Someone shared with me this very insightful post on pastoral ministry from Brian Purtle. You can read it here. God is truly searching for men who will heed the call to be true shepherds of their congregations AND their families. Gone are the days of a “sage on the stage.”
The last two weeks I was at school for my January intensives. On Monday (Jan. 12th), we had a class on sanctification and discipleship. The overarching theme of the class was that whatever your view on sanctification (Wesleyan, Reformed, Pentecostal, Keswick, Augustinian) it should impact your methodology of discipleship. It really struck a chord with me. Often, we spiritualize the work of sanctification to such an extent that we fail to build ministries in such a way that they are informed from our theological presuppositions. Make no mistake, sanctification is a spiritual work of the Holy Ghost. It is, however, also mediated through Christ’s Body -the church.
Unfortunately, so much of church discipleship is prepackaged hullabaloo. It is a dumbed-down articulation of God’s word so that it can be marketed for any theological persuasion. While I understand that the markets are driven by the consumers, it seems that the local church should be the genesis of Christian formation…not some big-wig in a city high-rise office looking at the bottom line.
We must be convinced that the local church is the cistern wherein the water of the Spirit washes clean the saints of God. In our post-modern age, where one of the biggest internal threats in the church is not schism but lethargy with regard to the doctrines of faith, biblically informed practical discipleship is essential. The rift between our culture and the scriptures is ever-widening. There is an urgency for God’s word to be taught in power and revelation. Men’s hearts need conviction. We need a revival of His Spirit.
“O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy” Habakkuk 3:2