The LORD as Shepherd [Pastors and Practice]

—Ben Arbour

[Editor’s Note: In the midst of writing a book on the same topic, Ben Arbour has agreed to offer us a series, Pastors and Practice, arguing that Christ is our true model for pastoral ministry. Throughout this series, Ben will explain how Christ’s example should affect the governing of the church and the ministry of pastors.]

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One final point needs to be addressed before I leave the Christological aspect of shepherding to discuss other aspects of pastoral practice and biblical polity. In order to better communicate my point, I will begin by considering an analogy.

In Ephesians 5, Paul compares the relationship between a husband and a wife to the relationship between Christ and the Church. The husband represents Christ, and the wife represents the Church. Because of this reality, the marriage relationship prophetically testifies about spiritual realities.

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Youth Camp isn’t Real

—PJ King

The way we do youth ministry is failing. I am writing this series, Youth Ministry: Preparing for Failure?, because after high school, half of our youth will drop out of the church for good. While there are a lot of positives in current youth ministries, I’m harping on the negatives because something is broken. What are we doing wrong? What can we do better?

Now, take off your easily-offended glasses, put on your discerning ones—and let’s get started.

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“I can’t wait until camp!” Summer camp, that is. I used to hear those sentiments in February. You know what I mean: the kids just got back from Disciple Now and were ready for another dose of that spiritual high. Too bad the next hit wouldn’t be for another five months—that’s like going cold turkey. The only thing we had until then was church—and what good is that?

Summer camp is when you can get close to Jesus. It’s when you finally decide to dump that bad boyfriend or girlfriend

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Noah Christopher Arbour

—Ben Arbour

Dear all,

Blessed be the name of the Lord! We rejoice, for God has been gracious to us in blessing us with another little one. Noah Christopher Arbour was born on September 14, 2010. He was 7 lbs. and 15 oz, and 21 inches long. Everyone is healthy and doing well. Our other children, Wesley, Abby, and Micah, love their new brother and are enjoying the adjustment. We wanted to let you know to have an opportunity to rejoice with us as we rejoice. Please join us in praising the Giver of Life. Soli Deo Gloria!

The Confident Woman [Book Review]

—Chris Krycho

Joyce Meyer is one of the most popular and well-known female Christian teachers in America. I have been curious about her teaching for years, so when a copy of her 2006 book The Confident Woman came into our possession, I took the opportunity to read it. Having just finished it, I can honestly say that she is a very bad teacher.

Meyer writes in a friendly, down-to-earth way that is easy to understand. From my conversations with women who have enjoyed her material, she seems both relatable and wise, and thus trustworthy. That makes her dangerous

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Proactive Pastoring [Pastors and Practice]

—Ben Arbour

[Editor’s Note: In the midst of writing a book on the same topic, Ben Arbour has agreed to offer us a series, Pastors and Practice, arguing that Christ is our true model for pastoral ministry. Throughout this series, Ben will explain how Christ’s example should affect the governing of the church and the ministry of pastors.]

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In my last article, I discussed the importance of pastoring like Jesus, and showed how John 10:14-15, 27 makes it clear that this requires that pastors have a relationship with their people—and not just any superficial relationship at that. No, Scripture requires that those who shepherd sheep actually know those sheep, and that the sheep know the shepherd—with the same degree of closeness that the Father has with the Son and the Son with the Father.

At this juncture, most pastors are likely to say, “That’s impossible!

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The Importance of Being Honest

—Jaimie Krycho

We are not meant to be alone, and fellowship in the church is an invaluable picture of that fact. Without honesty, though, that picture loses meaning.

Fellowship is a gift from God. There’s a reason the word is part of our “Christianese” dictionary: fellowship doesn’t truly exist outside of Christianity. There is a bond that believers can only have with other believers. Christians seek each other for advice and encouragement because they have the Truth, and therefore, have the wisdom that comes from it. Too often, though, we ignore it—at least, we ignore its depths. Fellowship doesn’t mean simply hanging out and having fun together, something that anyone can have with anyone.

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The Call to Discipleship

—Chris Krycho

The Christian life is a life of discipleship. Rather than merely assenting to doctrines, we are called to internalize those doctrines in such a way that our lives are transformed. We are to be transformed by our minds being made new again (Romans 12:1). We are to learn to practice good works. We are to learn to imitate Christ Himself.

But how?

Discipleship depends on three things: the work of the Holy Spirit, the support of the local church, and the believer's willingness to learn

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Meeting with Pastors is Delicious! [Finding a Flock]

—PJ King

As you may have heard before, Katie and I have recently moved to Fort Worth. Now, we need to go through the difficult (and important!) process of finding a local church to join.

I don't presume to have all the answers, but I would like to publicly go through this search, so that perhaps we can all learn something. In this series, I hope to explain what I am specifically looking for in a church, detail how I am going about looking, and perhaps, relate some of my experiences to you.

Be sure to read the entire series of Finding a Flock.

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Last time in this series, I discussed an onion-layer approach to experiencing new churches. I suggested, for you first visit to a church, that you only go to the main service. For your next visit, I recommended that you add-on attend the adult education time. For the following visits, you need to start finding events throughout the week in which to participate. During any of these steps, it is legitimate to decide against a given church.

At this point in the search—after you have visited a number of churches for a few weeks each— it is likely that you will still have several churches that you are considering. Now that you are getting the full, weekly experiences of these churches, how are you supposed to further differentiate between them? The next step, in my opinion, is to meet with the pastors

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Dare to Teach Theology

—Chris Krycho

Far too often, people in evangelical churches will struggle if you ask them to discuss the Trinity. Similarly, they won't have any idea whether Ezra lived before or after Isaiah. They will struggle with any number of similar questions. Discussions about theology or church history tend to be short-lived, not only because people don't care (though that is certainly a problem), but because, much of the time, people have no ground to stand on. As we have noted before, churches have too often acted like their congregations are stupid. It is long past time for a change

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Nine Marks of a Healthy Church | Book Review

—PJ King

The following is a republication of a review PJ wrote for his own (now-defunct) personal blog some time ago. The book is important enough that we felt the article deserved republication here. As you'll note, we have covered many of these topics in depth ourselves. We hope you find PJ's review informative!

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Mark Dever's book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church [248 pages], is not particularly new - but it is particularly relevant to our current church culture. Originally published in 1997, this book discusses nine traits which Dever has identified as important indicators of a church's vitality. He writes that there are many other important aspects to a healthy church, but he believes that these nine are particularly important for gauging a church's health.

The nine marks this book details are as follows

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