“The popular notion that the first obligation of the church is to spread the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false. Her first obligation is to be spiritually worthy to spread it.” – A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men.

The path for many individuals and churches to being spiritually worthy to spread the gospel will be through revival and spiritual awakening.

Revival is the restoration of the life of God to a failing and dying church; it is the gift of new life and strength to faltering and discouraged believers; it is the renewal of backsliding believers and churches.

"A 'Revival of Religion' presupposes a declension . . . It presupposes that the Church is sunk down in a backslidden state, and a revival consists of the return of the church from her backslidings" (C. G. Finney).

Spiritual awakening is the when the power of God reaches beyond a revived church to the surrounding unbelievers with extraordinary conviction of sin. Many extremely degraded unbelievers may then become remarkably transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Revival and spiritual awakening then are the work of God through the Holy Spirit, in response to prayer and his Word. It has been his way of reaching many people and communities and blessing many.

God promises the power and working of his Holy Spirit in response to the continued prayers of his people: ". . . how much more will your Father give from heaven the Holy Spirit to those who keep on seeking him?" (Luke 11:13). Prayer, along with the preaching of the Word, has been the avenue that God has used to send revival throughout the centuries. In preparation for revival God has often given a burden of prayer to some few who will not let go of God in prayer until they receive the promised blessing. Therefore let us make it our burden to seek God together for revival in our churches and spiritual awakening in our communities and our nation.

"A revival may be expected whenever Christians are found willing to make the sacrifices necessary to carry it on" (C. G. Finney).

• Personal Purification: seek a clear conscience before God and man; confess to God the sins against him and to men the offenses against them. Ask God to give you his view of your heart and conscience (Psalm 19:14, 139:23-24).
• Personal Consecration: we are responsible to Jesus Christ for everything in our lives; he must be Lord of all or he is not Lord at all! (Romans 14:7-12, Luke 14:25-35). Therefore dedicate all that you are and all that you have to God through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:11-13, 19, 12:1-2).
• Personal Prayer for the Filling of the Holy Spirit: God commands us to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Seek him to fulfill his promise, and to fill you with the Spirit, for his glory, that you might be a witness to Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8).

Updated!

I’ve discussed with others and heard some prominent evangelical leaders such as Michael Easley mention the decline in effective preaching today. Most preaching that I’ve been hearing lately tends to lack an adequate introduction, an adequate exegetical foundation, a confident, passionate and loving delivery, an effective organization, a clear explanation of the gospel or a clear anointing of the Holy Spirit. I don’t share this to be critical but to call for a return to effective preaching in modern evangelical churches. Here are the common problems that I’ve seen.

Inadequate introduction

The introduction needs to give some reason to pay attention to the sermon and a brief but accurate background on the passage. Sometimes it’s no more than, “Open up your Bibles to <Book> <chapter> <verses>. Now, <first verse>.” If it’s a series, there may be no connection to previous sermons in the series with this approach. Even more, it does not hook the casual or indifferent hearers into listening to the Word. For many, this kind of introduction comes across as dry, passionless and routine. What they may hear is, “Prepare to be bored with a lecture.” This comes mostly from pastors who have been taught that expository preaching is this kind of verse by verse running commentary and interpretation. If they would look at the great preaching of Christian history, such as Jesus in in synagogues of Nazareth and Capernaum (Luke 4, John 6), Peter on Pentecost (Acts 2), Paul in the the synagogue and in the Areopagus (Acts 13, 18), Ambrose, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and on and on, they would find that this modern Targum style of preaching only came about in the past generation or so. This Targum style was in fact more the style of the rabbis up to the time of Jesus. The example of Jesus and the apostles, and the style afterwards, was quite different than this kind of verse by verse running commentary, and no one could effectively argue that it was less Biblical.

The other style of introduction tends to be the constant recounting of some kind of personal experience of the pastor, whether recent or in the past. Certainly there is a need for the preacher to disclose his personal experiences in the pulpit as illustrations and in introductions, but this tends to treat the introduction as part of a running blog. Moreover, this seems to be a part of an overemphasis on personal disclosure and opinion in the sermon today. Often there are much more effective introductions to a sermon. Some brief stories or pithy quotes often do. Not only does this kind of introduction tend to focus too much on the pastor’s opinions and experiences, it also tends toward the strange subjectivity and historical isolationism of much of modern evangelicalism. Christian history is full of strong, effective and relevant illustrations that can serve as introductions or pepper the message with illustration throughout.  More variety in the introduction can also reinforce the understanding that my spiritual experience as a believer is not my own little solipsistic thing, but is something that I share with millions across the world and throughout time, and that there is much that I can learn from other believers who share the same Lord and the same Bible.

For the introduction then, it comes down to the time honored method: hook the people into listening, and introduce the passage. Avoid making it a weekly display of what happened to you this past week, or your commentary on local, national or world events of the past week. Give the people a reason to listen, and you may gain more attentive hearers from the beginning.

Inadequate exegetical foundation

There are many sermons that I’ve sat through from pastors whom I know have a Bible college or seminary education, and whom I know have heard many fine Biblically based sermons over the years, but who show very little evidence of having opened a commentary or done any digging into the meaning of the passage. Some even have seemed to be parroting the notes in the NIV Study Bible when they give background or interpretation of the passage. I honestly wonder whether any who had any education in Greek or Hebrew go back to the original Greek and Hebrew text on any more than an occasional basis. For anyone who already has an NIV Study Bible in the service, or who has done any previous digging into the passage on his or her own, this comes across as extraordinary carelessness and lack of seriousness in study of the Word of God and preparation for preaching the Word of God. 

It’s hard to say what the source of this is. I know that few in this situation actually have ever had the time demands that would prevent adequate exegetical preparation. My conjecture is that these individuals may never have really developed the kind of study skills during their Bible college and seminary education that carried through into being able to exegete a passage in sermon preparation, or that their education never connected effective exegesis and sermon preparation. They probably do not, or may not have received the suggestion, to read a Biblical or systematic theology text, a chapter at a time, annually or biannually, to keep their theologies in check and in growth. I tend to think that there’s probably also a failure to read and study the Bible consistently on their own for their own walk with Christ as well. With the preaching of serious exegetes  such as Michael Easley and Chuck Swindoll available on the radio and elsewhere, my belief is that congregations notice when there is an inadequate exegetical foundation on a regular basis in the sermons of their pastors. And when this happens, I think that they turn even more to preaching and teaching in the media and Christian books to get Biblically based preaching and teaching.

Pretty much every guide to sermon preparation stresses the need for blocking off time to study the passage for the sermon and to prepare the sermon. This was in fact more difficult in previous years when there were many more churches holding Sunday morning and evening services, and the sermon for the evening service was normally different than the sermon for the morning service. C.H. Spurgeon would normally begin his study for the next weeks sermon on the afternoon or evening of the Sunday before. I myself would often arrive several hours before the evening service to begin the exegesis of the passages for the next week’s sermons. It’s never too early to let a passage begin to flow through the preacher so that it can flow out in the sermon.

I think that putting in the time for exegesis, to come up with the message of the passage, will also tend to basing the weekly sermon on shorter passages of scripture. Occasionally it is legitimate to preach on a whole chapter, but generally a pastor who is putting his time in to understand a passage will rarely base a sermon on a selection of scripture beyond a paragraph, or several verses, or even, in some cases, a single verse. He will discover that there is more material to communicate effectively in briefer passages than in skimming over larger swaths of scripture.

Lack of effective organization

This is the pattern that I’m seeing more and more in the preaching of the Word. First, there’s some kind of introduction. Next comes the running commentary on the passage from beginning to end. Finally, the preacher attempts to apply the passage in a long and drawn out conclusion. It’s often not easy to find the connection between the passage and the long drawn out conclusion. Even more, the preacher often rambles away from the passage, and inserts his own opinions and experiences. Sometimes it becomes more of a running personal commentary on the state of the congregation, on the lives of unnamed individuals and on evangelicalism as a whole.

This pattern reinforces two unfortunate tendencies. The first is the seeming tendency of some pastors to see themselves as having a pastoral authority outside the guidelines of the Word of God, to take up an air of self importance, and to give an undue weight to their own ideas, experiences and directions apart from the Word of God. This can often be seen in the manner of the preacher as well when he is spiraling downward from being a preacher of the gospel to a religious blowhard. The second tendency is that of the undue subjectivity, personal self importance, spiritual self absorption and scriptural disconnection and dissonance of belief and conduct of modern believers, which is reinforced when they see the same tendencies in the preacher.

Moreover, sermons in this pattern of introduction, extended commentary and extended application tend to apply primarily the last verse or verses in the passage in the extended application. In these cases it seems like the introduction and the scriptural passage are like more an introduction to what the pastor really wanted to say. The problem, though, comes up where there are great and significant truths and commands which appear earlier in the passage, and which are left out in when the passage is applied. Much of the potential benefit and, indeed, much of God’s message through the passage is lost when this happens.

Almost every guide to preaching stresses the need to outline the passage for the sermon. It’s part of understanding the message of the passage and providing an organized structure for the sermon, and this is why a good outline comes from Bible reading and exegesis. It provides a way for the preacher to expound on and apply the entire passage for the congregation. But even more, it also forms boundaries for the sermon, to keep the preacher within the bounds of scripture. It avoids the non-sequiturs that surprise, annoy and irritate the congregation when the pastor steps outside scripture and begins to assert authority in ways and matters in which scripture has not given him authority.

Lack of a clear explanation of the gospel

Many, many sermons leave anyone in the congregation who is not saved with no clear understanding of the gospel. The assumption seems to be that everyone who hears has received eternal life through faith in Christ. This is by no means a safe assumption. For instance, I know of several instances of believers who faked conversion for years by simply listening for and repeating the accepted catchphrases. It was an unexpected shock to many when they really did come to powerful conversions when God dealt with the deceit of their lives and they stopped faking it. There may also be first time and occasional attenders who have not genuinely put their faith in Christ for salvation as well. It’s possible for a person to attend the services of many churches for an extended period and never hear an explanation of the gospel, of the death and resurrection of Christ, and repentance and faith in him to receive eternal life.

This does not mean that there needs to be an invitation in every sermon, though. Rather, one of the subpoints of the conclusion of the sermon can legitimately be an explanation of the gospel, and it’s usually not hard to tie this into the application of practically any Biblical passage, even if the passage is from the Old Testament. What is necessary to express is that gospel is the primary message of the Bible to everyone today, and it’s fundamental to understanding and applying any truth or command in any passage. It can then be underlined that any teaching from the Word of God in the sermon will ultimately be useless for anyone who has not taken this fundamental step to receive eternal life through faith in Christ.

If the passage already contains substantial content on the Biblical gospel, this could be explained both for the believer, for assurance and depth in the gospel message, and as necessary content for the unbeliever. One the reasons that many believers do not witness is, I believe, that after they receive salvation, they do not hear the gospel preached often enough and clearly enough to instill the message in them so that it becomes a constant part of their lives.

Lack of a clear anointing of the Holy Spirit

I’ve read how the power of the Holy Spirit seemed to go like an electric current through those who listened to Evan Roberts at the time of the Welsh revival. D.L. Moody spoke about preaching the same sermons before and after he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the power of the Holy Spirit made all the difference. I’ve wondered whether modern congregations would recognize or sit still for the kind of Spirit anointed preaching of a George Whitefield, or a John Wesley. The content in these sermons may be familiar but when the power of the Holy Spirit is there, God is putting his life changing and life transforming power into the preacher and through the sermon into the congregation. There is a life changing power all out of proportion to the content itself. This is the kind of Spirit anointed preaching which is most prominent in a time of revival, but which can be evident throughout the ministry of a man who seeks it regularly, week by week.

One of the things which both astonished and grieved me was the number of my seminary classmates who could not attest to having been filled with the Holy Spirit and who knew the power of the Holy Spirit in their preaching. Some later came to realize that they could not continue to try to minister in their own power and ability any longer. It takes putting in the time to get alone with God and pray passionately for God’s power to come through the preaching of his Word. It takes the humility to become a clean vessel for the Holy Spirit through confession, repentance and, in some cases, restitution to others of finances and reputation when they have been robbed of either. The lives of men and women who come to hear the Word of God are worth this kind of personal investment in seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit for each and every time you preach the Word of God.

Lack of confident, passionate and loving delivery

There’s an old expression that it’s a sin to bore people with the Word of God. Much of this may come when the preacher himself does not really seem to have much of a reason on why he is preaching on the current passage other than its place in the book on which he is preaching. Or he may not seem to have much of a reason for preaching itself other than the place in the order of service where it says, ‘Sermon.’ Or, he seems to be more delivering a sermon as a part of the routine of the job of being a pastor. So, because the preacher does not seem to have much of a reason for his preaching than it being a part of the routine, his preaching lacks confidence and passionate delivery. He is a man bringing a talk, and not a messenger with a message.

Unfortunately, though, the delivery of the sermon may also be confident and passionate in the wrong way. An irritated, annoyed and resentful pastor will display these characteristics in his preaching. In other words, his preaching will not be loving. It will rather contain spiteful jabs at individuals within the congregation and mocking parodies of people and ideas with which he disagrees. It’s also unfortunate that there are often a number of people in the congregation who find this entertaining but a regular diet of this feeds divisiveness and contempt for others within the congregation. Both the pastor and elders of the church need regularly to watch for when this happens. For the pastor, simply listening to himself as recorded from time to time will help to keep this in check.

Passion for the message of the passage comes from understanding, believing and living it. It comes from the power of the Holy Spirit. Christlike passion therefore will come from letting the living Word of God speak through his written Word in the heart of the man who has let its message fill him.

This morning I looked up on the Internet to see if there were any web sources of the classic book on preaching which influenced generations of preachers in America: John A. Broadus’s On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons. For the most part it is necessary to purchase the book to get the full text, since Google books has a partial, but still substantial, preview. I think that a return to the time honored patterns of preaching would do more for the spiritual health and growth of our churches than most of the programs and fads that come up every few years.

Moreover, I think that there needs to be a heightened awareness of the awesome responsibility and difficulty of effective preaching. It’s far too easy to take it too lightly and to invest too little of oneself in preparation for preaching nowadays. It’s also far too easy to underestimate the growth in knowledge of and personal application of the Word of God and of prayer that is necessary in the years during and after Bible college and seminary to become an effective preacher. For instance, it’s almost comical to read how inept Billy Graham was during his first sermons, yet God honored his prayers and persistence. It’s often forgotten that the man whom God used to preach the gospel to more people than any other person in the history of the world was not an instant success and had a prolonged period of struggle and learning. The same is true of many who later went on to become strong and effective preachers. But for those who wish to glorify God in their lives and ministries, it worth the time and effort.

Updated!

Today, small churches may tend to feel out of touch and out of place, yet there are real opportunities for ministry even with larger churches with much more impressive facilities and programs within easy driving distance.

Here are the advantages of the small church over the large church in this day and age:

• Able to be personal in an impersonal world: In urban and suburban areas where people may feel swallowed up by the masses of humanity around them, the small church has an advantage, where it can be a place ‘where everybody knows your name.’ Moreover, the small church is able to deal with people as individuals, in a way where they will not be treated as interchangeable parts or ministered to in an assembly line fashion.
• Able to deal with people on a long term basis: This is especially true in smaller and more rural communities. In urban and suburban areas, people tend to be more mobile, to stay for several months to several years and then relocate. Rural churches and churches in smaller communities may see the same individuals over the course of some years. They can be there for people at seasons of life where they may be more open to the gospel and in more need of ministry than at other times. (The danger, though, is that someone can be stereotyped in terms of his or her needs and problems at another time, and present openness and teachability may be ignored because of past difficulties.)
• Able to give people chances to learn and develop their abilities and spiritual gifts: There can be a tendency toward ‘professionalism’ in larger churches, especially in terms of the upfront, visible ministries such as musical ministries. The piano player may be a professional piano teacher or college or university instructor, for instance. There can be an expected polish to the preaching ministry, for a pastor to be appropriate to the larger church. The smaller church can allow people who have definite abilities and spiritual gifts to learn, develop them and shine for the glory of God.

There are also some major difficulties that smaller churches often face:

• Inadequately prepared leaders and teachers: Some may have come into positions of leadership with little more than a lot of nerve and a personal agenda.
• Reliance on the same people in the same ministries for years: The symptoms of someone in the same place for too long are personal weariness, stagnation, and eventually repeated absences in the place of ministry. This kind of neglect leads to an eventual hole which no one will fill because of a sense that that person ‘owned’ that place of ministry.
• Modest facilities: Small churches often have modest facilities and modest budgets for maintenance and upkeep of those facilities to boot. It can be difficult even to get a fresh coat of paint or a different color of paint approved. 
• Silver bullet syndrome: A sense of guilt and shame at remaining small tends to a looking for programs and material as the path out of being small. Often someone will suggest that a church try to implement a program similar to what another church down the road is implementing, or a church far in the past had some success with.
• Pastoral instability: The pastors of smaller churches tend to have less experience and shorter stays than in other places of ministry. Pastoral discouragement is common. Distraction from the normal responsibilities of ministry is common as well. Sometimes pastors may try to implement some programs as resume building activities to another place of ministry. There may be a temptation to doctrinal instability or simply spiritual weirdness – either of which can come through isolation from healthy relationships with doctrinally and spiritually sound believers.

Here are some suggestions:

• Determine to be the most loving church that you can be.

I can remember what an acquaintance told me some years ago about the Assembly of God church that he attended: “I couldn’t tell you specifically all that they believe but I know that they love me to death.”

Loving fellow believers is not a slick program, but it is Jesus’s command (John 13:34-35, Revelation 2:1-10). He will not have a church with his name continue without love for fellow believers.

• Pray for God’s guidance for the direction of the church.

Where the church leadership does not have a unified, scriptural vision for the direction of the church which they have found by spending a lot of time on their knees together, the direction of the church tends to be trying one thing after another, and reams of bad advice from the self appointed committees of the self important.

• Determine to follow godly pastoral leadership.

Small churches tend to be notorious for frustrating pastors.  Do not issue a call to a pastor whose leadership that you have no intention of following. Do not issue a call to someone whose spiritual or emotional maturity and stability is in doubt or whom you think that unscrupulous people in the church can or will try to control. Rather, make it a common goal to call and follow godly pastors even with their imperfections.

• Welcome and follow up on church visitors.

Visitors will usually be of three types: the curious, the friends or relatives of members and regular attenders, and those seeking a new church for the right or the wrong reasons. Make contact with them. Then see whether the curious will give a hearing to the gospel, or whether the friends and relatives or members and regular attenders have been given an opportunity to hear the gospel. See whether those seeking a new church for the wrong reasons need ministry as much as those seeking a new church for the right reasons – but it won’t be the same kind of ministry.

• Make the most of your current facilities.

Look to make the most of the current facilities. Evaluate the appearance of the church facilities and see if there is anything which needs to be spruced up, repaired or replaced. Building trustees who show satisfaction with church facilities which are starting to run down need to be encouraged or replaced.

Evaluate the parking and classroom space. If there is parking available at nearby shopping centers, office centers, or places of business, make an arrangement to use them on Sunday mornings. Often a charitable voucher from the church can help the owner of the facilities with a tax exemption that will make the deal palatable to the owner. If there are restaurants with meeting rooms nearby, a breakfast class for adults (young adults and singles) can usually meet there.

Plan to move to two services if there is an increase in attendance. Make the plans before the necessity arises, and revise them annually until they are needed. In the meantime, let the people get the dream for two services, and what it can mean for them.

• Keep the Sunday School and Christian education ministry healthy and growing.

Young families with children find a church with no Sunday School or Christian education ministry repelling. Often, if the pastor’s family has young children, the pastor’s wife may start a Sunday School just for their own children, and it then takes off.

One of the threshold indicators that a small church is in line for closing and a merciful death is the absence of a viable Sunday School and Christian education ministry. It’s sad but true that many churches allow these ministries to deteriorate steadily over a period of years, until the primary Christian education ministry is the pastor’s preaching and teaching. Even more sadly, this can happen where there are people qualified to take up these ministries but do not.

• Keep the music ministries and worship services healthy and growing.

Seek to ‘platoon’ responsibilities of up front ministry; let people be a part of the worship team and music ministries for one or two Sundays a month, for example.

Finding and keeping an adequate supply of instrumentalists, particularly piano players, can be a problem. Often a church has one piano player who takes up the ministry for years or even decades, and there is no accompaniment when this person is sick or on vacation. Rather the church should look at this kind of ministry not as one person but rather in terms of primaries and backups. If there are needs for people to come forward and take up this kind of ministry, make it a matter of prayer first, and then a matter of godly recruitment.

Small churches often neglect the opportunity for people to share their personal testimonies in the church service. This gives the ability for others to get to know each other in terms of their spiritual background and history, and serves as a reminder that the gospel works. This can provide an injection of life into services which become routine and predictable.

• Deal strongly, lovingly and ethically with church troublemakers and sexual scandals.

Small churches are often fearful of Biblical church discipline, because of fear that they might drive away key church supporters. Yet it’s often found that small churches remain small because it’s in someone’s perceived interest and it fits someone’s hidden agenda to keep it small. This person aims to keep a small church under control, to try to make it fit their expectations such as some idealized church in the past with which they are comfortable and familiar, and to try to make it fit their hidden agendas.

Another threshold indicator that a small church is due for a merciful death is a church that ends up just being a small, ingrown group who are the long term troublemakers and their cohorts. They have used every trick to make sure things go their own way so that eventually everyone else has been driven away. When this happens, it indicates that there is no core group of people stable and loving enough to rebuild the church upon. Sadly, if the church closes, the members of this group are often not welcome at other churches in the community because of their past reputation, because the other churches in the area have taken in the people that they have traumatized.

Sexual scandals can often cause small churches to stagnate and die. One church where I was pastor had had two men who had been involved in the Sunday School ministry imprisoned for sexual crimes several years before I arrived. This had been covered up during my candidating interview, even though I persistently asked whether any such thing had happened. It’s hard to say what could have been done, but denial of the facts was not one of them.

• Follow up on people who leave the church with the goal of understanding and restoration.

It’s usually best to have two elders or an elder and his wife who can take on the ministry of following up on people who leave the church. Often, before people leave a church, there is usually someone with whom there is visible and persistent friction and sometimes public squabbles for a period of time. DO NOT ENTRUST THE RESPONSIBILITY OF FOLLOW UP TO THIS PERSON OR SOMEONE CLOSE TO THIS PERSON! DO NOT GIVE THIS RESPONSIBILITY TO ANYONE WHO HAS ANY HISTORY OF FRICTION WITH THE PERSON WHO HAS LEFT! You will practically never get anything but self serving excuses and outright lies as to the reason as to why the person left from the person who may well be harassing them and instigating others against them behind their backs.

Understanding what has happened must come first. The elders or the elder and his wife need to be aware of what it takes to rebuild the bridges toward fellow believers who may well be being harassed out of the church. They need to listen first and foremost, and not to try to offer advice, solutions or attempt restoration until the fellow believer has been given a full, fair and loving hearing. Moreover, this needs to be done in a personal visit, and not with a phone call. In addition, they need to be prepared for the possibility that the person who has left has become entangled in some kind of sin. In this case, they need to be prepared to work toward spiritual restoration of a fellow believer with love and patience.

• Develop a loving and confident way to share the gospel in the community.

The things to watch for are that evangelism has adequate materials in terms of tracts and church brochures, and adequate training courses. In addition, the small church can foster more long term relationships than many larger churches and provide ministry to people during seasons of openness in their lives.

Continued failures in this area also indicate that it may be time for a a merciful death for a small church. It’s also a tragedy that frequently occurs that a scripturally based, loving evangelistic ministry cannot take hold in some small churches because of persistent internal opposition and subtle sabotage.

The consistent problem for many smaller churches is fruitless evangelism; this is a case where there is evangelistic activity but no new believers, or believers that come to Christ end up going to other churches. This is a sign that the evangelistic ministry is either sharing a corrupted gospel or God is refusing to honor the lives of the people who are sharing the gospel. People who claim to be sharing the gospel with little fruit may simply be dropping a few gospel phrases or a tract on someone and moving on to someone else. Or, the person may simply not be filled with the Spirit and demonstrating genuine love for the person to whom he or she is witnessing. Or the problem may simply be that the church has so ingrown and that the presence of new believers does not excite them and inspire them to love and disciple the new believers.

• Make the church a healthy place for new believers to come.

Unfortunately, often it is necessary to merciful death to small churches which have seen new believers come to Christ through their ministries and keep on going on to other churches. This is an indicator that there is something repellent about that church to a new believer, since it’s natural for most new believers to want to fellowship with the church that actually shared the gospel with them. It often indicates that most of the people in the congregation not excited about nor loving toward new believers. There may in fact be entrenched unbelief among some in the church, who see the new believers as threats to their entrenched unbelief (Nazareth syndrome). These people may in fact have rejected the gospel in their own lives but stick with the church and stay with the church out of tradition and inertia and not out of any concern for the glory of God and an ongoing, abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.

• Make sure that the pastor and his family have adequate spiritual and financial support.

Churches often flog pastors with with unrealistic expectations and undue attention (fishbowl syndrome). Sometimes pastors must deal with conceited, belittling and presumptuous attempts at controlling them and micromanaging them. Rather, allow the pastor to have friends outside the church fellowship, and provide the pastor with adequate financial support, support with the problems of life and time with his own family.

There are also some things to avoid.

• Avoid too much reliance on videos and media for the teaching ministries of the church.

I fear, in this day, that with the availability of DVDs and videos with preaching and teaching too much reliance is placed on these video ministries in small and larger churches as well. On the one hand, unless these videos are carefully screened, they can be a source of false and unbalanced teaching. But more, the overuse of videos can foster an undue air of ‘professionalism’ as necessary to effective preaching and teaching, and carry implications of inadequacy of, unfair comparisons with, and belittling of the ministry of the existing pastors and teachers in the church. Rather, pray and look for those with the gift of teaching and those spiritually and doctrinally sound to take up regular teaching ministries. Use videos and other media as supplements, but not as a major part of the teaching ministry of the the church. God may in fact have someone waiting on the sidelines who is his choice for this kind of ministry.

• Avoid quickly giving leadership responsibilities to recent transfers, especially those from other denominations.

Ambitious people and itinerant church troublemakers may show up at small churches from time to time. Others in those churches may ‘fast track’ them unwittingly because of some demonstration of their abilities or previous ministries in other churches and an eagerness by the small church to ‘fill a slot’ with a person apparently willing and able. Tragically, they may find these recent transfers are simply transferred problem people. People from another denomination may seek to make the church like the one they just left, despite having made a membership pledge to the doctrines of a new denomination.

On the one hand, many times people who visit and become involved in a church are not potential troublemakers. The truth is that many times believers are either driven out of other churches by continued and persistent harassment by other believers or even church leaders, or they are frozen out by continued and persistent unloving treatment. These people may become good leaders later on after a period where they are allowed to serve and show their true character. They should not continue to be treated like a potential troublemaker but rather treated like a brother or sister in Christ.

• Avoid trying to sign up first time or occasional visitors to ministry responsibilities.

I’ve visited churches with friends, and the pastor has immediately tried to sign me up for something, even through I was a regular attender elsewhere. This can turn off the first time visitor. Rather, give them a chance to become a part of the fellowship and show their spiritual life and true character.

• Avoid self pity for being small.

New Testament churches were not large churches with state of the art facilities. For instance, the church in Colossae, the recipient of the letter to the Colossians, met in the house of Philemon. This suggests that the Colossian church was probably about thirty to forty or so – definitely not anything like a modern megachurch.

Some years ago A.W. Tozer preached a sermon entitled Tragedy in the Church: The Missing Gifts. This later became the opening sermon in a book of his transcribed sermons. It is a tragedy that many of the spiritual gifts are underutilized and underrecognized in the modern evangelical church, even where in churches and denominations which do not believe that the gifts have ceased from the church.

Some years ago I was the pastor of a Christian and Missionary Alliance church where the previous pastor and a number of the current members and attenders had some Pentecostal leanings. I came up with the following teaching statement as a way to bring everyone together on what the scriptures had to say about the public exercise of spiritual gifts. I offer it here as a possible basis for public exercise of the gifts in churches and denominations where they do not believe that the gifts have ceased from the church but do not want to go to unscriptural extremes.

1. We affirm the inspiration and sufficiency of the Word of God to teach, correct, instruct and train in righteousness, and that it alone is sufficient to equip believers for every good work (II Timothy 3;16-17). We affirm the high place of preaching and teaching of the Word of God after the practice of the Lord Jesus and the apostles (Acts 2:42, I Timothy 4:13, II Timothy 4:12). We repudiate any additional revelation to the Biblical canon (Revelation 22:18-19, Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 3:6), and any message or expression of spiritual gifts that would contradict or add to the written Word of God.

2. We affirm the reality of all the gifts of the Spirit for today (Romans 12:3-8, I Corinthians 12:8-10, 27-30, Ephesians 4:11-16, I Peter 4:10-11). We affirm that the gifts of the Spirit are good for the church.

3. We affirm the policy of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in regard to tongues, that they are not to be sought as the evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit nor are they to be forbidden as not being given for today.

4. We affirm that the trust test of the filling and presence of the Holy Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and that the earthly goal of the Holy Spirit is to transform believers into the moral likeness of Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 3:18). We affirm that the Holy Spirit comes to glorify Jesus Christ (John 16:13-14) and not to exalt his own ministries. We affirm that love is greater than any spiritual gift (I Corinthians 13:1-3). We repudiate any spiritual pride, rebellion against church leadership, or role reversal in Christian marriages on account of spiritual gifts as contrary to the nature of the Holy Spirit.

5. We affirm that spiritual gifts are given to the church for the edification of all, by the will of God, for the good of the entire body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:7, 11). We affirm that all gifts are necessary and good. We recognize that the more visible and sometimes spectacular sign gifts are no more valid than any other gifts, and repudiate any rivalry on the basis of gifts.

6. We affirm the scriptural guidelines for the public exercise of spiritual gifts of prophecy and tongues (I Corinthians 14:26-33). We counsel each member of the fellowship to be sensitive to the others and to seek and receive edification through the use of spiritual gifts. We counsel that the less formal services on Sunday evening and Wednesday evening are more appropriate times for the use of these (of prophecy in a non preaching mode and tongues with interpretation), as a practice followed even in mainstream Pentecostal denominations such as the Assemblies of God, due to the possible presence of unbelievers and immature believers in the Sunday morning services. We repudiate any practice which tends to self exaltation rather than edification, or to confusion and disorder in the worship services.

7. We recognize the possibility of human imitations and demonic counterfeits of spiritual gifts, especially of tongues and prophecy. We affirm the right of the church and individual believers to discern the source of all such manifestations, and recognize the same as a scriptural responsibility (I Corinthians 12:1-3, I Thessalonians 5:19-20, I John 4:1-3). We recognize that the enemy and his servants will masquerade as servants of righteousness, and repudiate any test of spiritual gifts according to the attractive personality of the possessor or the beauty or excitement of the experience (II Corinthians 11:13-15).

A. Testing of the gift of prophecy: We affirm the presence of the scriptural gift of prophecy in the church today, but recognize that not everything that claims to be a message from the Lord is to be received as such. We recognize that the genuine gift of prophecy will expose sin (I Corinthians 12:24-25), and will operate so that believers will be strengthened, encouraged and comforted (I Corinthians 14:3). We affirm that the true gift of prophecy will always be in accord with the teaching and spirit of scripture (Romans 12:6). We repudiate as false prophecy what might arise from a person’s own thoughts and ideas (Jeremiah 23:16, 21, Ezekiel 13:2-3, 17), whatever would tend to lead a person away from God and obedience to his Word (Deuteronomy 13:1-5, Jeremiah 23:17-18, 22), and whatever predictions fail to come true (Deuteronomy 18:20). We also recognize and repudiate any prophecy as false which is found to originate from a demonic source (I  Timothy 4:1). We affirm the right of the church and its leadership to correct and discipline its membership for false prophecy. We encourage believers to avoid any attempt to correct another believer through purported prophecy or words of the Lord and instead to follow the procedures of private and gentle rebuke as outlined in Matthew 18:15-17 and Galatians 6:1, and to be patient and forbearing with differing fellow believers on nonscriptural matters (Ephesians 4:1-3).

B. Testing of the gift of tongues: We affirm the presence of the gift of tongues today in the church of Jesus Christ. We deny that the gift is separable into a gift of tongues for public use and a private prayer language, since scripture recognizes one gift of tongues (I Corinthians 12:10), with different uses, whether in public exercise with interpretation (I Corinthians 14:13), or as a private prayer language (I Corinthians 14:14-15, 28), or, in cases perhaps most rare, in evangelism to those whose native language is different than that of the speaker (Acts 2:4, 8-12). According to the scriptural descriptions the content of tongues when interpreted would be prayer, praise and thanksgiving (I Corinthians 14:13-17), and we would counsel great caution when interpretations take a prophetic form, as being possibly out of order and even false prophecy. We encourage that with love and gentleness for the speaker that tongues be tested by the repeated use of the word of command of the authority of the Lord to the spiritual source to reveal whether it acknowledges the authority of the Lord Jesus and that he has come in the flesh (I Corinthians 12:3, I John 4:2-3). We encourage this especially in the case of an experience that has been a factor in backsliding, lack of church attendance or involvement, indulgence of sin, rebellion against church leadership, role reversal in the marriage, lack of peace and lovelessness toward brothers and sisters in Christ, and neglect of prayer and God’s Word, and where there has been occult or spiritistic influence in the background.

8. We recognize the possibility of false miracles today (Matthew 24:11, 24, II Thessalonians 2:9-12), and that as the return of the Lord Jesus grows closer, the possibility of their increase. We repudiate as false any which are done by sleight of hand to deceive and any from a demonstrably demonic source. We counsel all believers to note the fruits of any worker of miracles (Matthew 7:15-23).

9. We utterly repudiate any occultic or spiritistic practice as being contrary to scripture and a source of demonic oppression and bondage (Deuteronomy 18:9-13). We call upon all believers to avoid utterly all such practices. We encourage the confession and renunciation of such practices as in accord with scripture (Acts 19:18-19).

Updated!

Often, especially in small churches, men come to positions of being elected elder and then have no idea what the responsibilities of an elder are. Some seem to think that it’s being part of a pastoral oversight committee, and attempt to micromanage the ministry of a pastor. Others seem to think that eldership is an opportunity to talk big, boss other believers in the church around, interfere in the lives of others, and promote the people they like and denigrate others that they do not like. The scriptural qualifications are primarily character qualifications, and someone who fulfills the scriptural qualifications will avoid those previously mentioned aberrations. But they might still be at a loss as to what eldership means. There are several indications in scripture.

Eldership means oversight of the church before God.

I Timothy 3:5, 5:17, and I Peter 5:2-4 all talk about the elders having authority to oversee and guide the church; the I Peter passage is especially pointed as to the manner that this leadership is to take, in Christlike servanthood and not in self serving tyranny, exploitation and hypocrisy.

In most congregations, this will mean serving on the Governing Board of a church. The Governing Board is also the legal board of directors for a church as a non profit religious corporation in many areas of the world, but its legal status is secondary, since the church board is not so much a body to make business decisions but to guide the church in a spiritual manner. This will, though, mean making business decisions according to Biblical wisdom and according to legal and ethical guidelines many times.

Serving on the board with integrity will mean:

• Reading the reports where given and preparing the reports where assigned.
• Taking the time to pray and study the Bible about the direction of the church.
• Praying personally and with others about the direction of the church.
• Acting in accordance with the guidance of the scriptures and the prayers that were offered.
• Giving financial oversight to the church treasurer (rather than the other way around).
• Making sure that business decisions are according to secular law and at least ethical according to the secular culture.
• Offering well considered opinions in meetings in the spirit of love and scriptural wisdom – and in accord with Robert’s Rules of Order if these are legislated in the church’s constitution or bylaws as the rules of deliberation.
• Giving feedback with courage if it’s felt that the feedback may not be readily accepted, even though it is in line with carefully considered scripture.

Eldership means watching for and contradicting false doctrine and hidden but scandalous sins.

This responsibility comes from Titus 1:9, and it means being deep enough in orthodox Christian doctrine to be able to spot heresy and false teaching. It will mean being able to spot and deal scripturally with hidden and scandalous sins. It will mean having scriptural convictions and scriptural courage, since many times what the church needs to confront will be what is tolerated or even celebrated in the surrounding culture.

It’s reasonable for elders to understand and adhere to the doctrinal statement of faith of the church and the denomination. It’s also essential for them to have an understanding of and adherence what constitutes Biblical saving truth about the nature of God, of Christ and of salvation, so as to be able to recognize and refute false doctrine. It’s reasonable to see how many from evangelical churches fall into doctrinal error, following cults and occult teachings, when church elders do not provide suitable counsel and instruction about sound Biblical teaching.

Eldership means participating in teaching ministries of the church.

Many elders never or rarely participate in the teaching ministries of the church. Yet the Bible says that elders must be ‘apt to teach’ (I Timothy 3:2).

It’s reasonable for elders to teach a Sunday School class once every year or two, or to have an ongoing ministry as part of the Sunday School. Even more, it’s possible to take the ‘apt to teach’ qualification alongside the ‘hospitable’ (also in I Timothy 3:2) qualification, and to see an elder hosting and leading a small group discipleship or growth group in his home. Another good application of this qualification a contemporary church structure is to have one or more elders involved with the Sunday School as a Governing Board liaison, or as the Sunday School Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent. For an elder (or pastor, in a multiple staff church) to oversee Christian education and discipleship groups is a very reasonable application of these scriptural qualifications.

Eldership means praying for the sick with the anointing of oil.

Some churches and denominations do not believe in the continuing healing power of God in the church since the time of the apostles, and this point is not addressed to them. In many churches, though, praying for the sick is a kind of a routine and a tradition at prayer meetings, and some people make a great point of bringing up every ailment that they can think of for prayer. This hoary routine is sometimes pursued in ignorance of the scriptural pattern.

In the scripture, rather, the apostles prayed for and anointed the sick with oil as part of the authority given to them by Jesus for outreach (Mark 6:13). James the brother of Jesus extended this authority to the church elders in James 5:15-16. Here’s how this needs to be exercised:

• With gentle inquiry about possible sins and God’s discipline through sickness – though sickness and injury are not necessarily the result of sins that have been committed – and with an opportunity for confession and restitution.
• Without any show or flamboyance, since prayer for healing and recovery is to be made with faith in God for healing. Someone who acts as if he is trying to prove something about himself in the way that he prays should rather be concerned about the will and the glory of God.
• Privately and confidentially if the sickness or injury which is being prayed about is sensitive or embarrassing in any way.

Eldership means exercising authority over the powers of darkness with the authority of the name of Jesus.

Churches and church leaders do at times need to deal with the powers of darkness as they manifest themselves. Sometimes even people with multiple possessions come to churches and demonic manifestations occur with harsh blasphemies and profanity. At other times the manifestation are not as blatant but still may be just as real.

In Luke 10:19 Jesus gave authority to the seventy that he had sent out over demons. This verse can be applied both to the average believer and to the elders of the church, since it looks like Jesus chose the number seventy as being symbolic of the elders of Israel (Numbers 11:16). Certainly elders need to be able to step forward, to be able to pray, fast and exercise the authority over the demonic delegated by the Lord Jesus Christ when churches are faced with outright spiritual warfare.

It’s usually a good idea for men new to the office of elder or in preparation for the office of elder to be given much more training and guidance than they are usually given. One more resource I would suggest is Servants in Charge with Study Guide: A Training Manual for Elders and Deacons by Keith Bailey. This would also work well for someone who has been serving as elder as an on the job training refresher. I would advise not simply handing the book to a prospective, new or used elder, but going over the book one on one or in a small group. The goal is to put the lessons into practice rather than get some new ideas. A small group Bible study with elders and prospective leaders on I and II Timothy and Titus will also do much to give them a scriptural understanding of eldership and ministry.

I believe that the pastor of a church needs to give much more attention to guiding, training and supporting the elders in his church than many do. An elder who is either at a loss as to how to fulfill his responsibilities, or, worse, abusing his office in his conduct of his office, is an indicator that the pastor has been inattentive to the needs of the elders for guidance, training and support.

A question comes up on what churches should do about men who come to eldership who do not fulfill the scriptural requirements for elders. Here are some ideas.

• Nominating committees need to consider the scriptural requirements for elder when considering those eligible for the office. It’s a good idea to print out the relevant scriptures, and look at them beside each name. There needs to be sensitivity if someone feels that someone is not qualified. Expression of doubts could be held confidential and specifics avoided in the meeting minutes.
• An elder can experience deterioration in his walk with Christ and in his manner of dealing with others. This can be addressed through a policy of church discipline. Removal from office should be on the basis of two witnesses.
• Elders need to be especially sensitive to personal reproof and correction. A mark of godliness is that if a person tells the elder that he is overstepping his bounds beyond scriptural authority or offers correction to his conduct, the elder apologizes and does not repeat the matter. Denial, minimizing and outright dismissal and defiance of scripturally administered correction should be sufficient evidence for an elder not to be re-elected to office, or, if it becomes a recurring pattern, referral to counseling or removal from office. 

Elders are often not involved in evangelistic ministries of the church, and sometimes even oppose these same ministries. I can remember hearing how a prominent evangelical church had two elders leave the Governing Board after a majority of the Board voted that they all should undergo Evangelism Explosion training. Their refusal to participate revealed on later experience their motives were more to wield power in the church. It’s reasonable that an elder should be able to share the gospel with others, and be able to minister to many problems one on one with other believers. In many churches where invitations are given regularly at the conclusion of a sermon, the elders are usually expected to be among those who offer scriptural encouragement, counsel and prayer to those who come forward.

One last thought: historically, and especially in Reformed churches, the role of the pastor has been defined as a ‘teaching elder.’ This is one reason why pastors are given financial compensation (one meaning of honor in I Timothy 5:17). It should go without saying that a pastor should fulfill both the character qualifications for elder and the scriptural responsibilities. Yet it’s often sad to see how much a subjective experience of a call to be a pastor (often based on what I have come to believe is an unwarranted application of the scriptural narrative call of an Old Testament prophet such as Jeremiah to a New Testament pastor) and fitting a cultural or subjective image of what a pastor should be takes precedence over what scripture says about being a teaching elder.

Updated!

Many people in evangelical churches are embarrassed by open air preaching and tract evangelism. Often, it is for good reason. Here are several reasons that I know of.

• Deliberate obnoxiousness in open air evangelism: In my college days, there was an open air evangelist that would visit our campus on regular intervals. His way of getting attention was to call passersby with insulting names. Frequently the people he would pick out and insult from a distance would be fellow believers. Many believers felt that his deliberate obnoxiousness was doing more harm than good. I’ve also seen this same approach in some downtown business districts by others as well. It’s possible, through the love of Christ, to deal with unbelievers on the scriptural facts of sin and eternal judgment without using cutting, reckless and obnoxious words.
• “Gotcha” Tracts: These tract purport on the outside to be something they are not, such as a unit of money or something else. I, as well as many other believers, grew to view these as less than honest.
• Comic book tracts and bigoted tracts: Some tract publishers in the past put out comic book tracts. These tended to be well read by less literate people, but the messages over time became more and more strange and sometimes incorporated a lot of bigotry as well. Deliberate twisting of facts about denominations and non-Christian religions, or ignorant repetition of falsehoods reported by others in tracts discredit the message in the tracts.

Many believers sense that these methods are dishonest and misleading, and detract from the love, respect and honesty of Christ. I personally could not use these methods after a while once I spent some time meditating on what the Bible says in II Corinthians 4:2: “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

Here are some alternatives:

• Combine open air preaching with outdoor celebratory services. Combine enthusiastic praise by a fellowship of believers with a message. An outdoor gospel service might attract many to give a hearing to the gospel. I’ve attended open air services with some Pentecostal groups where I’ve had friends where this has worked beautifully to display joyful Christian lives alongside the Biblical gospel.
• Combine open air evangelism with visual aids. Several of my friends who have served with World Evangelization Crusade (WEC) trained with Open Air Campaigners and spoke quite highly of their methods. Here is the link to their USA website: Open Air Campaigners USA. Their approach makes use of visual aids, and appeals quite strongly to curious passersby, without being unloving and deliberately obnoxious.
• Find tracts which are Biblical, truthful and positive in their message, loving and scriptural even when they mention sin and judgment, and visually attractive and which avoid bigotry, sensationalism and exaggeration. If you cannot find satisfactory tracts, write and publish your own with desktop publishing. Rosalind Rinker discusses this in her book, You Can Witness With Confidence.
• Provide passersby with a link to a website where they can find out more and a form on the website or a generic email address where they can request more information. Several web pages of information which can be easily read can increase the amount of information to available to the person who is wanting to know more about Christ and the way of salvation. Even more, more information can be added on how to start out in the Christian life and guidance on how to start reading the Bible and how to find a good Bible believing church.

Here I will give some reminiscences of both good friends and slight acquaintances. I must warn you that there will be nothing here that is not as positive as I can make it! Sorry, there is no dirt to be found here!

• Rich Mullins

  Rich Mullins was a significant figure in contemporary Christian music throughout the 1980's. I believe that it was he with whom I traded a number of jokes while waiting for a bus at a Christian retreat in the spring of 1980. Here is a summary of his life and influence: Rich Mullins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Ravi Zacharias

  Ravi was one of my professors at Alliance Theological Seminary, and I house-sat for him briefly during the summer of 1981 when I was recovering from a knee operation. Here is the link to his ministry's website: Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM)

• Norman Geisler

  Norman Geisler has been one of the leading Christian philosophers and apologists for the past generation. He gave the Pippert Lectures at Alliance Theological Seminary in the fall of 1981. He noticed me going through my Greek references for a paper, and traded some friendly banter with me. The lessons on the use of elementary logic as part of demonstrating the coherence of the Christian faith are still with me. Here is the link to his personal website: Norman Geisler.com

• John Fischer

  John Fischer performed as part of the Pippert Lectures in the fall of 1980 at Alliance Theological Seminary. His mixture of humility, compassion and witness touched many. Here is the link to his website: The Fischtank - a think tank operated by John Fischer.

• John Perkins

  John Perkins spoke in the fall of 1976 for Christian Student Fellowship at Miami University, and those of us who lived in the CSF house at that time were privileged to share a meal with him. Here is where to find more information on his significant ministry: John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development, Inc.

• Edith Edman

  Edith Edman was the wife of V. Raymond Edman. They served at Wheaton College during the 1940's, and were helpful to a young aspiring pastor named Billy Graham during those years. I met her in the fall of 1982 when I was in Salem, Oregon. I remember especially her devotion to prayer, her concern for revival in our churches, and her concern with the carnality of many worship services in our churches.

• Ramesh Richard

  Ramesh Richard taught our class on cults briefly during my third year of seminary. His humor and knowledge were quite infectious. Here is the link to his personal website: Ramesh Richard.com

• Edwin Yamauchi

  Edwin Yamauchi taught the classes on ancient history which I took at Miami University in the 1970's. His breadth and depth of scholarly knowledge and fair presentation of the issues were matched only by the depth and reality of his Christian commitment. Here is more on him personally: Brief Biography
  Jesus, Zoraster, Buddha, Socrates & Muhammad: The Life, Death and Teaching of Jesus Compared with Other Great Religious Figures

• Max McLean

  The Christian actor Max McLean was a classmate of mine during my third year of seminary. It was at that time that he began his extraordinary public performance of the Gospel of Mark. Here is more information on him:
  Interview with Max McLean
  An Interview with Max McLean

• Al "Bubba" Baker

  Al Baker was a part of the very popular Cleveland Browns teams of the 1980's.

• Dave Puzzuoli

  Dave was also a member of the the very popular Cleveland Browns teams of the 1980's. He is, to me, the epitome of the expression, 'gentle giant.' One of the great plays that I remember from that time is when he sacked the Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway in a crucial game.

• Ralph and Lou Sutera

  Ralph and Lou were instrumental in the Canadian Revival of 1973-1974. I met and spoke with Lou briefly when I attended a conference for the Canadian Revival Fellowship: Canadian Revival Fellowship: Ralph and Lou Sutera

• Rex Humbard

  I ran into him briefly when I was working for his ministry in the summer of 1978.
  Rex Humbard Ministry
  Rex Humbard From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Tom Netherton

  I ran into him when he appeared at the Cathedral of Tomorrow in 1978. He is as tall as he appears on camera!

• The past presidents of my denomination -- Louis L. King, David Rambo, Paul Bubna and Peter Nanfelt.

• James Doohan

  I saw him briefly at the only Star Trek convention that I ever attended.

• Archibald Hart

  He has appeared often on James Dobson's "Focus on the Family" broadcast. He taught a seminar on 'The Emotional Hazards of the Ministry' in the fall of 1982 which I attended during my ministry internship in Salem, Oregon. Here is the way to his home page: Dr. Archibald D. Hart - Home

• Lisa Hullinger

  Lisa might not be a person whose name is familiar with many people. She was a friend of mine in college, and she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in September 1978 while she was in Germany. Her parents then formed the organization Parents of Murdered Children.
  Robert and Charlotte Hullinger fondly recall their daughter Lisa
  Ex-Librarian Guilty of Murder

• Darrell and Cheryl Phenicie

  Darrell and Cheryl serve as missionaries with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the Middle East. They are both among the finest people that I have ever met.
  Evangelicals Flock Into Iraq on a Mission of Faith
  Missionaries will find pain precedes unity

• Captain Penny

  Captain Penny was the host of a local cartoon program, whom I and my brother met briefly when we were children. His kindness in speaking with children is one thing that I continue to remember as an adult. His real name was Ron Penfound: Children's Show Hosts: Captain Penny

• Big Chuck and Lil' John

  Big Chuck and Lil' John are local hosts for horror and science fiction movies. I met them while they were on a personal appearance at a local video store. They were both gracious and humorous.

• Thomas Stebbins

  Thomas Stebbins was a past missionary to Vietnam and Executive Vice President of Evangelism Explosion International. I first met him in 1979, when he came to my home church of Stow Alliance Fellowship for the Home Bible Study Seminar. It was then that I heard his thrilling story of how he escaped the fall of Saigon by leaping from the roof of the US Embassy to a helicopter that was just lifting off. I next met him as he taught the Evangelism Teacher Training Seminary in the summer of 1972.

• Biswanath Halder

  Biswanath Halder was the man who went on a shooting spree at Case Western Reserve University in 2003. I believe that I met Halder back in the fall of 1999 when I was taking a software development course at Case; if he’s the person I’m thinking of, I believe that he was actually one of the more helpful people in the computer lab at that time. Here is the record on his conviction: Former student convicted in university rampage

Updated!

It seems to me that many pastors are much more comfortable preaching and teaching in front of a group than in dealing with a single person about a problem or concern. Yet personal, one on one ministry, is definitely part of pastoral responsibilities, and too often seminaries and Bible colleges do not mention much about it. Here are some guidelines:

• Live and minister as a servant of Christ trusting God for the sufficiency of Christ.

“Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter, but of the Spirit ; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life . . . For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (II Corinthians 3:4-6, 4:5). Whatever your personal shortcomings, trust in God for his sufficiency for the situations that you will face, and go forth to serve with that trust.

• Develop a confident, caring manner in dealing with people one on one and in groups of two and three.

One of the problems that I found when working with pastors on Evangelism Explosion teams was to get them to tone down their approach. Some started out loudly, like they were starting a sermon without a microphone. “WE’RE HERE FROM <some> CHURCH!” Dealing with people one on one calls for a more soft spoken, conversational approach, and is not delivering a sermon. This kind of ministry is the place to “ . . . clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12). Some pastors also try to act so tough and macho that they show very little of the attitude of Christ, who said he was, “ . . . gentle and humble in heart . . .” (Matthew 11:29). It is absolutely horrible that some pastors and elders consider Christlikeness to be weakness and ‘wimpiness,’ and take on a gruff bossiness, a stiff pride and an unbending aloofness to others in deep pain which is so unlike the Savior. Yet a gentle, caring and confident manner demonstrates Biblical Christlikeness, and is a mark of someone who has been ordained not so much by the hands of a committee but by the hands scarred by Roman nails.

• Be prepared to ask questions and listen before offering answers.

Pontification, offering solutions before you have heard the entire story and jumping to conclusions about a matter on the basis of half explanations and offhand remarks results in ministry malpractice. I think that this tends to happen when a pastor wants to present himself as pastor who has things together and has boatloads of scriptural advice for all sorts of situations. Rather, listen, ask for clarification where necessary and seek to understand as much as possible before offering answers.

• Always be there with the caring and comfort of Christ for the major, life altering crises.

This is true whether the person who has had the crisis occur is a church member, regular or occasional attendee. This is especially true for the death of an immediate family member: father, mother, brother, sister, or child. Be there to pray and offer comfort. No one expects you to have all the answers, but the Biblical responsibility is “. . . mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). And then, let other people in the church know and encourage them to offer their support over the coming weeks. Mourning the loss of a family member takes some time, and it will often be months of adjustment for the family as well.

There will be major, life altering crises that happen. Be there as soon as possible and as long as it takes to minister to the need. Don’t let a person suffer in silence. Be less fearful that the person who receives ministry will become a ‘black hole’ of need and dependency and rather more concerned that Jesus might say to you in this situation, “ . . . whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me” (Matthew 25:45). I’m convinced that not only do many churches lose people who feel abandoned in the hour of crisis and in their suffering, but that churches stagnate because of those who attend and sit in pews with broken and bleeding hearts, because “if one part [of the body] suffers, every part suffers with it” (I Corinthians 12:26). Advice to ‘tough it out, ‘suck it up’ and ‘get over it’ may apply better to minor hardships, disagreements, annoyances, slights and offenses, but not to situations like the loss of a job, a life threatening or even a terminal illness, an abusive marriage or workplace situation, becoming the victim of a crime against person, property or reputation, or the loss of an immediate family member or close friend. For more information, see my previous post on Care First.

• Pray with people in faith for their needs.

Ask if the person would be comfortable with allowing you to pray for him or her, and then pray quietly and reverently. Ask God for his solutions and his wisdom. Look for the glory of God here, and don’t let it be an attempt at a show of eloquence.

• Give scriptural counsel.

Let the Bible be the source and center of all counsel given. Demonstrate faith in the power of God’s Word to change lives. The memorization of scriptures that speak to common problems will give you a wonderful basis to speak to hurting people throughout your ministry.

A pocket New Testament or a small Bible that you can carry with you can be one of your best friends where you know of a place where Scripture speaks but you do not have the passage memorized. One of the advantages of speaking to people either in their homes or in the hospital is that there is often a Bible to which you can refer them. Many people will continue to look at the scriptures that you point out after you have gone!

Make sure that counsel is scriptural. Avoid sharing personal experiences as a resolution to someone else’s problem. Too many believers already canonize their experiences and things that they hear from others as the scriptures that they use in practice instead of the Bible. Rather, use personal experiences where they illustrate lessons learned from scripture and ways in which to apply scripture. Moreover, I’ve also seen some get caught up so caught up in their own experiences when starting out to share what happened to them to sympathize that the whole point of ministry to the other person got lost in the conversation. Moreover, avoid the kinds of hoary, unscriptural and often childish platitudes so cheaply thrown out such as, “Don’t pray for patience because that will only make things worse,” but point to what scripture actually says.

• Keep confidences.

Lots of things can be shared in the course of ministry to people that should be kept in confidence: medical needs, personal problems, and besetting sins may be some of them. There are always people in a congregation that are prone to gossip, who have overactive imaginations and uncontrolled tongues, and who are overly curious about these things and much less attentive to their own problems. It’s your responsibility as a pastor to make sure that they don’t learn about them through you. A loose tongue and the betrayal of confidences can go a long way to proving to a congregation that their pastor is untrustworthy with any confidences, and will destroy his ability to minister to them one on one.

• Don’t get caught in conflicts between people but be a peacemaker.

Someone will often try to share his or her ‘concerns’ about other people or a particular person with a pastor. It’s your responsibility to make sure that your ear is not open to slander and gossip, nor that you are drawn to one side in disagreements and conflicts. Rather, urge forgiveness and reconciliation as much as possible.

• Invite elders, other church leaders and potential church leaders along for prayer, assistance and on the job training.

Many elders and other church leaders come to positions in the church with very little, if any, training in ministry to others, aside from one or more long forgotten personal evangelism training courses. Many of them do not know where to go in the scriptures to deal with the problems that they may face if they engage in one on one actual ministry to people and conversations. One of the best ways to open their eyes to the needs of others and how to minister to them is to bring them along.

• Carry along a bottle of anointing oil for prayer for healing.

Many churches believe in and practice James 5:14-15, such as my own denomination, on the anointing of the sick with oil and prayer for healing. I’ve been on pastoral visits where the sick person has been in the hospital and at home and requested the anointing with oil with prayer. Carrying along a very small pocket size bottle enabled me to minister to this request on the spot.

• Make sure that you know how to present the gospel both briefly and in more depth.

When dealing with a person one on one, you will occasionally find someone who is a part of a church fellowship but has never really come to saving faith in Christ. This can be a wonderful opportunity to speak to this person about his or her eternal need. Do this gently and lovingly, and you may be more likely to find that person trusting Christ for his or her eternal salvation.

All scripture references taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, copyright 1973, 1978 by the International Bible Society and used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers

One of the distortions in many people's understanding of themselves and others is the estimation of personal value and significance upon the wrong basis. This has led to errors in:

Modern ethics:

• abortion on demand
• "euthanasia" and "mercy killing"
• denigration of capital punishment upon inadequate basis

Personal self awareness, self perceptions, self estimation and personal relationships, by the confusion of personal value and significance with:

• personal achievements and recognition
• personal appearance
• personal affluence and prosperity
• physical health and vitality.

The Biblical view is, though, that each human being already has value and significance in himself or herself in being created in the image of God. Therefore each person can find an objective and unchanging understanding of his or her eternal value and significance in this fact.

1. All mankind -- each and every person -- arose by the creation of God.

This means that all human beings have the same value and significance no matter their race, gender or physical or mental capacity. There is only one human race, and each human being is a valuable member.

The Biblical meaning of mankind as the creation in the image of God begins to unfold in the account of the creation of man and woman in the book of Genesis:

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatues that move along the ground. ' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:26-27).

"When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them 'man'" (Genesis 5:1-2).

This the Bible teaches that mankind began as the special creation of God himself. The Bible is clear that the first human couple were created through special miracles of God himself (Genesis 2:7, 22).

This contradicts:

• humanism: the philosophy of human self sufficiency. God made man, and mankind remains dependent upon the providential order of the world designed and sustained by God.
• evolution: insofar as it teaches man arose by development from the animal creation. Man is a part of creation, with extensive similarities of physiological design and biochemical process to the animal creation. Nevertheless, the scientific evidence for human evolution is extremely fragmentary so as to be insufficient to overthrow the Biblical teaching. In fact, most of the reconstructions of prehistoric human skeletons rely upon premises which are known to be fallacious in dealing with modern human skeletons (e.g., it is impossible to infer intelligence and brain function from the capacity and shape of a human cranium). It is entirely possible, in view of all of the evidence and statements of some of the evolutionary scientists themselves, that the more apelike members of the proposed, hypothetical series of human evolution were simply an extinct breed of ape. Certainly the evidence is that the specimens which are undoubtedly human were different from human beings of the present simply in having a less developed technology.

Man is different from the animals:

• In his being made in the image of God and capacity for personal relationship with God
• In his authority over the earthly and animal creation:

" . . . what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the sea"

(Psalm 8:4-8).

• In his awareness of eternity and desire for eternal life: "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 4:11).

Each of these intertwined philosophies of humanism and human evolutionism actually and ultimately degrades those people who, consciously or unconsciously, ascribes to them:

• through subversion of the God given moral sense of people
• through devaluation of human life
• through undue elevation of animals and the rest of the brute creation.

2. God providentially superintends the existence of each human being.

Each human being since the beginning has come into existence by the providential design of God through the process of human reproduction and thus ultimately through the sovereign design and superintendence of God. In some cases God has supernaturally aided this process (as in the case of Abraham and Sarah conceiving Isaac) and in one absolutely unique case he bypassed the normal process entirely, in the virgin birth of Christ. His intention was that every child be born of a marital union, but one of the consequences of sex outside of marriage is the children conceived of this union. The former case may be said to be in accord with his design, the latter allowed by his sovereign permission. But in both cases the child is equally the creation of God and made in his image.

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I m fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written for me in your book
before one of them came to be"

(Psalm 139:13-16).

No matter what the circumstances of your conception and birth, therefore praise God for your life. Praise him also for the way in which he made you, for everything about yourself that you find likeable and the things about yourself that you find annoying or difficult to bear.

Whatever you find difficult to accept about your physical being -- a lack of physical beauty, a disability, etc. -- happened by the sovereign permission of God: "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?"(Exodus 4:11). All these things are not a mark of God's punishment or displeasure, however difficult they may be to bear. Consider all these things in the light of the statement of Jesus about the blindness of the blind man: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life" (John 9:3). Offer your condition back to God, as part of making your body a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1), and seek that his will and his glory may be displayed through your physical body.

Though it is not truly a physical defect, many have had difficulty in dealing with a sense of a lack of physical beauty. Such areas as diet, exercise, cleanliness, courtesy and tact, and an inner joy and tranquillity have much more to do with the qualities of physical attraction than the artificial enhancements of makeup, etc. These aspects need attention first in dealing with this self estimation. In addition, it needs to be noted that the attraction of Jesus himself was by no means physically based:

"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him"

(Isaiah 53:2).

A reading of the gospels would seem to indicate that Jesus was so average looking that it was impossible to pick him out of a crowd!

No matter what physical potential one has been given, be it great or small, any man or woman who is a believer in Christ can have the true attraction of Christlikeness. A concentration on these qualities is more advisable for a courtship and marriage both godly and satisfying. Then, too, a deep insecurity about one's appearance can lead to an envious, resentful, vindictive and manipulative character which may be a more effective sabotage of personal relationships than any lack in the area of personal appearance.

3. God made man like him in some way of resemblance so as to be called in his image and likeness.

What does ‘the image of God’ mean? Generally the image of God is divided into personality (the quality of personhood) and character (moral capability).

• Personality remains in the power of rational thought, communication and action.
• Sin has corrupted the moral character of man. Nevertheless people retain a sense of moral direction, judgment and responsibility (Romans 2:14-15), which shows an intuitive understanding of the moral law of God. This general understanding of morality often reflects the Ten Commandments and has been the basis of human civil law where in ages and cultures without the Bible.

Family Order and the Image of God

Both men and women share in the image of God though the order of creation (I Corinthians 11:7-9 and I Timothy 2:13) has significance for family order.

Civil Justice and the Image of God

1. "And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting . . . And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man" (Genesis 9:5-6).

The image of God in man makes the premeditated and hostile killing of man by man murder that amounts to a crime against God himself. This is the Biblical justification for capital punishment in the case of murder.

• What does this then say about the act and consequences of abortion of the unborn? With all the mention of the consequences to the child and the mother, what does it amount to in regard to God himself?
• Thus being prolife in the sense of being against abortion does not have thus to entail being against capital punishment. Abortion may thus be considered the murder of the innocent, while capital punishment would be the punishment of the guilty.

Verbal abuse and the image of God

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness" (James 3:9).

This shows how slander, demeaning and derisive talk about others, verbal abuse etc. can amount to a denigration leveled against God himself, and gives the Biblical basis for restraint of such talk. This should give us all a new incentive to consider how we speak of others in the hearing of God himself.

All scripture references taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, copyright 1973, 1978 by the International Bible Society and used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers

This is from a handout that I’ve used when I’ve preached on Ephesians 4:11-14.

I’ve heard from multiple sources how many pastors and evangelical leaders are seduced by the aura of power when they receive an invitation to the White House. In contrast, here is a link to the interview that the Scottish Reformer John Knox had with Mary Queen of Scots: John Knox interview with Mary Queen of Scots.

One other example stands out from Christian history. When the Methodist preacher Peter Cartwright was told that General Andrew Jackson was in his audience, he said, “Who is General Jackson? If he don't get his soul converted, God will damn him as quick as he would <anyone else>."

One of the characteristics of genuine fear and respect for God that comes from being filled with the Spirit of God is an amazing boldness and forthrightness yet with genuine respect before earthly authorities. The strength of Jesus and the apostles before the Jewish authorities has often been demonstrated in believers throughout the centuries. Spending time before the eternal throne of God in prayer definitely gives a believer backbone and prevents him or her from being overawed by earthly offices and officeholders who are men and women with feet of clay. Genuine spiritual power does not stand prostrated before earthly authorities.

Here are some classics from Andrew Murray that are available inexpensively or freely on the Internet. They are worth reading either slowly, a chapter at a time, or more quickly, or made the subject of a small group study or Sunday School class. Enjoy.

Abide in Christ

• Amazon
• Google Books

With Christ in the School of Prayer

• HTML
• Amazon
• Google Books

The Ministry of Intercession

• Amazon
• Google Books

The Inner Chamber and the Inner Life

• Google Books

Over and over I have seen documented several behavioral patterns in the abusive person. The truth is that these kinds of grudge bearing and obsessively controlling vindictive people act in some common ways, and yet others cooperate with them a lot because they do not recognize the kind of wicked web in which they are participating. These kinds of abusers can be men or women, and their targets can be men or women. They may be family members or not. These patterns of behavior can take place when the targets are marital partners, family members, or people with whom there is some kind of workplace or social contact or interaction. The target may be well aware of the abuser’s malicious and aggressive intentions, and be avoiding them as much as possible, or the target may not have discerned these intentions yet.

Here are the patterns I’ve seen documented in the literature and in real life:

RED FLAG # 1: The abusive person talks about his or her targets behind their backs a lot.

The amount of talking about someone who is not there is one of the easiest markers to discern. It’s no exaggeration that one of the abusive person’s favorite topics of conversation is the target, when the target is not there or within earshot. The abusive person may have no visible closeness to the target – perhaps no ongoing relationship at all -- and yet claim good and wonderful intentions and a special closeness and relationship with the targets. Moreover, the abusive person mixes a grain of truth with a gallon of falsehood and exaggeration about the targets, and, when these are exposed as lies, tries to justify it by loudly drawing attention to ‘the grain of truth.’ And what goes for the grain of truth may simply have been offhand remarks, small talk twisted to vicious and belittling extremes, and things said and done far in the past.

This kind of backbiting and backstabbing is often tolerated because the abuser puts on his or her charm, and tries to make it entertaining by mixing it with mockery, ridicule and counterfeit compassion. The purpose is to isolate the target socially and to make the target a recipient of ridicule and contempt.

It only takes several reminders from scripture to show the wickedness of this subtle but pernicious behavior:

• “Whoever conceals his hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.” (Proverbs 10:18).
• “When words are many, sin is not absent . . . “ (Proverbs 10:19)
• “A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends . . .” (Proverbs 16:28).
• “A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue.” (Proverbs 17:4).
• “A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.” (Proverbs 20:19)

Several extremely reasonable questions can usually bring this to a stop. I’ve adapted these from Neil Anderson and Charles Mylander, Setting Your Church Free: A Biblical Plan to Help Your Church. 

1. What is your reason for telling anyone/ me this?
2. Where did I / you get your information?
3. Have you gone directly to the source?
4. Have you personally checked out all the facts?
5. Will you allow yourself to be quoted on this?

It’s also reasonable to ask, on any past incidents or statements asserted as having come from the target, about when and where it happened. Information about other people has an extremely short shelf life, and it may be found to have long past the ‘expiration date’ of having any reasonable validity.

RED FLAG # 2: The abusive person recruits others to spy on his or her targets.

It’s amazing how naive and gullible people can be when the abuser seeks to get information on his or her targets. The abuser seduces them into being his spies and informants. This often accelerates when the targets start to distance themselves from the abuser. The spies, which become known as the dupes and henchmen of the abuser, apparently do not make the connection that the reason the targets distance themselves from the abusers is because they find the abusers to be dishonest, untrustworthy, envious, and cruel.

It’s noteworthy that no one in scripture who is wearing a ‘white hat’ – Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Paul, and especially Jesus – ever did anything like this. Rather, it is the ones with ‘black hats’ – Saul (I Samuel 22:8) and Tobiah (Nehemiah 6:19) especially – who do this. Moreover, one of the common complaints against the unrighteous in the Psalms is that they engage in this kind of spying and gossiping on others. This kind of behavior therefore cannot be justified as having any scriptural basis in either precept or example.

RED FLAG # 3: The abuser makes insinuations against the mental stability of the targets.

False accusations of mental illness and instability by abusers are one of the most common markers that the abuser is pursuing some malicious and vindictive agenda. It’s amazing how so few note how eminently unqualified the abusers are to make any such allegations and amateur diagnoses. They often throw out labels in a pretense of a sophisticated understanding of mental illness. This works for a little while because they know that others may not understand and will not take the trouble to verify what the abuser is actually saying.

There are two possible bases for the insinuations that may be evident. The first is that the target may actually be going through some life crisis, and may actually be suffering in some way. Or the abuser has heard of a previous life crisis of the target, and is presenting to others the past suffering of the target as an ongoing and present reality. It’s actually normal, though, for a person to be sad and hurt over a lost relationship, sudden unemployment, the death of a relative or some other life crisis for a period of time. It’s extremely cruel and callous for anyone to insinuate this kind of normal reaction is any kind of mental illness or evidence of any kind of mental instability. Rather, it fits into the abuser’s campaign to isolate and torment the target, to exploit their times of suffering to deepen the misery that they want to inflict on the target.

The second possible justification is that the alleged mental illness and instability of the target is actually the sadness, hurt and avoidance from the prolonged suffering caused by the abuser. Over the past few years some psychiatrists have come to the conclusion that some sufferers of depression, for example, are simply in prolonged abusive relationships, and that medicating them for depression amounts to anesthetizing the victim of abuse to the effects of the abuse – which is exactly what the abuser wants. The person who actually is demonstrating mental instability is the abuser. One of the signs that this is true is that after a period of separation from the abuser the target starts to show less evidence of sadness and hurt and starts to get back to getting closer to others. This time of separation, when the target is visibly more ‘normal,' sometimes alerts others, then, that the behavior of the abuser is the real problem.

It’s logical to inquire very pointedly about the qualifications and reasoning of anyone who makes any insinuations about the mental stability of any adult who has not been professionally diagnosed and is not under professional care. Upon honest examination many times these will be found to be slander. Moreover, it is reasonable for anyone who hears any gossip about anyone who actually is undergoing any kind of professional care to put a stop to it, since such gossip and insinuations are practically never the business of the recipients of the gossip. Moreover, this kind of slander often seems to be an effort to undermine legitimate efforts by the targets to overcome past difficulties and suffering, to put them in the past, and to grow and go deeper in the Lord.

RED FLAG # 4: The abuser exercises assumed and legitimate authority in a Satanic, not a Christ like, manner.

The abuser often assumes authority over others that he or she has not earned, or may seek some legitimate authority. The abuser’s exercise of authority is most definitely not in a Christ like way. Moreover, it is indicated in scripture and throughout the experience of Christians around the world and throughout history, that these kinds of leaders are often under demonic deception. At times they become troubled over their behavior, but the deep and stubborn pride that goes along with the deception often precludes facing the truth and coming the depth of repentance needed to escape the net of deception.

• The abuser sees authority as authority over other people for self aggrandizement. For him or her, authority is not a place of responsibility before God to glorify God and a place to serve others in a Christ like fashion (Luke 24:24-27, I Peter 5:2, II Corinthians 1:24).
• The abuser does not serve as an example of his or her own expectations, but demonstrates incredible hypocrisy in the conduct of his or her office (I Peter 5:3).
• The abuser is incredibly dishonest, vindictive and cruel in the exercise of authority. The abuser uses a lie at every opportunity to cover his or her mistakes and misconduct and to make life miserable for his or her targets. This demonstrates his affinity to ‘the father of lies.’ Sometimes this issues in false prophecy as well (cf. the false prophet Shemaiah and the prophetess Noadiah in Nehemiah 6:10,14).
• The abuser believes and demonstrates that he or she can and will use any means, malicious and wicked as it may prove to be, to get others to follow his or her wishes, even when these wishes are clearly unscriptural and malicious. Sometimes the abuser, under demonic deception, even believes and says that God has given him or her special permission to inflict hardship, difficulty, suffering and ‘discipline’ upon the target. Legitimate scriptural authority is authority to build up, not to tear down (II Corinthians 10:8).
• The abuser attempts to conduct and pursues virtual murder against his targets from the position of authority. This is not an attempt to extinguish the physical life of the target but rather to extinguish the God given individuality of the target where it differs from the abuser’s likes and dislikes. Often it seems to be an incredibly arrogant attempt by the abuser to remake the target in his or her image. Those in abusive relationships often attest to the torment of this attempted slow, insidious personality murder. The goal of scriptural authority, rather, is the Christlikeness of the person who has been made in the image of God, and sanctifies the God given individuality of the person that he has created (Romans 8:28-30).

The leaders and members of the body of Christ must understand their responsibility before God to recognize, to refuse to assist, to rebuke, and to place these abusers under church discipline if there is no repentance (Matthew 18:15-17, Galatians 6:1, Ephesians 5:11). These marks are not intended to serve as license for either undue suspicion or intrusiveness, but for discernment of problems which are often camouflaged underneath counterfeit spirituality.

Several weeks ago I put together in my personal notebook some thoughts that occurred to me on dates that I've had both good and disappointing. For what it's worth, there they are.

Here are two books that were quite influential for quite a while. They speak, from the lives of two missionaries, of the extraordinary spiritual fruitfulness that God gives in response to prayer (John 15:7). Yet I would say that the names of Praying Hyde and David Brainerd are practically unknown to most modern evangelical congregations.

Here are the links to the Google books releases of these books. The book Praying Hyde is also available as a .PDF, which can easily be downloaded and read.

Praying Hyde by Francis McGaw

The Life and Diary of David Brainerd by Jonathan Edwards

CBN also had a short feature on Praying Hyde: Profiles In Prayer: Praying John Hyde By Richard Klein. Wikipedia also has short articles on both: John Nelson Hyde and David Brainerd. These would be more for background information in preparation for reading the longer works.