First, these two author's had a lot of the same thing's to say, as far as where the church was and where it was headed, and what we need to do to steer it back on course. Second, these two men lived some 400 year's apart from each other. The first book I plowed through was "The Reformed Pastor" by Richard Baxter, a Puritan minister in the Church of England in the mid to late 17th century. The book itself was written in 1655 by a man who saw a need for the men of God in his era to do many things, first among them, to "take heed to themselves." He felt that the church suffered from a group of pastors who were far to caught up in who they were in the eyes of society and what privileges their positions held. They were becoming lazy in doing what they were called and appointed by God to do. One of my favorite lines from the book is when he states that no one was ever saved for being a good preacher, but for accepting the work that Christ has done on his life and that fact that he was a wretched man beforehand. He gives a lot of attention to the point that man will not believe anything you say as a preacher if you do not act in your own life as if you mean what you say from the pulpit. In addition to this, he spends a lot of time discussing with pastor's that their duty is not only to preach a message from the pulpit on Sunday, nor is that enough for the salvation of men and their building up in the Lord. He says that pastors ought to take every moment they have to go from house to house and meet with people during the week, to answer questions they have and lead them to salvation if needs be. In other words, he spoke a message that we are beginning to learn more and more; that church does not begin or end in the building we have dedicated to it on Sunday morning, and that both our life style and our ministry and instruction must carry over throughout the week.
The second book changed my life, honestly. Well, it definitely changed my view of ministry and church, and answered a lot of questions that I had been turning over in my mind. The book was "Confessions of a Reformission Rev." by Mark Driscoll, the senior pastor and founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. If you have never heard or read this guy, he is phenomenal! The link to his weekly podcast is here. I highly recommend you take up listening or watching this one, his teaching is right on. Back to the book, though; this is the most honest read I have picked up in my entire life. To sum it up, he takes you through his personal spiritual journey as he starts a church that grows from 50 people to over 5000 at the current moment, chronicling all the things he did right and wrong along the way. Just like Richard Baxter said hundreds of years before, one of the biggest problems affecting the church is a lack of strong leadership and failure to understand that leading a church takes every moment of every day.
I think the things that both of these books have taught me is about getting back to basics. Both Driscoll and Baxter agree that every sermon, every time should somehow lead back to Jesus since the entire Bible from start to finish is about him in some form or fashion. In our spiritual disciplines, we need to make time for more of the timeless practices that have always served men and women of God; solitary prayer, study of scripture, etc. Also, hanging out with other Christian is a vital part of doing life together, but it can never take the place of real accountability and corporate study.
Just some thoughts to go down the road with. Now that I am back in school studying more theology, I have to remember that knowledge is nothing without heart. I'd love to hear what you guys have to say on the subject, though...
