by Bret Capranica | Jul 7, 2005 | Ecclesiology, Pastoral Ministry
Steve Camp, a contemporary Christian musician (who I have great respect for and enjoy his music) has posted a thought provoking article on his blog today entitled, “It’s the Church . . . Stupid.” His contention is that the seminaries have hijacked training for pastoral ministry and the local church is left with the theological error and poor pastors that result from such terrorism. The subject of ministry training is much on my heart. For the first eight and a half years of my serving as a pastor, I had no formal theological training. By God’s good providence, I was able to attend The Master’s Seminary (TMS) in Los Angeles. Steve speaks highly of TMS in his article and he even served on staff at Grace Community Church (connected with TMS) during my time there. I have been able to live on both sides of the spectrum and see the need for both practical ministry training in the local church and formal theological education. Currently I am pursuing further training at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary while serving full time as a pastor of a local church. Steve’s article scratches where I itch. His critique of the majority of formal education is needed. While he seems to lump almost all seminaries into the liberal category (except TMS) for their disconnect from the local church in ministry training, he still hits on a critical issue. Where is the local church in the process of training men for pastoral ministry? In my opinion, Steve offers some good points of critique. What is needed is a practical and effective cooperative effort between...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 6, 2005 | Southern Baptist Issues, Uncategorized
Challies.com reviews an article by Jim Ellif on the discrepancy in many Southern Baptist congregations (Southern Baptists, An Unregenerate Denomination): the number of members verses the number of attenders. This has always been an issue in my mind. Why do we allow hordes of non-attending members to remain members? Honestly, we are not the only denomination that does this, we just brag about our membership rolls more vociferously. In addition to Jim Ellif’s article, I would recommend reading Mark Dever’s article, “Why We Disciplined Half Our Church.” While we jump on Southern Baptist Churches who brag of meaninglessly high membership numbers, shouldn’t we also be wary of those who boast of large crowds but amazingly small membership in comparison? Is it a healthy church that has 15,000 in attendance on a weekend, yet has only 3,000 to 5,000 on the membership roll? If the crowd on Sunday is inordinately larger than the number who have officially joined themselves to the congregation, have we adequately communicated the necessity of the local church? Have we consistently and clearly communicated the responsibilities of Christians to one another? Just a...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 6, 2005 | Culture
Albert Mohler notes today how a bank in Manchester, England has asked a Christian organization to close its accounts with the bank because of its beliefs regarding homosexuality. I wonder if the bank also has account holders from aberrant religious groups who oppose homosexuality? Any Islamic organizations? Mormons? What about the Church of England and Roman Catholic groups? Have they also been asked to close their accounts? I bet it depends on the account balances more than it does the belief systems. Mohler notes for us another organization that intolerantly and inaccurately tries to enforce...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 3, 2005 | Miscellaneous, Politics
Today I will receive a host of comments because we are not singing any American patriotic songs in our worship services. Why not “America the Beautiful” on the Lord’s Day? “O beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress, A thorough-fare for freedom beat, Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.” What does this all mean? And why would I want to sing to America on the Lord’s Day? I have often wondered about this (normally silently), trying to comprehend why it is we want to dress God in American clothing more arduously than we desire to see Americans clothed in Christ’s righteousness? I will be accused of not being loyal to America, unpatriotic, unsupportive of our troops. All because we do not sing patriotic songs on Sunday. I have to wonder (now out loud) why it is that Christians want to celebrate our nation’s birth on the one day during the week that we come apart from the world to focus our attention corporately on Christ? Isn’t the forth of July tomorrow, not today anyway? I wonder how many Christians will think patriotic thoughts, sing patriotic songs and take time out on July 4th to actually pray for this country. No, in many minds, that is what Sunday is for. I raise my protest. Those who gather on the Lord’s Day desperately need to be focused upon the Lord. We will pray for our country, our troops, the sins of our nation as well as the sins of our own hearts. But we generally do this...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 3, 2005 | Politics
The New York Times has certainly picked up on the scent of Alberto Gonzales being the justice to replace Sandra O’Connor. The Times further notes that conservatives are pleased enough to have Gonzales enforcing the laws as Attorney General, but not evaluating and interpreting them as a justice on the Supreme Court. Specifically, Gonzales is less than trustworthy on the issue of abortion. This will be a boisterous few weeks. See Bill Kristol’s predictions regarding O’Connor and Gonzales, noted in my blog from...
