Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons (Anyabwile)

It has been an honour over the past year to serve as an elder at Philpott Memorial Church.  The call to "shepherd the church of God" (Acts 20:28) has been one I've done with joy.  As we prepare to go to Africa, one of my latest tasks has been involved on the Nominating Committee doing exactly what the title of this book says... "Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons".  Thabiti Anyabwile was previously the Associate Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC with Mark Dever, and now he is Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Grand Cayman.  

This book was very helpful for me and I pray it will be for you.  

"A church without godly leaders is an endangered church.  And a church that does not train leaders is an unfaithful church." (pg 11)

"If a man is not given to discipling others, it's unlikely that he is called to the pastoral office." (pg 11)

Deacons

"In the last decade or two, more and more churches have adopted the biblical model of eldership, which means the deacon role has either been redefined or neglected.  But deacons are an indispensable part of serving the body of Christ and of multiplying the church's ministry" (pg 20)

"The loftiness of the office is seen in:
(a) the character of the individuals required to fill it ("full of the Spirit and of wisdom" v3),
(b) the fact that it facilitates the ministry of the Word and prayer, and 
(c) the unifying and strengthening effect it has on the whole church.
The deaconate is important!" (pg 21)

"Are there widows in our churches who are not cared for?  Perhaps we need to consider our work with deacons." (pg 21)

1 Timothy 3:9 - They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

"Since deacons care for the practical needs of the body, perhaps even being assigned a specific area of service, we may run the risk of thinking of deacons as technocrats with specialized skills but little or no theological acumen.  We may think of deacons as doers but not as thinkers.  But to "hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience" requires a steel grip on the gospel of Jesus Christ." (pg 36)

Elders

"While deacons serve the practical or physical needs of the church, elders serve the overall spiritual needs of the church." (pg 49)

"As Pastor Mark Lauderbach puts it, 'An elder with no Bible is an elder with no authority'". (pg 49)

"Faithful pastors will regularly encourage young men (including twenty-somethings) to include in their personal aspirations the goal of becoming an elder.  After all, every characteristic that Paul lists for elders in 1 Timothy 3, except for the quality of being "able to teach" (v2) should mark every Christian man. (pg 51)

"Choosing pastors/elders is the most important decision a congregation makes, since the pastors will shape the congregation through their teaching and their model." (pg 56)

1 Timothy 3:2 - Therefore an overseer must be... hospitable.

"Hospitality enables evangelism.  Perhaps our failure to be hospitable explains why so many Christians have few non-Christian friends and find themselves far removed from evangelistic opportunities.  We cannot share the gospel with a person we fail to greet, or speak to a person with whom we refuse to spend time." (pg 72)

"Hospitality enables discipleship and fellowship." (pg 72)

"It does pay to take note of the men who hang around after church services end, who arrive early, who greet visitors and saints alike." (pg 73)

"Does he use his lunch hour to build relationships with non-Christian coworkers with the hope of gospel opportunity?  Does he meet regularly with other men in the church to build fellowship and accountability and to disciple?" (pg 74)

"At the last church evening service before Jim and his family were relocated from Washington, DC, the pastor asked everyone who had been guests in their home for lunch or dinner to stand.  In the service that night were probably 350-400 people.  Literally 90% stood and gave God praise for the hospitality of Jim's family.  Their home and their lives had become a very real extension of the church's ministry and pastoral care.  They bore immeasurable fruit simply by having people join their normal Sunday dinner, week after week.  If that sounds like a burden, I should also mention that Jim and his wife have 6 children as well as their adopted nephew and niece, and they lived 45 minutes from the church.  He was not Superman, but he way he and his family modeled hospitality sometimes made it seem like he was.  His example challenges me to forsake ease and to cross more boundaries with the love of Christ.  May Jim's tribe increase!" (pg 75)

1 Timothy 3:2 - Therefore an overseer must be ... able to teach.

"Teaching is the primary task of the elder.  Other things are necessary in a church, such as administration, mutual care, and so forth.  But the one thing that necessarily sets an elder apart is his ability to teach." (pg 78)

"Does the prospective elder help others grow in Christ in more private settings such as small groups or 1-on-1 discipleship?" (pg 80)

1 Timothy 3:6 - He must not be a recent convert.

"Paul does not give us an age requirement or length of time that automatically signals maturity.  We all know Christians who have been Christians for decades but lack the spiritual maturity requisite for eldership.  And conversely, we have probably met a number of people who spiritually were born old and evidence remarkable maturity for their Christian age." (pg 100)

1 Timothy 3:7 - He must be well thought of by outsiders

"If a man is well regarded inside the church but poorly regarded by non-Christians, he does not qualify as a suitable candidate for Christian ministry." (pg 106)

Overall it was a great book. I've only touched on a few points here. 

How Important Is Church Membership (Piper)

I just listened to this sermon by John Piper titled "How Important Is Church Membership".  Here are the quotes I liked:

1) Membership is implied by the way the church is supposed to discipline its members (Matt 18:15-17)... If there is no church membership, how can you define the group you bring this sensitive issue to.

2) Membership is implied by the fact that excommunication even exists (1 Cor 5:12-13)

3) Membership is implied in the Biblical requirement for Christians to be submitted to a group of church leaders (elders/pastors) (Heb 13:17, 1 Thes 5:12-13)

4) Membership is implied by the way the New Testament requires elders to care for the flock in their charge (Acts 20:28, 1 Pet 5:2)

5) Membership is implied in the metaphor of "the body" (1 Cor 12:12-31)

Are you an accountable member of a local church?  I'm not asking is your name on a list somewhere.  Are you committed to discipline and being disciplined.  Have you publically declared your willingness to be lead by a group of elders?  Do you see yourself and your gifts as grafted into a body?

David Platt quotes

I was listening to one of David Platt's sermons on the topic "Radical Giving" and he said the following:

An African pastor has said "We won't give up, shut up or let up, until we have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ." We are disciples of Jesus and we must go 'til he comes, give 'til we drop, preach 'til all know and work 'til He stops us.

To which I said, AMEN!

Then I continued in his sermon series and listened to "Radical Abandonment".  He mentioned that Blomberg has written a book on "Heart, Soul and Money" in which he argues the same points below:

Instead of God giving possessions to build a PLACE that will display His glory among the nations, now God is giving possessions to build a PEOPLE who take His glory to the nations.

In the Old Testament (and old covenant) obedience to God led to acquiring possessions on earth. 

In the New Testament (and new covenant) obedience to God leads to abandoning of possessions on earth and accumulating possessions in heaven. 

My Rights? My God? (Wells)

One of the resources AIM sent for Karen and I to read was this book "My Rights? My God?" by Robin Wells. It was a decent book... nothing spectacular, but decent.

On page 16 he lists the following 9 "Myths of Missions". I thought they were well spoken myths.

- Christian work is for people who can't get into the career they want
- Everyone who wants to share their faith should be a pastor or a missionary
- You have to be stinking rich to go on summer programmes
- Being interested in world missions is for fanatics, not for the rest of us
- If you have a good skill, you shouldn't waste it overseas
- If you're really converted, you won't go into business. You'll be a full-time evangelist.
- Missions damages people's cultures
- We have no right to tell people that they should believe in Christ
- Missions is only for single people

Then on page 18 he states very clearly

There is no sense in which it is a 'more spiritual' calling to work overseas.

Amen? AMEN!!!!

Wells shares a story about George Whitefield, one of the great preachers in the 18th century spiritual awakening in the UK and USA. Whitefield crossed the Atlantic Ocean thirteen times, in a sailing ship, and the activist in him seized the opportunity of preaching to everyone on board. But at one point after reading and writing, he records in his journal:

"I have learned that the reaper is not wasting his time when he is whetting his scythe." - G. Whitefield (pg 77)

God help me rest and remind me that its not wasting time when I read and write. It's whetting my scythe!

Listen to this call:

Someone must go. If everyone, through the centuries, had listened to the reasons for not going, the church would still be confined to the countries around the Eastern Mediterranean! (pg 86)

But what about the risks? How can we respond to people who say that going on missions isn't safe... Wells advises with the following:

If you stay at home you can't be sure of escaping accidents, disease or violence; but if you're called to live in one of the developing countries you do increase your risks. But, I say again, remember that these tragic incidents are unusual; we shouldn't become paralysed by fear. (pg 97)

Should we above all else protect our children in a safe environment, and give them the best education? If this is our conclusion, then we should stay at home. Yet we are ignoring the gospel reasons for going. And we are also ignoring the fact there is no sure way of avoiding all risk while we are in this world. On top of this, we are discounting the significant benefits that our children can gain through the experience. (pg 133)

YES - life is about more than just a safe environment and the best education! Christ's love compels us to share the gospel. What a privilege!

I'll close with this quote, restated from the final chapter of Mabel Williamson's book "Have We No Rights?"

All that He takes I will give;
All that He gives I will take;
He is my only right!
Everything else fades away before Him.
I have full right to Him;
May He have full right to me! (pg 142)

Rowland Bingham - Into Africa's Interior (Benge)

As Karen and I talk more with SIM, I wanted to find out more about the history of this organization. I must say after reading this book "Rowland Bingham - Into Africa's Interior" by Janet and Geoff Benge, I'm quite impressed!

For those of you who don't know SIM is short for "Serving In Missions". It used to be "Sudan Interior Mission" but as it merged with other organizations over the past years the new name was adopted.

SIM was started by 3 men: Rowland Bingham, Walter Gowans and Thomas Kent. You'll hear more about these guys below, but the focus will be on Rowland Bingham. Rowland was born 1872 in England. He came to Halifax when he was 16 and then he moved to Toronto. Here in the GTA he met Walter Gowans mother, Mrs. Gowans. Listen to this mother's passion. I love it!!

"My son feels particularly called to the Sudan, a great expanse of land south of the Sahara Desert and bounded on the west by the Niger River and on the east by the Nile. In this belt of land stretching some 2500 miles across Africa live 90 million people. And do you know what, Mr. Bingham?... There is not one missionary in all of the Sudan and neither is there one Christian." (pg 44)

Now "Sudan" at that time is not the "Sudan" or "South Sudan" of today. In the early 1900s "Sudan" encompassed the area including countries like Nigeria, Niger, Chad, CAR, Sudan, Ethiopia.

Then Mrs. Gowans continued...

"What about you, Mr. Bingham? Are you prepared to join my son in his mission if God calls you to do so?"

What questions eh? Talk about challenging and mobilizing people for missions! God I pray, raise up more people like Mrs. Gowans today.

That night Rowland lay in bed, he could not get the words of Walter's mothers words out of his mind. There was plenty of work to be done in Canada and what would Reverend Salmon do without an assistant? (pg 45)

Classic questions! What about the need in Canada? What about the things were already involved with here? God I pray, call people to passionately serve you in Canada and call others to go to the nations.

In 1893 Rowland and Tom left on a boat from New York to England. When the boat finally dock in Liverpool, England, a letter from Walter Gowans was waiting for Rowland. The lines that stood out to me from this letter were...

But in London also I found nothing but indifference, halfheartedness and opposition, oh! My brother it is the same everywhere, sleeping societies, sleeping Christians, sleeping church! Yes, a dead church but blessed be God we have a LIVING Christ! My brother, one staggers to think of the immensity of our undertaking: 90 million without Christ, the great Sudan untouched. One might well stagger and ask, 'Who is sufficient for these things'? But our sufficiency is of God. He is able and He can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us and we will. (pg 48-49)

As I mentioned before the book describes Walter's mother as a very admirable woman. Listen to this...

Without a mission board behind them, the men had no one but Mrs. Gowans to keep churches updated on their news and prayer requests. Rowland smiled to himself. If we have to have a one-woman missionary board, there is no woman I would rather have behind me than Mrs. Gowans, he thought. She has enough enthusiasm and vision to do the work of ten others. (pg 52)

In 1894, when both Walter and Thomas had died from sicknesses obtained in the Sudan interior, Rowland was left as the lone surviving member of SIM. Unsure what to do, thinking that it may be true that the African interior is the white-man's graveyard, he heard the following from Mrs. Gowans.

"I would rather have had Walter go out to the Sudan and die there all alone than have him home today disobeying the Lord. I pray every day that God will raise up a Christian witness in Girku where Walter laid down his life for the gospel." (pg 72)

Pretty awesome!

Now the task of leading SIM was squarely on Rowland's shoulders. Would SIM be a Baptist mission or a non-denominational one?

It doesn't seem right, he thought, that today a Presbyterian woman gave all the money she possessed to enable me to start a Baptist mission work in the Sudan. Yet, whil I might take her last dollar, if she herself were to apply to serve in the mission she would not be accepted because she is a Presbyterian. Rowland wrestled with the problem and by dawn he made up his mind: SIM would be open to accept missionaries from all denominations, not just Baptists. He wondered what his friend who had promised him $100 a year if he kept the mission under the Baptist umbrella? ... Surprisingly, as Rowland explained his decision, his friend chuckled and said, "God has challenged me on the same issue. Instead of $100 a year for the first 3 years, I will make it $1000 a year for that period." (pg 80)

Around 1915 Rowland Bingham wrote the following in an open letter:

"Merely to mark time in missionary work during the war is a fatal blunder. We must go forward. Let the call of Christ be heard and heeded through the din of the world's conflict, and let the Church rise to a worthy endeavor to accomplish speedily the work entrusted to her." (pg 115)

I echo that prayer! Let the Church rise to accomplish speedily the work entrusted to her!

If you're not impressed yet by Rowland Bingham's faith and boldness, check this out. At a meeting to discuss northern Nigeria he stood up and stated:

"Friends, we have talked endlessly about how to open up the Muslim areas to the north, but we have been unable to come up with any plans to do so. Unless something very definite is decided upon here, I am going to go to Kano City as soon as this meeting is over. There I will stand in the marketplace and preach the gospel to the people. I know this may seem an extreme action to take, especially since I will probably be imprisoned, but something needs to be done to draw attention to the fact that there is no religious liberty in that area." (pg 137)

At another meeting to discuss the same issue he stated:

"There are many millions of people who live in these regions who have no opportunity to hear the gospel preached. Something must be done about it!" (pg 150)

As the beginning World War 2 approached, on October 3, 1935, Rowland listened to the grim news on the radio that Mussolini had ordered his Italian troops to invade Ethiopia.

Soon reports came from Tom (an SIM missionary in Ethiopia) that all foreign consulates had been closed and diplomats were leaving. In addition, the US and British governments had ordered all their citizens to evacuate immediately. Tom wanted to know what to tell the 80 SIM workers in the country. Rowland was well aware that if the SIM doctors and nurses left the country, there would be no more than a dozen doctors and up to twenty nurses in all of Ethiopia. Ethiopia needed missionaries as never before, yet these men and women would be in great danger if they stayed. After much prayer, Rowland sent a telegraph to Tom that read, "You are under higher orders than those of the King of England or the President of the United States. Get your instructions from Him and we are right with you." (pg 158)

I love that line. "You are under higher orders than those of the King of England or the President of the United States. Get your instructions from Him!"

When I got to the last chapter and read the following I was stunned.

The funeral service for Rowland Victor Bingham was held on December 10, 1942 at Cooke's Presbyterian Church in Toronto. The church was selected because it had the largest church auditorium in the city. The minister who conducted the service was Dr. P. W. Philpott, whom Rowland first meet in 1889 when attending the Salvation Army in Halifax soon after his arrival in Canada. Like so many hundreds of other people, Dr. Philpott had become a lifelong friend and supporter of Rowland's many Christian endeavors. (pg 181)

What a small world it is that the first pastor of the church I attend would officiate Rowland Bingham's funeral.

God, thank you for men like Rowland Bingham! I humbly ask that you will use me, as you used him, for the sake of Your name. If that's in Africa, so be it. If that's here in Canada, so be it. Be exalted oh God.

Translations of Old Testament

I found this out at Servant Pathway last month...

There are no complete original manuscripts of the Old Testament text. What we have is:

1) the Masoretic text (in full) which is in Hebrew.
2) the Septuagint "LXX" text (in full) which is in Greek.
3) the Dead Sea Scolls (in part) which are in Hebrew.

"What Should A Local Church Look Like?"

I listened to the following talk on my drive to and from work recently and was encouraged.

It's from the 2011 Gospel Coalition conference and is a topic close to my heart. The panel discussion between Mark Dever, Crawford Loritts and Tim Keller was titled "What Should A Local Church Look Like?"

At Philpott Memorial Church we're working through what membership looks like, what members are accountable to and how one is added to and removed from the membership roll.

Mark Dever stated that his church (Capitol Hill Baptist) has 6-1 hour membership classes spread out over 6 weeks. Then if new prospective members complete the classes, they are interviewed by an elder. The elder takes his summary of that interview to the rest of the Board of Elders and then in turn that recommendation for membership is taken to the congregation. At a "members meeting" (which is held 6x per year) the congregation would then "vote in" the new members. Mark Dever says this is in keeping with 2 Cor 2:6.

Tim Keller stated that his church (Redeemer Presbyterian) has 5-1 hour sessions and then the elders will interview and the vote to bring in new members. The congregation does not vote to accept new members. Keller did state he thinks that at some point the congregation is involved in church discipline (not just the elders only).

Currently at Philpott we have 3-1 hour membership classes (called Philpott DNA) and then if needed an interview is held with a "senior staff member or an elder". Then the recommendation for new membership is brought to the Board of Elders and a vote occurs. The congregation does not vote to accept new members.

That's all for now... more thoughts will come. :)

Tim Keller stated he has a 5