’s say the church leaders have decided that the vision moving forward will include more contemporary elements such as dramas, concerts and other events and that the current lighting system is in need of modernization.

With question one already answered, questions two and three come to the forefront. This type of upgrade will likely involve a good deal of electrical work to be done safely and legally. Depending on the specifics of the building, this may require significant interaction with local officials to assure that the work is being done according to code.

Aesthetics come into play with older facilities, and making modern technology fit with older architecture can be tricky and expensive. The infrastructure for future expansion of the lighting system, specifically electrical infrastructure for future fixtures and dimmers, should be done with the modernization. This will surely save money long-term not to mention avoiding the headache of not having the infrastructure in place when you need it. This would be true any time you are pulling cable or having electrical work done. Do as much as your future vision may dictate and your current budget allows.

In Conclusion

With any purchase your church is considering, the amount of money you spend is important. However, the lowest price is often not the best decision as gospel stewardship involves the long-term just as much as the short-term. Be intentional about cultivating good relationships with a consultant or integrator who can get to know your church and its vision and can provide quality service long after the sale or installation. Some smaller purchases such as cables, adapters, and small equipment can be priced out for the lowest price, but any major purchase is worth some extra investment into the relationship with a long-term partner. Hopefully, these questions will give you a framework for your purchasing and planning as your church moves forward with its vision to make disciples and embody good gospel stewardship.

Mike Sessler, Technical Director at Coast Hills Community Church in Aliso Viejo, CA, maintains a blog which he calls Church Tech Arts.  It really is a wonderful source for the practical elements of technical ministry.  Those serving the church in the area of technology will benefit from reading his posts both as technicians and ministers…  Check it out HERE