Ken, I think worship was always meant to glorify God. Both before and after Jesus came to earth. Jesus has enlarged the scope of this worship, since we now know exactly what Jesus did to redeem us, and that gives us more reason for worship (rejoicing). In our worship of God, in worship services, we can serve God by praising His Name, by listening to His Word, by honoring God. Worship is not just the singing, but it includes also the prayers, receiving blessings, reading of scripture, and listening to or presenting a sermon. Worship should be edifying, spiritually uplifting and convicting, and lead to spiritual growth, strength and perseverance.
Perhaps I shouldn't use the example I am going to give. But I am going to use it anyway. When professional dog trainers talk about their work, they admit that most of their time is spent not in training the dogs, but in training their owners. It is usually the owners that are the problem for problem dogs.
Children are not dogs, obviously. But the same principle often applies. If the parents are not completely involved in what their children are doing in Sunday school; if the parents do not follow up and participate during the week, then the potential for sunday school for children will not be realized. So perhaps half of the sunday school program ought to be oriented towards how to get the parents involved. How do the parents re-inforce the sunday school teaching. How do they enable the memory work. How do they follow up on the lessons, crafts, learnings.
Enlisting the help and direction and guidance of the parents will more than double the value of the sunday school program. It may triple or quadruple the value.
What some teachers do, is to talk to the parents directly about what the kids are learning and what the expectations are. They will talk to the parents either at church, or call them at home. This usually helps, and makes a big difference. The kids begin to learn that the teachers are connected to their parents, that they are working together, and are not two separate enclaves.
I think you have raised some very valuable points, and have focused the purpose of classis in an outward direction, rather than in a navel-gazing direction. So this is good. Only one caution: many classies do not exist in only one city, and have churches scattered throughout numerous towns, so this will change the way they can work together to some degree. It should be permissable and encouraged for a group of city churches within a classis to work together, with classical support- maybe that is the way of looking at it.
Great suggestions! It is not just about being a retired preacher... It's the fact that we cannot really ever retire our christianity, and that is true for everyone, preachers, teachers, pastors, elders, deacons, pray-ers.....
One suggestion: (maybe two suggestions): Have the preacher do the congregational prayer once in four times, and have an elder lead it the other three out of four times or so. When we have a visiting preacher, we almost always have an elder lead the congregational prayers instead of the preacher, and the elders take turns doing this. On some special sundays we may have three or four people lead in various parts of the congregational prayer. I do think we should stop calling it the "long" prayer, a term which I have not heard for a long time. It is not about making the prayer long. It is about praying for the blessings and thanks and needs of the congregation. Some of those needs also include paying attention to the disasters and needs of others, and to other global issues.
Just ruminating a bit more: I think classis has some great opportunities to do some great stuff. But ownership of a cause or a project needs to be sustained on a regular, perhaps weekly basis. Often that is best done at a local level. That is why a church that sponsors a daughter church or a local mission often has the greatest success. No one is wondering who is championing it or sponsoring it or guiding it, and the mechanism for instant response to needs and challenges is always available. Monthly reports on the mission, special offerings, visits, and personal aid for the mission and weekly prayers for this mission would become the norm. The mission would be a major priority for the sponsoring church. This sponsoring church can always ask classis for assistance as well, but the connection to another local church is more real. This applies if the mission is within a half hour or maybe an hour driving distance, and might not apply quite so much if the mission is 6 hours away, perhaps, but even then a church that really feels called to support the mission will have a vested interest in supporting it to succeed, more perhaps than a classis with a number of churches with varying degrees of interest and committment.
However, classis support is valuable and significant. And eventually the mission or daughter church will become more independant and tie into the classis the way the other churches do.
My wife teaches Sunday school. Today she expressed some frustrations to me about some sunday school material. It seems to be really dumbed down, and at other times relating stories and incidents that are inappropriate. It is dumbed down in its low expectations of the children. It seems to ask for them to learn one single memory verse over six weeks. Yet they have the capacity at much younger ages to easily learn a memory verse every week. She got them to memorize the books of the bible over the course of the semester (grades 4 to 5.) The curriculum which was oriented to grades 6 and 7, seems to ask questions that are too simple and too repetitive, even for 5th graders. This relates a bit to your story about "who named the animals?" While your story was not about sunday school, still your willingness about the wrong answer, to "let it slide", takes away from the learning opportunities for the kids. They have the capacity to understand that God let Adam name the animals. While it is true that God is the answer for our life, this answer alone does not lead them to grow in their response to God. That is exactly why God allowed Adam to name the animals, so that Adam could grow and take on responsibility.
Dumbing down the answers too much can lead to perpetual immaturity, because it becomes an expectation that we have of each other, and of ourselves.... that answers are simple, and that if we are wrong, it doesn't really matter much.
The curriculum (all about making decisions) also seemed to relate stories about the mire and filth of life that my wife felt children of that age should be protected from for awhile. So she tossed some lessons in the garbage, while she used others. She might go to a different curriculum this fall (she seems to be looking forward to teaching the kids again.)
"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, unuttered or expressed." But prayer is many things, including communicating with God, and demonstrating what is important to God. God already knows every thought, every desire, every need. Still He wants us to come to him, in prayer. Prayer teaches us who we are , and public prayer teaches each other who God is.
Prayer of Christ for three hours in the garden of Gethsemene. The Psalms of David which are mostly prayers of praise and supplication. Many of our hymns are actually prayers.
A service that is planned to exactly 60 minutes and only permits a two-minute prayer, might not be a good thing. It might be serving an idol of some sort, the idol of time, or the idol of competing interests. Making a public prayer personal, when possible, may be as good as a sermon, or better, in describing our relationship to God.
To encourage more elder participation, make sure either 1. that the same elders attend classis for two or three years. 2. that pastors do not attend classis every time. 3. That if pastors attend, they do not have a vote 4. That when pastors speak on a topic, they must first be requested to speak by their elders on a particular topic. 5. That it is the elders who are expected to speak generally first on the issues.
These policies would force the elders to become conversant with the issues, and it would ensure that the elders would discuss issues that are relevant to the congregations. It would also encourage the role of the elders in leadership.
Oh, one more thing. do not use the terms "lay" and "clergy". Elders do not lay down on the job, or should not. Clergy is not a term that should be used in reference to church governance; it simply means hired preachers. It is not because they are hired that they are involved in governance; they are involved in governance in their role as elders.
Posted in: Who May Lead Worship?
Ken, I think worship was always meant to glorify God. Both before and after Jesus came to earth. Jesus has enlarged the scope of this worship, since we now know exactly what Jesus did to redeem us, and that gives us more reason for worship (rejoicing). In our worship of God, in worship services, we can serve God by praising His Name, by listening to His Word, by honoring God. Worship is not just the singing, but it includes also the prayers, receiving blessings, reading of scripture, and listening to or presenting a sermon. Worship should be edifying, spiritually uplifting and convicting, and lead to spiritual growth, strength and perseverance.
Posted in: The Answer Is God!
Perhaps I shouldn't use the example I am going to give. But I am going to use it anyway. When professional dog trainers talk about their work, they admit that most of their time is spent not in training the dogs, but in training their owners. It is usually the owners that are the problem for problem dogs.
Children are not dogs, obviously. But the same principle often applies. If the parents are not completely involved in what their children are doing in Sunday school; if the parents do not follow up and participate during the week, then the potential for sunday school for children will not be realized. So perhaps half of the sunday school program ought to be oriented towards how to get the parents involved. How do the parents re-inforce the sunday school teaching. How do they enable the memory work. How do they follow up on the lessons, crafts, learnings.
Enlisting the help and direction and guidance of the parents will more than double the value of the sunday school program. It may triple or quadruple the value.
Posted in: The Answer Is God!
What some teachers do, is to talk to the parents directly about what the kids are learning and what the expectations are. They will talk to the parents either at church, or call them at home. This usually helps, and makes a big difference. The kids begin to learn that the teachers are connected to their parents, that they are working together, and are not two separate enclaves.
Posted in: The Answer Is God!
So, it is a challenge! How do you meet the challenge? Any suggestions?
How about every lesson the teachers think about training (or involving) the parents almost as much as training the children?
Posted in: Classis: The Right Tool for Three Important Needs
I think you have raised some very valuable points, and have focused the purpose of classis in an outward direction, rather than in a navel-gazing direction. So this is good. Only one caution: many classies do not exist in only one city, and have churches scattered throughout numerous towns, so this will change the way they can work together to some degree. It should be permissable and encouraged for a group of city churches within a classis to work together, with classical support- maybe that is the way of looking at it.
Posted in: Retired, but Still Productive
Great suggestions! It is not just about being a retired preacher... It's the fact that we cannot really ever retire our christianity, and that is true for everyone, preachers, teachers, pastors, elders, deacons, pray-ers.....
Posted in: The Long Prayer
One suggestion: (maybe two suggestions): Have the preacher do the congregational prayer once in four times, and have an elder lead it the other three out of four times or so. When we have a visiting preacher, we almost always have an elder lead the congregational prayers instead of the preacher, and the elders take turns doing this. On some special sundays we may have three or four people lead in various parts of the congregational prayer. I do think we should stop calling it the "long" prayer, a term which I have not heard for a long time. It is not about making the prayer long. It is about praying for the blessings and thanks and needs of the congregation. Some of those needs also include paying attention to the disasters and needs of others, and to other global issues.
Posted in: Classis: The Right Tool for Three Important Needs
Just ruminating a bit more: I think classis has some great opportunities to do some great stuff. But ownership of a cause or a project needs to be sustained on a regular, perhaps weekly basis. Often that is best done at a local level. That is why a church that sponsors a daughter church or a local mission often has the greatest success. No one is wondering who is championing it or sponsoring it or guiding it, and the mechanism for instant response to needs and challenges is always available. Monthly reports on the mission, special offerings, visits, and personal aid for the mission and weekly prayers for this mission would become the norm. The mission would be a major priority for the sponsoring church. This sponsoring church can always ask classis for assistance as well, but the connection to another local church is more real. This applies if the mission is within a half hour or maybe an hour driving distance, and might not apply quite so much if the mission is 6 hours away, perhaps, but even then a church that really feels called to support the mission will have a vested interest in supporting it to succeed, more perhaps than a classis with a number of churches with varying degrees of interest and committment.
However, classis support is valuable and significant. And eventually the mission or daughter church will become more independant and tie into the classis the way the other churches do.
Posted in: The Answer Is God!
My wife teaches Sunday school. Today she expressed some frustrations to me about some sunday school material. It seems to be really dumbed down, and at other times relating stories and incidents that are inappropriate. It is dumbed down in its low expectations of the children. It seems to ask for them to learn one single memory verse over six weeks. Yet they have the capacity at much younger ages to easily learn a memory verse every week. She got them to memorize the books of the bible over the course of the semester (grades 4 to 5.) The curriculum which was oriented to grades 6 and 7, seems to ask questions that are too simple and too repetitive, even for 5th graders. This relates a bit to your story about "who named the animals?" While your story was not about sunday school, still your willingness about the wrong answer, to "let it slide", takes away from the learning opportunities for the kids. They have the capacity to understand that God let Adam name the animals. While it is true that God is the answer for our life, this answer alone does not lead them to grow in their response to God. That is exactly why God allowed Adam to name the animals, so that Adam could grow and take on responsibility.
Dumbing down the answers too much can lead to perpetual immaturity, because it becomes an expectation that we have of each other, and of ourselves.... that answers are simple, and that if we are wrong, it doesn't really matter much.
The curriculum (all about making decisions) also seemed to relate stories about the mire and filth of life that my wife felt children of that age should be protected from for awhile. So she tossed some lessons in the garbage, while she used others. She might go to a different curriculum this fall (she seems to be looking forward to teaching the kids again.)
Posted in: The Long Prayer
"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, unuttered or expressed." But prayer is many things, including communicating with God, and demonstrating what is important to God. God already knows every thought, every desire, every need. Still He wants us to come to him, in prayer. Prayer teaches us who we are , and public prayer teaches each other who God is.
Prayer of Christ for three hours in the garden of Gethsemene. The Psalms of David which are mostly prayers of praise and supplication. Many of our hymns are actually prayers.
A service that is planned to exactly 60 minutes and only permits a two-minute prayer, might not be a good thing. It might be serving an idol of some sort, the idol of time, or the idol of competing interests. Making a public prayer personal, when possible, may be as good as a sermon, or better, in describing our relationship to God.
Posted in: Why Synod Needs Classis
To encourage more elder participation, make sure either 1. that the same elders attend classis for two or three years. 2. that pastors do not attend classis every time. 3. That if pastors attend, they do not have a vote 4. That when pastors speak on a topic, they must first be requested to speak by their elders on a particular topic. 5. That it is the elders who are expected to speak generally first on the issues.
These policies would force the elders to become conversant with the issues, and it would ensure that the elders would discuss issues that are relevant to the congregations. It would also encourage the role of the elders in leadership.
Posted in: Why Synod Needs Classis
Oh, one more thing. do not use the terms "lay" and "clergy". Elders do not lay down on the job, or should not. Clergy is not a term that should be used in reference to church governance; it simply means hired preachers. It is not because they are hired that they are involved in governance; they are involved in governance in their role as elders.