Saturday, June 30, 2018

Reshaping the 1928 Prayer Book Services for Mission—Part 4


By Robin G. Jordan

In many small Anglican churches in which Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer is the principal service on most Sundays, it is often impossible for the congregation to chant the psalms and canticles for one or more of the following reasons. The room in which the congregation gathers to worship on Sundays does not have the right kind of acoustics for chanting. The church does not have an accompanist who can support chanting on the organ or piano. The church lacks the strong music leadership of a choir, small choral ensemble, or cantor for chanting. The congregation lacks confidence in its ability to sing the Psalms and canticles. The congregation has no acquaintance with the best form of chanting for the congregational singing of psalms and canticles, which is plainsong. As a result the congregation finds itself stuck in the rut of reciting the psalms and canticles in the same way every Sunday with little or no variation in the way that they are said. Typically the psalms will be recited responsively between  the service leader and the congregation and the canticles will be said in unison.

For first time guests the recitation of the psalms and canticles is experienced as a tedious, uninspiring exercise. The psalms and canticles are often said in a perfunctory manner, in a toneless voice, with negligible feeling. There is nothing to suggest that what we are saying comes from the heart.

The recitation of the psalms and canticles is made even more wearisome for first-time guests as they are required to stand throughout the exercise without any inkling of why they need to do so. Members of the congregation may have a vague idea that standing is customary but first time guests are completely mystified.

I have posted several recent articles about the “curse of knowledge” on Anglicans Ablaze. Because we are acquainted with something or accustomed to it, we erroneously assume others are too. But the truth is that first-time guests do not understand why we do things the way we do them nor do they see the logic of doing them that way. Telling them that that is the way Anglicans do things does not increase their understanding of what we are doing nor is it a convincing argument for accepting the way we do them.

What makes matters worse is that what we are doing actually may be of fairly recent origin and may be a something that a past service leader introduced by accident or out of ignorance. While bad habits form easily, they are not easy to change once they are formed.

Take, for instance, standing to recite or sing the psalms. Percy Dearmer and others have pointed out that this practice can be traced to the mid-nineteenth century when it was introduced in imitation of a practice of the monks in medieval times. The monks who sang the psalms in this manner stood in wooden stalls which, unlike chairs and pews, provided them with a measure of support while they chanted. Singing the psalms in this fashion was also considered a way of disciplining the flesh.

Before this practice was introduced in the Anglican Church, Anglicans sat for the recitation or singing of the psalms. They did not stand. Sitting for the psalms is an ancient practice, which can be traced to the practices of the earliest monks, to the Desert Fathers. They sat while a cantor said or sung each psalm, mediating on the words of the psalm. After each psalm they prayed, first standing and then prostrating themselves.

While it may be argued that we stand to praise, many psalms are not psalms of praise. They are psalms of penitence or psalms of lament. Then there are, of course, the imprecatory psalms.

Percy Dearmer in The Art of Public Worship champions sitting for the psalms on the grounds that it would not only make the experience less wearisome for the congregation but it would also help the congregation to the focus on the words of the psalms.* I would add that it also makes the experience less exhausting for first-time guests who are unaccustomed to what may be described as the gymnastics of Anglican worship.

We need to keep in mind that first-time guests do not experience our services as we do. They not only do not understand what we are doing and why we are doing it but they also experience the services quite differently from the way we do.

We forget that our services are in a form of English which contains many words and phrases that are strange or unfamiliar to first-time guests. The Scripture readings are often as not from a translation that contains grammatical structures as well as words and phrases that are incomprehensible to them.

There are also lengthy parts of the service in which the congregation is kneeling and says nothing except for “amen.” As a teenager these parts of the service were the parts of the service that I liked the least. My church had hard, narrow kneelers and kneeling for any length of time was painful. (I always fancied that the uncomfortable box pews and the hard, narrow kneelers was one way the slaves who built the church exacted revenge on their masters.) First-time guests experience these parts of the service in much the same way.

We may not notice the frantic pace of our services but first-time guests do. They notice when we are simply mouthing the words, when we are not putting our hearts into them.

How first-time guests experience our services is major determining factor in whether they return another time and what they tell their friends, relatives, and co-workers about our church. If we make a poor impression upon them, they are not only going to not return but they are also going to tell these folks about their negative experience.

It should be mentioned that even small Anglican churches that cannot chant the psalms and canticles of the Daily Offices can sing the invitatory psalm and the canticles of Morning Prayer and the canticles of Evening Prayer, using metrical versions of these songs.

Before the Oxford Movement sought to replicate in the parish church the worship of the medieval cathedral and the medieval monastery, it was not an uncommon practice for parish church congregations to sing metrical versions of the psalms and canticles in their Sunday worship. With a few exceptions, the practice of chanting the Prayer Book versions of the psalms and canticles was largely confined to cathedral and college chapels.

The Oxford Movement would introduce organs and boys choirs into the parish church and would suppress the village quire, a small ensemble of local musicians and singers that led the congregational singing and performed special music in most parish churches. A large part of the village quire’s repertoire and that of the congregation itself was metrical versions of the psalms and canticles.

In an age in which choirs are disappearing and competent organists are becoming rarer than hen’s teeth, circumstances which are beyond the control of the small Anglican church, the Oxford Movement’s penchant for medieval church music and its view that such music was the only music suitable for public worship has not served the Anglican Church well. Most small Anglican churches cannot pull off this kind of music and are located in communities in which such music has a very small following. Rather they should focus on what they can do well and for most congregations that is to sing hymns. This means that they are already singing some metrical versions of the psalms and canticles.

Small Anglican churches have a wealth of metrical versions of the psalms and canticles from which they can choose, not only from the past five hundred years but also from more recent times. Almost all of these songs may be sung to familiar hymn tunes. A number of new tunes have also been composed for use with these songs. The use of these songs in their worship on Sundays and at other times is an option that they do well to explore. I plan to examine this option in a separate article.

What can a small Anglican church do to improve how its congregation recites the psalms and canticles on Sundays and at other times? The answer is quite a lot.

The late Eric Routley in his book, Music Leadership in the Church, makes the following observation about the public reading of the psalms:
“This, in order really to make its effect, has to be a kind of unrehearsed choral speech and is best performed antiphonally. In order to reflect the poetic structure of the psalms the change of voice must come at the half-verse, and this has the added advantage that a half-verse is normally brief enough to make for a disciplined reading, such as dissipates itself in the course of even so short an utterance as a whole psalm verse. Where people are used to talking in church, as they are in a country parish church in England where responses and even canticles may be chorally read, psalm-reading can be a means of grace; where the custom is not followed in the other parts of the service, reading becomes a rather melancholy substitute for singing. The one question that psalm-reading raises is—

Are you prepared to take choral speech seriously?”
If we are going to read the psalms and the canticles in our worship on Sundays and at other times, we need to be able to respond to Routley’s question with an emphatic yes! We need to be prepared to take what we are doing seriously. This means taking greater care in deciding what we are going to ask the congregation to read and how we are going ask them to read it. It also entails teaching the congregation the best way to read the psalms and canticles and giving them an opportunity to practice and master what they have been taught.

Just as we conduct occasional congregational rehearsals when we are seeking to improve the quality of the congregational singing in our worship and teach new hymns and service music, it is also a good idea to conduct similar rehearsals to improve the quality of choral speaking in our worship. At these rehearsals we can model for the congregation how the psalms and the canticles should be read. They also provide an opportunity to explain archaic and obscure words and phrases. Such rehearsals can be combined with a meal and other activities to which church members can invite non-churchgoing friends, relatives, and coworkers. They can serve as a way of introducing these folks to the way our church worships. Videos of the rehearsal might be made and posted on the church website with a brief explanation of what is happening and how it fits into Anglican worship. Both the choral speaking rehearsals and the videos help convey to non-churchgoers that we take the worship of God with the seriousness that it deserves.

The 1928 Book of Common Prayer has two lectionaries for Daily Offices, one published in 1928 and the other in 1945. These two lectionaries are one of the recognized weaknesses of the 1928 Prayer Book (See Rev. Gavin Dunbar’s “Reading the Bible as a Church,” Anglican Way Magazine, October 20, 2013). They do, however, suggest suitable psalms for Sundays and other feast days. The rubrics do not require the use of all the psalms suggested for a particular Sunday or feast day. They also permit the use of other suitable psalms.

An important liturgical principle is that less is more. We should keep this principle foremost in our minds in our planning of the different parts of the services of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer. One psalm read slowly and meditatively is better than two or three psalms read hastily with little attention to what we are saying.

The psalms, after all, are prayers taken from God’s Word. We should not only offer them prayerfully but also reflect upon them as we would the Scripture readings.

As well as helping us to put into words our devotion to God, through them God shapes and transforms us just as he does through the Scripture readings. He renews our minds.

When we read a psalm, God’s Word should be allowed to do its work. God meets us in his Word. We should not be in a hurry to rush on to the next part of the service. We are in God’s presence and we are on God’s time. We should not treat the psalm as if it is a kind of magic formula that we must recite to win God’s favor or a kind of duty that we are obliged to perform. Treating a psalm in this way does not honor God.

We should read a psalm in our natural voice, allowing any feelings toward God to show in our reading—our love and reverence for him, our sorrow at our sins, our joy at the opportunity to join our fellow Christians in worshiping him, and so on. The psalm should give expression to the voice of our heart, our innermost self. Praying a psalm is a time to drop our masks and to pray naked so to speak before God. Our devotion should be real, not feigned. This may be difficult for some folks at least initially but if we work at it, praying the psalms in this way will transform our worship.

As the compilers of Celebrating Common Prayer point to our attention, “some psalms, such as the more personal and penitential ones, are perhaps best spoken by a single voice.” They also note that other psalms may be recited in unison.

The preferred method of reciting most psalms is antiphonally (with the two sides of the congregation or men and women reciting alternate half verses.) It is appropriate to pause at the asterisk (*) at the half-way point between the two verse halves.

The least desirable method of reading the psalms, which unfortunately has become the default method in many small Anglican churches, is responsively, with a service leader and the congregation reciting alternate half verses. It is the most boring and uninteresting method of reading the psalms. Most congregations that recite the psalms in this manner are not familiar with the other methods of psalm-reading. They have never been exposed to these methods.

A few psalms lend themselves to responsorial recitation. An example is Psalm 136. The second half of each verse of these psalms consists of a regularly recurring phrase. One or two or more voices read the first half of each verse and the entire congregation reads the second half of each verse. If two or more voices read the first half of each verse, they may read the half-verse together or take turns reading the half-verse.

While the Venite is ordinarily recited in unison, it may also be read responsorially with the congregation reciting the optional antiphon appointed for the feast day or season after each verse. Although it is sometimes described as a canticle, the Veniteis actually an invitatory psalm – a call to worship. Its words make little sense when the psalm or psalms which follow it are not sung: “O come, let us sing unto the LORD; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation….”

As Percy Dearmer and others have shown, an office hymn originally followed the Venite in the office of Matins. It would relieve what is a long segment of Morning Prayer if the first hymn of the day was sung immediately after the Venite instead at the beginning of the service.

Beginning the service with a procession with candles and a processional cross is a practice borrowed from the service of Holy Communion. It does not really have a place in the Daily Offices, even on a Sunday or feast day. Both the congregation and the ministers should quietly take their places before the beginning of the service and the service should begin with a suitable opening sentence and the exhortation or the shorter invitation to confession.

We should read the canticles in the same way that we read the psalms—prayerfully and reflecting on what we are reading. Like the psalms, the canticles should never be rushed.

While it is particularly appropriate to recite most of the canticles in unison, the Benedicite Omnia Opera and the Benedictus es, Domine are best read responsorially. Both are segments of the same hymn of praise, an expanded version of Psalm 148, found in the Apocrypha. Together they were a fixed part of the ancient cathedral (or popular) morning office of Lauds, and were sung throughout the year. They followed the laudate psalms, Psalms 148-150, which were also a fixed part of the service.

It is noteworthy that the 1928 Prayer Book has returned to the ancient practice and permits the singing or recitation of the Benedicite year-round. While the Benedicite is lengthy, it is a wonderful hymn of praise. If the first half of each verse is sung or recited by multiple voices with the entire congregation joining in on the second half of each verse and perhaps accompanied by hand bells, the Benedicite is a most fitting response to God’s Word.

The 1926 Irish Prayer Book, the 2004 Irish Prayer Book, and 1956 Free Church of England Prayer Book permit the substitution of Psalm 148 for the Benedicite.

The Jubilate Deo, which Archbishop Thomas Cranmer included as an alternative to the Benedictus Dominus Deus in the 1552 Prayer Book, is actually a psalm of approach. It was sung while entering the temple at Jerusalem. For this reason more recent Anglican service books have moved it to a position before the psalm or psalms of the day where it may be used as an alternative invitatory psalm to the Venite.

Since the Venite and the canticles are hymns of praise, it is appropriate for the congregation to stand while singing or reciting them. On the other hand, the congregation should sit for the psalm or psalms of the day as it does for the Scripture readings at Morning and Evening Prayer. If it is properly explained to them, the older members of the congregation will over time grow to appreciate this change. The gymnastics of Anglican worship can be very hard on aging joints. Many older churchgoers cannot stand or kneel for extended periods of time.

Unlike the 1662 Prayer Book, the 1928 Prayer Book does not require the singing or recitation of the Gloria Patri after each psalm or canticle. Following the Eastern Orthodox practice, the Gloria Patri may be sung or recited after the whole portion of psalms. The Gloria Patri may be omitted after the canticles. Percy Dearmer in The Art of Public Worship recommends to his readers a practice that he observed while lecturing in the United States. He noticed that even when they recited the psalm or psalms of the day, American congregations would sing the Gloria Patri at the conclusion of the psalmody. Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady included in their New Version of the Psalms of David various metrical versions of the Gloria Patri that could be sung to different meters. A number of these metrical Gloria Patri were included in The Hymnal Revised and Enlarged(1892) of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA. One of them can be sung to the tune of OLD HUNDRETH, the same tune as Thomas Ken’s doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow Another is found at the end of Hymn 450, “As pants the heart for cooling streams,” in The Hymnal (1940) and may be sung to MARTYRDOM or some other suitable hymn tune of the same meter. After a successful trial run at my own church, it is a practice that I also recommend. It concludes the psalmody on a note of praise and smooths the transition to the First Lesson.

Let me leave you with this piece of advice from the seventeenth century Anglican poet-priest George Herbert from the chapter, “The Parson Preaching,” from his book, A Priest to the Temple: The Country Parson, His Character, and Rule of Holy Life. When we preach, he wrote, we should dip and season all our words and sentences in our hearts before speaking them so that every word is heart-deep. It is wise counsel that applies not just to the sermon but to the entire liturgy—to the hymns, the psalms, the readings, the canticles, the creed, and the prayers, not just to the service leader but to the whole congregation. Every word should be dipped and seasoned in our hearts so that when we utter them, they are heart-deep. Those who hear our words will not go away unaffected. They may, for the first time in their lives, encounter the living God.

Related Posts:
Upcoming Article Series on Reshaping the 1928 Prayer Book Services for Mission
Reshaping the 1928 Prayer Book Services for Mission—Part 1
Reshaping the 1928 Prayer Book Services for Mission—Part 2
Reshaping the 1928 Prayer Book Services for Mission—Part 3
*A list of Percy Dearmer's books and pamphlets with links to  the electronic editions of a number of them is online on the Project Canterbury website.

New Tax Law Could Cost Churches, Non-Profits a Billion Dollars


A new tax law could cost churches and other nonprofits a bundle.

As in a billion dollars—just for offering free parking and other benefits to employees.

Last year’s tax reform bill changed the law so for-profit businesses could no longer write off such benefits. Unfortunately, says Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), that change affects churches and other nonprofits.

“A nonprofit organization that simply allows its employees to park in a parking lot or garage that is part of the organization’s facilities will be subject to a tax on the cost of the parking provided,” says the ECFA. Read More

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Churches Targeted in New Parking Tax

Practical Preaching Advice for Pastors and Lay Preachers #06


The Best Preaching Tip of All Time

You could be the greatest orator on the planet, but if you do not preach the Word, you’re not preaching. Read More

John Piper: My View Of Preaching

"I stand vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge." Read More

The Curse of Knowledge: A Preaching Death Trap – Part 2 of 3

In Part 1 of this series, we examined what the curse of knowledge is and how it affects preachers. If you haven’t read that yet, definitely check it out. For today, we are going to dive into the two reasons why we preachers are so prone to fall into the death trap that is the curse of knowledge. Read More

Preachers to Listen to (Who You May Not Have Heard of)[Podcasts; Videos]

One of the things we ought to be doing as preachers is to be listening to other preachers. Not only can we learn from others, but we can grow from others. Listen and Watch Now

Some Simple Practices That Will Make Your Preaching Better

I get asked regularly what I do to prepare for my messages, and there are a few things I practice and that I’ve seen other leaders do that I think can gain any communicator an edge. They’re not talked about that often, but they work for me and for other communicators I admire. But even more than that, it took me years to get there. Read More

7 Reasons Your Sermons Are Boring

Everyone who communicates, preaches or even tries to persuade someone of an idea has discovered that sinking sense that you’re sermon just isn’t as riveting as it could be. Or that you’re dull. Even when you’re preaching the Word of God that is anything but dull. Let me ask you: how exactly does that happen? Read More

5 Pro Tips On How To Get Amazing Sermon Feedback

How do you get an accurate, helpful assessment of your message? I mean that would be amazing, wouldn’t it? Because that’s how you grow. Here are 5 pro tips. Read More

Mark Clark And Carey Nieuwhof On How To Preach In A Way That Reaches Unchurched People And Maintains Biblical Integrity [Podcast]

Mark Clark and Carey talk about their different approaches to preaching, how to reach unchurched people and how to preach to churched and unchurched people with Biblical integrity. Listen Now

Boldly Speaking the Gospel No Matter the Cost

The question we must face is, “How will we respond when persecution comes?” We will cower under the world’s authorities? Will we retreat and keep silent? Or, will we stand in the name and authority of King Jesus and speak the gospel with boldness, no matter the cost? The first biblical account of persecution helps us answer these questions. Read More

Faith, Fertility, and the Fate of American Religion


The United States just passed a critical statistical landmark, one that I think – I fear – has immense implications for the nation’s religious life. If I am right, and we are dealing with early days, we might seriously be looking at the opening stages of a large scale process of secularization. After being reported and speculated about for decades, that secularization might finally be happening. As I will argue, the term “secularization” over-simplifies the process, but let that stand presently. Read More

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Why millennials are really leaving religion (it’s not just politics, folks)

Saturday Lagniappe: "4 Experiments to Run this Summer to Help Your Church This Fall" and More


4 Experiments to Run this Summer to Help Your Church This Fall

Rather than looking for the “perfect” strategy for your church, it’s better to consider your practices as a series of experiments and then watch the results. Read More

5 Stupid Things The Church Needs To Stop Doing To Make Progress

Sometimes criticism aimed at the church is unfair. Other times, we shoot ourselves in the foot. Read More

If You Want Your Church to Grow, Consider These 4 Factors

Ricahard Varnell shares his observations why some churches are growing and others are not. Read More

Four Steps for Dealing with a #MeToo Moment in Your Church - Rainer on Leadership #445 [Podcast]

Josh Bryant, the Church Law Guru, joins Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe to discuss how your church can prepare for and respond to a #MeToo accusation. Listen Now

Good News, Satan Wants to Destroy You!

It may sound weird, but knowing we have an enemy is encouraging. Read More

10 Ways to Disagree Online Without Being a Jerk

Insults are more likely to push undecided people away from your side, not towards it. Read More

Here’s What You Need to Know About Online Evangelism

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Friday, June 29, 2018

Renewing Your Church: Removing Barriers for New Life


We need to remove the personal and corporate barriers that keep God from moving freely in and through us.

We live in an ever-changing world in which the church seems to be struggling to keep up. Our churches are aging and losing their relevance in our post-Christian, postmodern, and pluralistic world. Our children grow up and leave our churches. Churches are moving away from the cities because they aren’t able to connect with the new neighbors and some churches are closing their doors.

Let’s be honest. Ministry is hard. I have experienced the ups and downs of ministry.

I have been a part of a struggling church plant that eventually shut its doors. I have had to cut budgets and lay people off. I have had to shut down ministries and even campuses. I have seen marriages of people in my ministry fall apart. I have seen people walk away from their faith.

I have also been a part of starting effective new churches and effective new campuses. I have been a part of growth that included increasing budgets, hiring more staff, and seeing friends, neighbors, and family members coming to faith, getting baptized, and connecting with our local church.

Here’s the thing: after 25 years of ministry, I can now tell the difference of what leads to those seasons of ups and downs.

Looking back at these last 7 years serving in Austin at Gateway Church, I can see three distinct things we did to move from stagnant and declining to growing and thriving that might help you in your work of revitalization. Read More

How to Revitalize Your Church—The 5 R’s


The word revitalize comes from a Latin word that we probably know: vitalis. We think of vital organs as those that are necessary for life. So a church needs life, or it will die.

A different metaphor of church as a blighted urban neighborhood might help us to understand how to bring a dead church back on track. Basically, planners can either gentrify or revitalize a neighborhood. Gentrification is a kind of top-down approach where the urban planners allow the neighborhood to go downhill. When the neighborhood becomes so blighted that people don’t want to live there anymore, the planners bulldoze the place and build million dollar condos. Revitalization of a neighborhood is more of a ground-up approach where people are empowered to use their abilities to make the neighborhood better. It takes time and shepherding, but it can work. The same thing goes for a church. And revitalization is possible because we serve a God who specializes in resurrections.

That’s the gospel. That’s the good news that God can revitalize the dead.

What does it mean to revitalize a church in a way that that is gospel-centered? Let me share the five R’s of revitalization: reframing grace, realigning mission, recasting vision, remembering the journey and renewing all things. Read More

Friday's Catch: "6 Must-Ask Questions to Help Find Your Personal Calling" and More


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How Not To Pray: Two Correctives from Christ

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5 Rude Behaviors Created by Technology

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What’s the Essential Element of Salvation That We’re Missing?

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Should We Celebrate the Fourth of July at Church?

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Fear, Power, Nostalgia, and the 81 Percent

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Thursday, June 28, 2018

The Power of Celebrating in Church Revitalization - Revitalize & Replant #047 [Podcast]


Celebrating the wins in a revitalization is important as you gain momentum moving forward. Today Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe discuss why it’s important and how to improve on this in your church. Listen Now

Why We Must Love Unlovable Church Members


I was a young pastor, and I was sure everybody in the church was kind, gracious, and Christian. Everybody would treat everybody else with the love of God. Needless to say, it didn’t take me long to learn that even in the church are people who don’t quite get there. Some people are really hard to love.

At the same time, I couldn’t avoid Jesus’ telling us to love God and neighbor (Matt. 22:34-40). Nor could I run from New Testaments commands that we love one another (1 Thess. 4:9, 1 Pet. 1:22, 1 John 3:23). I would be lying to say I never struggle now, but I’ve learned something about loving others. Here are ten reasons why we must love even unlovable church members. Read More
Loving all the members of the church is one of the greatest challenges of being a pastor.

Financial Management: Guidelines for Church Credit Cards


The use of church credit cards for ministry purposes can be a great way to simplify payment processing and create flexibility for end users. If implemented properly with good internal controls and proper documentation, credit cards often become a preferred method of payment. Read More

The Bible Has Been Translated Many Times Over, so How Can It Be Reliable?


The Bible can now be read in nearly 700 different languages. For the New Testament, the number jumps to over 1,500 languages. It’s not surprising, then, that the Bible is the most translated book in history.

Christians see the number of translations as a good thing—more people are able to read God’s word in their own language. Others, however, seem to think the number of translations is a bad thing. In fact, they cite the number of translations in order to call into question the Bible’s reliability.

In a Newsweek cover story titled “The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin,” journalist and author Kurt Eichenwald asserts,
No television preacher has ever read the Bible. Neither has any evangelical politician. Neither has the pope. Neither have I. And neither have you. At best, we’ve all read a bad translation—a translation of translations of translations of hand-copied copies of copies of copies of copies, and on and on, hundreds of times.
There are two different challenges in play here. The first concerns the translation of the text. The second concerns the transmission of the text. We will focus our attention on the former challenge since we’ve written on the latter challenge here. Read More

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The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin
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Just the Facts, Ma'am

5 Reasons Churches Should Teach Theology to Children


The Importance of Biblical Literacy

There is no substitute for parents and church leaders presenting the clear, simple, powerful Word of God to the children in their midst. We need to be reading the Bible to the children in our families and church congregations. We need to be teaching the Bible to the children in our families and church congregations. The children in our midst must become acquainted and conversant with the Bible during their early years; we must ensure that, as much as it depends on us!

However, a focus on reading and teaching Scripture to children does not—and must not—mean that we fail to do our best to educate them theologically as well. And, yes, by theologically, I do mean through the use of the discipline of systematic theology—beginning in its simplest forms (historic catechisms and creeds) and growing more and more substantial and complex. Read More

Why You Won’t Make It Without Armor


At some point every Christian learns about the armor of God, the spiritual weaponry through which we are able to resist the relentless attacks of Satan as he seeks to destroy us. According to Ephesians 6, we are to fasten on the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, take up the shield of faith, wield the sword which is the Word of God, and so on. Through it all we take both an appropriately offensive and defensive posture in this great cosmic battle.

In his classic work Holy Helps for a Godly Life, Richard Rogers puts significant effort into describing this armor, then pauses to tell why we must not only know about it, but diligently use it. “The Christian cannot stand without this armor. He that is willing to live Christianly throughout his whole life must not be content to have the knowledge of the armor only in his head or in a book. He must digest this knowledge and make it his own. He must neither doubt the truth of the armor nor fail to put it on. He must be always ready to clothe and furnish his soul with the pieces of the armor. For as apparel clothes the body, so the armor covers his nakedness and shame, making him comely and well-favoured in the sight of God. He must arm himself as the soldier arms himself with his breastplate, helmet, and sword, because God has applied this armor to defend him from the craftiness of the devil, his deadly enemy, and from the deceitfulness of the most horrible sin.”

He provides a few reasons why we, as Christians, just won’t make it without this armor. Read More

What Everyone Is Afraid to Say about Evangelism


Have you recently listened to a medication commercial? They start off by telling you all the fantastic things the medication can do, but after about three sentences the spokesperson begins to speak incredibly fast about all of the side effects. Generally, these effects are not good. One trick the commercials use is showing the people on screen in fun situations and happy as can be while the voice-over is clarifying the sometimes awful side effects that will take place.

Sadly, this reminds me of how many believers share the gospel.

Don’t want to spend eternity burning in hell? Want to feel secure when you do risky things knowing that when you die, you’ll be good to go? Trust in Jesus! It’s easy and lasts forever! And just like the medication commercials, we tend to gloss over the side effects. Just listen to the voice-over: Followers of Jesus often experience trials and tribulations. They are hated for the sake of Christ. The road is narrow, the gate is small, and you must die daily to self, take up your cross and follow Him.

Every mature believer should be an evangelist, sharing their faith, and leading others to understand and accept the gift of salvation by grace through faith. But we must not stop there. The Great Commission doesn’t stop there. After the going, and the making, and the baptizing of disciples in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit there is another element to making disciples: teach them to observe all I have commanded you. Read More

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Wednesday's Catch: "Revitalizing Church Through an Outward Focus" and More


Revitalizing Church Through an Outward Focus

Church revitalization is a very real and important topic to many today because statistics indicate that the majority of churches are plateaued or declining. So, since the majority of churches are not growing, if you’re a church leader, pastor, or Christian leader reading this you’re probably in a church that needs revitalization. Read More

9 Ways to Get Out of the Christian Bubble

I’m convinced that many Christians don’t do much evangelism because they don’t really know many non-believers in the first place. They live inside the Christian bubble and wait for lost persons to come their way. The gospel, though, is about a God who came to a non-believing world; He initiated the conversation. Here are some ways we can be more Christlike and get outside the bubble.... Read More

Republican Tax Law Hits Churches

Republicans have quietly imposed a new tax on churches, synagogues and other nonprofits, a little-noticed and surprising change that could cost some groups tens of thousands of dollars. Their recent tax-code rewrite requires churches, hospitals, colleges, orchestras and other historically tax-exempt organizations to begin paying a 21 percent tax on some types of fringe benefits they provide their employees. Read More
As I come across more articles on this change to the tax code affecting churches and other non-profits, I will post links to them.
How the Catholic Church Became Roman

Looking back, we sometimes wonder how the accumulation of Roman tradition developed from the Galilean’s fishing boat to Luther’s day; that is, from the day of Pentecost to the sixteenth century. While the story is protracted and complex, the following overview will attempt to offer some perspective, giving particular attention to the development of ecclesial authority in the papal office. Read More

God Told Me...

Some consider inner words from God or revelations as certain, even authoritative. Do they put it on par with Scripture? Perhaps they would not make that claim but when they give any authority to personal revelations there’s the dangerous tendency to lean away from sola Scriptura toward mysticism, and maybe worse. That practice has been around for a long time. But longevity doesn’t equate to validity. Read More
Historically Anglicanism has rejected belief in special personal revelation both at the time of the English Reformation and in more recent times.

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

5 Steps to Broaden your Ministry Platform


Many of you who are reading this just came back from the Southern Baptist Convention where you rubbed shoulders with the pastors you want to be just like. If we are honest (and not careful), we will also admit that we rubbed shoulders with some pastors we are jealous of. It can be easy to look at others and consider how influential you might be if you had the platform that he has, or what you would be able to do if you had the influence of that guy over there.

If you’ve ever longed for a more prominent ministry role, this article is for you. It’s kind of a bait and switch, though. See, the truth is that if you clicked on this because you are looking to broaden your ministry platform, you might not yet be ready to have a larger ministry platform. If we aren’t careful, we can desire to have a platform that outpaces our character. So, instead of five easy steps to broaden your ministry platform, here are five reasons that you may not need to. Read More

Three Marks of a Faithful Minister of Christ


It’s so easy to skim over the ‘minor characters’ in Scripture, isn’t it? Men and women whose names are mentioned only once or twice – about whom very little is said. Epaphras is one of those names that only appears three times in the whole Bible (Col 1.7, 4.12; Phm 23), and yet he was a spiritual giant whose example we would do well to follow. He was a church planter and the pastor of the churches in at least Colosse, Laodicea and Hierapolis, if not in other towns in the Lycus valley of Asia Minor. Paul describes him in Col 1.7 as a ‘beloved fellow-servant’ and a ‘faithful minister of Christ’. In Col 4.12 he is referred to as a ‘servant of Christ Jesus’ – a phrase that Paul uses of only two other men: himself and Timothy. So this is a man who was exceptionally highly regarded by the apostle Paul. Why? What marked him out as a ‘faithful minister of Christ’? Paul mentions three things.... Read More

7 Essential Phrases Pastors Should Often Say


Some lessons have to be repeated ad infinitum.

“Let me remind you…” is a phrase that shows up a lot in the epistles of the Apostle Paul.

The most important spiritual truths need to be emphasized again and again if the hearers are to truly learn them and benefit from them.

Here are seven biblical truths we pastors need to keep telling our people in the hope that eventually most will “get it.” (The list is not meant to be exhaustive. You’ll think of other essential truths that need hammering home again and again.) Read More

5 Reasons To Preach ABOUT The Bible, Not Just FROM The Bible


Teaching people how to read and study the Bible is the best way to help them distinguish good teaching from shallow or bad teaching.

The Bible has never been more popular.

It’s everywhere. From our bookshelves, to our laptops, phones, e-readers and audio books.

Virtually anyone can gain instant access to the Bible in multiples languages and translations, including the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

There are also a lot of Bible studies available. Through books, podcasts, blogs and apps, you can read, hear and study an endless variety of ideas about the Bible and its meaning.

The biggest reason for biblical ignorance and misunderstanding in previous generations was lack of access to the Bible and/or good Bible study materials. Today, the problem may be the exact opposite. There are so many voices, it’s hard for most people to distinguish valid Bible teaching from fluff or outright heresy.

As pastors, we have a great responsibility to teach our church members, not just what the Bible says and how to apply it, but how to read it for themselves, so they can distinguish good biblical teaching from shallow or bad biblical teaching.

In short, it’s no longer enough just to preach and teach from the Bible, we need to teach about the Bible, too. Read More

Tuesday's Catch: "Six Ways the MeToo# Movement Has Affected Local Church Life: and More


Six Ways the MeToo# Movement Has Affected Local Church Life - Rainer on Leadership #444 [Podcast]

Sexual abuse in the Church has become a major issue for pastors and church leaders. Today, Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe discuss why this is an important moment for the Church to get right in the way things are handled. Listen Now

Better Late Is Still Late: Advocating for Victims of Sexual Abuse

In recent weeks there has been an increased awareness of the church’s need to be more skilled and more aware in how we care for marriages and dating relationships where abuse is present. I know that many public figures that have spoken out have been applauded for doing so. And doubtless there are many of us—in the SBC specifically—who feel like the proactive pieces that have been written in recent weeks (to which I contributed one) are groundbreaking. Read More

Piper: 8 Guidelines For Tough Leadership Decisions

John Piper offers a thorough list of steps to help you launch a new leadership initiative with wisdom, prayer, and excellence. Read More

10 Steps Pastors Can Take to Beat Stress

Is stress making you listless, unmotivated and mentally distracted? Here are 10 ways you can reduce the stress in your life. Read More

5 Reflections from 10 Years of Daily Bible Reading

what I want to do in this post is to encourage and challenge readers to be daily, habitual, bible readers. I hope to offer some things I’ve learned along the way that will hopefully help you on this journey of knowing Christ more fully. Read More

Introducing ‘The New City Catechism Curriculum’

A new resource for the church,the classroom,and the home. Learn More

Monday, June 25, 2018

Monday's Catch: "How to Reach Hostile Secular People" and More


How to Reach Hostile Secular People

A hesitant Christian and a hostile secularist aren’t a good combination for effective evangelism. Read More

Seeing Christianity Through Post-Christian Eyes

A large part of sharing the gospel in a post-Christian culture is being sensitive to the potential confusion of our listeners. Read More

Two (Book) Attempts to Understand Rural America

Our American small towns and rural places, no less than our great cities, have deep shortcomings, struggles, and sins. But closer inspection also reveals some surprising possibilities. Read More

Why Millenial Parents Are Exiting the Church

Dale Hudson examines why church attendance is lowest in recent years among young families with children. Read More

How to Use the Qur'an to Get to the Gospel

Using the Qur’an can help establish a common starting point, and it opens the door for honest questions about what the person has heard about ‘Isa. Read More

6 Essential Skills For Senior & Executive Leaders

The higher you rise in any organization, the more you give up your rights and the fewer options you have. Read More

Did You Know ‘The New City Catechism’ Is Available in 14 Languages?

The online version of The New City Catechism features the full text of the 52 questions and answers in 14 languages. Read More
I am excited that The New City Catechism is available in Japanese and Korean. My university has an exchange student program with several Japanese and Korean universities.
Serving God in a Migrant Crisis

Today, as millions of God-followers (along with those who don’t believe) are on the move, we need to remember our heritage. God has used migration for millennia to achieve his purposes for his people. He is doing so again in our time. Read More

8 Ways You Can Help Immigrants

These methods for reaching out to immigrants and refugees can go a long way toward making them feel welcome. Read More

Saturday, June 23, 2018

A Changing Language in a Changing World



By Robin G. Jordan

I have been rereading C. S. Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles. I just finished The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Horse and His Boy and I am about to start on Prince Caspian.

For many years it was my habit to read the Narnia Chronicles at least once a year if not more often. I first read them when I was a young boy in England around the time they were first published.

I fell out of the habit of reading them after I moved to Kentucky. Watching the video of Joe Rigney's talk, "Live Like a Narnian: Christian Discipleship in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles," at the 2013 Desiring God National Conference -The Romantic Rationalist: God, Life, and Imagination in the Work of C.S. Lewis - reawakened my interest. Reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Horse and His Boy was like meeting a dear friend after a long absence.

I have also started to read C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Michael: Chiefly on Prayer. A comment Lewis makes in the first letter about the language of The Book of Common Prayer and Patrick Deneen's article “How a Generation Lost Its Common Culture” prompted this article.

I do not think that today you can make the argument for not changing the language of the Prayer Book that Lewis makes in his first letter to Michael. When Lewis was alive, the Jacobean English of the Prayer Book and the King James Bible were still a part of the culture. Young people if they attended church were exposed to the Jacobean English of the KJB and if they attended an Anglican or Episcopal church to the Jacobean English of the Prayer Book. If they attended high school, they were also exposed to its near cousin Tudor English in the plays and sonnets of William Shakespeare and the writings of his contemporaries.

You cannot say that today. Not only do exchange students from other countries for whom English is not their native language struggle with Tudor English so do American students who have been speaking English all of their lives. Except perhaps for drama and English majors they have little incentive to learn Tudor English. A fellow student at my university, a young man who just turned 20 years of age pointed this out to me.

I am friends with a young couple who were students at my university. Both have graduated. The husband works as an elementary school teacher; the wife, as a veterinarian’s assistant. I was surprised to learn that the husband did not know a number of words that I used in my everyday vocabulary and which I took for granted as forming a part of our common vocabulary. It was not the case. He is not alone.

More recently the same young man about whom I wrote earlier told me that his creative writing professor discouraged his classes from writing in any other language than the language that his students spoke day to day with each other. He did not encourage his students to learn and use new words – something which I was encouraged to do both in high school and college to expand my vocabulary. Indeed he would give his students a lower grade if they did.

I learned four languages when I was growing up – the King’s English, the local dialect, Prayer Book English, and after my family immigrated to the United States, American English. This is not what young people are learning today. They may be very proficient in the technical language required by the use of computers or some other specialty but their everyday language is impoverished in the sense that it is devoid of many of the words that once enriched the English language. They have not only lost their common culture, they are in the process of losing their common language.

The implications for churches in the Anglican tradition, especially those in the Continuum, are far reaching. While I personally have no difficulty in navigating the 1662 English Prayer Book, the 1928 Prayer Book, and other traditional English liturgies, many young people are put off by the unfamiliarity of their language and its sometimes obscure or archaic vocabulary.

I have more difficulty in reading aloud the King James Bible, stumbling over a number of the words and phrases. Since my church uses the KJB in its Sunday church services, I must also explain the meaning of some words and phrases to the congregation in my preaching because the English language has changed since the seventeenth century and these words and phrases have either fallen into desuetude or their meanings have changed. If we use them, we no longer use them in the way that the seventeenth century English divines who translated the KJB used them. The KJB is also not entirely free from translation errors. While the jurisdiction with which my church is affiliated permits the use of several more recent Bible translations, the church’s bylaws require the use of the KJB.

If Continuing Anglican churches are to become more outward-looking and to reach out into their communities, they need to come up with ways of working around these obstacles. For example, the service bulletin might include an insert that explains the more difficult word and phrases in the Prayer Book and contains a more recent translation of the Scripture readings alongside the KJB. The latter has precedence in the targum, “spoken paraphrases, explanations and expansions of the Hebrew Bible that a rabbi would give in the common language of the listeners.” In Roman Palestine the common language was Aramaic; in the Jewish diaspora it was Greek. Near the end of the 1st century BCE Hebrew was no longer spoken every day. It was only used in worship and schooling. As was the case in that period in history, our language is in transition today. We only use Jacobean English and its near cousin Tudor English in the worship of a small number of churches and the performance of plays. It is no longer used in schooling to the degree that it once was.

While it is saddening to see the disappearance of what was our common culture and our common language, it is one of the realities of the 21st century. As Archbishop Thomas Cranmer wrote, we should not abandon something in our rites and services because it is simply old. We should retain it as long as it is agreeable to Scripture and is useful. Being useful includes being useful beyond our own small circle. He also wrote that we should not cling to something in our liturgies because it is old if it not agreeable to Scripture and is not useful. He provides us with two valuable criteria that we can apply in evaluating what we are doing and whether it helps or hinders us in being faithful to our Lord and fulfilling the Great Commission.

Three Must-Haves of Every Church Revitalization


“Some churches just need to die.” I’ve heard some variation of this quote several times. It’s false. Certain congregations may indeed die but not because they need to die. If God can save any person, then He can save any church. I believe any church, no matter how far gone, has the potential to be saved.

Many established churches are in need of revitalization. There are degrees of revitalization, of course. In some cases, revitalization is needed in parts of the church while other areas remain healthy. Other churches could use a complete overhaul.

Regardless of the amount of work required, whether it’s one ministry area or the entire congregation, there are three must-haves of every church revitalization. These three must-haves apply to churches of any size or denominational background. Most churches will require more work beyond these three items, but the vast majority of revitalizations will include them. Read More

How a Generation Lost Its Common Culture

My students are know-nothings. They are exceedingly nice, pleasant, trustworthy, mostly honest, well-intentioned, and utterly decent. But their brains are largely empty, devoid of any substantial knowledge that might be the fruits of an education in an inheritance and a gift of a previous generation. They are the culmination of western civilization, a civilization that has forgotten nearly everything about itself, and as a result, has achieved near-perfect indifference to its own culture.


It’s difficult to gain admissions to the schools where I’ve taught – Princeton, Georgetown, and now Notre Dame. Students at these institutions have done what has been demanded of them: they are superb test-takers, they know exactly what is needed to get an A in every class (meaning that they rarely allow themselves to become passionate and invested in any one subject); they build superb resumes. They are respectful and cordial to their elders, though easy-going if crude with their peers. They respect diversity (without having the slightest clue what diversity is) and they are experts in the arts of non-judgmentalism (at least publicly). They are the cream of their generation, the masters of the universe, a generation-in-waiting to run America and the world.

But ask them some basic questions about the civilization they will be inheriting, and be prepared for averted eyes and somewhat panicked looks. Who fought in the Peloponnesian War? Who taught Plato, and whom did Plato teach? How did Socrates die? Raise your hand if you have read both the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Canterbury Tales? Paradise Lost? The Inferno?

Who was Saul of Tarsus? What were the 95 theses, who wrote them, and what was their effect? Why does the Magna Carta matter? How and where did Thomas Becket die? Who was Guy Fawkes, and why is there a day named after him? What did Lincoln say in his Second Inaugural? His first Inaugural? How about his third Inaugural? What are the Federalist Papers?

Some students, due most often to serendipitous class choices or a quirky old-fashioned teacher, might know a few of these answers. But most students have not been educated to know them. At best, they possess accidental knowledge, but otherwise are masters of systematic ignorance. It is not their “fault” for pervasive ignorance of western and American history, civilization, politics, art and literature. They have learned exactly what we have asked of them – to be like mayflies, alive by happenstance in a fleeting present. Read More
Why trouble learning and remembering anything about the past when you can access the internet on your laptop, smart phone, or tablet? This is the attitude that I have observed in my fellow students at my university. I sometimes wonder what they would do if a severe solar storm knocked out the power grid and all forms of electronic communication with it. Many university libraries are pulling books off their shelves and discarding them because they are now available in digital format. What happens if we can no longer access these digital books? My mother was an elementary school teacher. She taught in in the United Kingdom before she taught in the United States. One thing that concerned her about American school children was their lack of general knowledge. Things have not improved since her retirement more than two decades ago.

Seven (Hopefully) Helpful Hints after Seven Months of Visiting Churches


I’ve been on the road a bit more than usual. My job as CEO of LifeWay requires that I spend most of my time in Nashville, but I do get out to speak and preach frequently. These past seven months have been unusually heavy travel times for a myriad of reasons, but I have tried to make the most of my trips.

Though I’ve not been a church consultant for several years, I do seem to see churches through consultant’s eyes. That reality has been especially apparent as I visited many churches during the past seven months. So, even if I am the guest preacher, I enter the church grounds as a guest. I drive my own rental car, and I have to find parking and entrances just like everyone else.

So what I have found these past seven months? I could give you a fairly extensive consultation report about the churches, but I prefer to distill my words into just a few helpful hints. Each of these issues clearly needed addressing in most of the churches I visited. Read More

Related Posts
Q: Who is More Important Than Your First-Time Visitors? A: Your Second-Time Visitors!
10 Words of Advice from a First Time Guest
7 Reasons Some Churches Don’t Grow
All four of these articles are taken from the archives of Pastors.Com. They were originally posted within the past five years and offer helpful insights into why first time and second time visitors are not returning to our churches and why our churches' growth may be stalled.

Practical Preaching Advice for Pastors and Lay Preachers #05


The Kobayashi Maru of Sunday Sermons

Those who preach face many seemingly unwinnable situations. Dan Reiland offers 4 ways that we can beat the most challenging of these situations. Read More

How to Structure Your Sermon Like a Story[Podcast]

Everyone loves a good story. So what if we could structure our sermon like a story? If you’re willing to try something new, the sticky sermons structure is a way to outline every message you preach that follows the principles of storytelling. In today’s episode, we dive into what that looks like. Listen Now

Unchurched Or Unsaved? What Our Vocabulary Reveals About Our Beliefs

Trevin Wax: I wonder if one of the main reasons for the dwindling number of baptisms is represented by a subtle shift in vocabulary--so subtle that we might overlook it. Read More

Five Subtle Ways Satan Sneaks Into Your Pulpit

Larry Moyer: Effective ministry demands that we recognize the tactics of the enemy and then guard against them in our preaching. Read More