Visioneering
By jeremyers1 | January 3, 2008
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reading recently on vision. What it is, how to develop it, how to cast it, how to get others to see it, etc. One book that has really helped has been Andy Stanley’s Visioneering. I highly recommend it. I have a vision to see Free Grace Churches planted worldwide, and I think it can be done. The book is helping me figure out how to bring that into reality.
However, one surprising place that I have learned a lot about vision is in movies, and one series of movies particularly has got me thinking about the cost of pursuing vision. This movie series is the 12 hours (soon to be 18 hours) of the Lonesome Dove series. I made a post about it over at my personal blog. The basic question is “How much is your vision worth?” What would you give up to bring your vision into reality? What would you refuse to give up?
There is very little I would refuse to give up…my job, my health, my life, my finances, etc. But the one thing that I would not be able to sacrifice is my family. I think that a pastor who sacrifices his family for the church should not be pastoring, because from God’s perspective, our families are our first churches. If we fail at home, why export it into the church?
Do you agree or disagree? If you agree, what practical suggestions to you have for pastoring our wives and children?
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About Apostolic “Tradition”
By jjohnson | December 23, 2007
In 1 Corinthians 4:14-17, Paul said that he planned to send Timothy to Corinth. Paul wanted Timothy to remind the Corinthians of his way of life so that they could imitate him. Thus Paul wrote, “I have sent Timothy to you, who is my dear and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.” (NET) Notice the uniformity of practice that is implied by Paul’s words. His way of life in Christ was consistent with what he taught “everywhere in every church.” There was integrity. There was a uniformity of practice that grew out of Paul’s teachings. Similarly, the apostles’ beliefs about the function of the church would naturally have affected the way they organized churches (the form of the church). Holding to apostolic tradition is logical, one problem though - all we have is their writings. In a group of house churches someone would have to organize and oversee the flock of each house. But who oversees the overseer? Most of what I see today is a institution of man made buildings and traditions that have nothing to do with scripture.
If anyone understood the purpose of the church, surely the apostles did. They were hand picked and hand trained by Jesus over a 3 year period. Then our Lord appeared to them over a 40 day period after His resurrection. Jesus sent God the Holy Spirit to indwell and teach them things He had not taught them before (John 14-16). Thus, whatever Jesus taught His apostles about the church was naturally reflected in the way they set up and organized churches. Since there is no Paul or Peter to plant or lead a group of house or other kind of FG churches (see above) then it could be possible that each elder of the house church would sit down with the other elders at a particular time each quarter for instance.
In Titus 1:5 Paul wrote, “The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters.” (NET) It is evident from this Scripture that the apostles did indeed have a definite way they wanted things done. It was not left up to each individual church to find its own way of doing things. There was obviously some kind of order, pattern, or tradition that was followed in organizing the churches. Thus, in 1 Corinthians 11:34, Paul wrote, “I will give directions about other matters when I come” (NET). So one task to start FG churches would have to include compiling a “manual” of the teachings of the apostles on how a church is planted, organized, lead, and sustained.
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Why Jack Doesn’t Attend Church
By jeremyers1 | December 13, 2007
This sort of thing happens all the time, every day across America. What can we do about it?
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When you can’t find a Free Grace Church…
By Trent | December 11, 2007
I wish that this article is unneeded for everyone but me, but unfortunately, I know otherwise. For the past 6 years, I have been driving 1-3 times per month for 1+ hours to get to a FG Church. The other Sundays, my family would either visit a church, or I would do a home fellowship that day (which would of course be FG!). As my children grew, so did my frustration. I could not get involved with my church effectively, and my oldest daughter is now 13 and I want her in a youth group!
Finally, I realized and remembered that I grew up in an imperfect church, and even the FG church I love has imperfections. So I set out to find not just the best or closest church to FG teaching, but also one that would allow me to get involved and make a difference.
Below is how I went about doing that. First, I will list the points that were important to me in choosing the church I did, then I will list my plan of action, some of which I have already done, and some of which are in progress. I welcome discussion on these points as well as anything I may have missed.
Important Points in choosing a church:
1) I wanted a good doctrinal statement that was clear on the basic truths of the Bible. Other then the issue of eternal life, I wanted no other distractions on core truths.
2) On the issue of eternal life I wanted confusion, not a clear teaching of Lordship Salvation (You might want to battle it out, but I wanted to clarify). In my experience, most people who are clear on LS are not interested in discussing what the Bible says that might be different.
3) I wanted to feel love at the church and I wanted no caste system between the Pastors and Elders and the fellowship. If they did not have the time to discuss concerns with me or other members, then it’s the wrong church.
4) I wanted a church where theology was important. I wanted a place where they wanted to teach the truth.
5) Because I wanted my children involved, I wanted a kids ministry that I could get involved with as well.
6) I wanted a church that was going to let me get involved.
There maybe some I have forgotten, but these are the ones that are were most prominent.
Plan of action:
1) Meet with a pastor (or the senior Pastor) and explain my concern and my theology. This is not to try and convince him, but so that he will understand what I believe and why I believe it. I want him to know my position, and make sure he is ok with it, so that I have a resolution if someone else tries to stop me from teaching it. I want him to know I am not trying to be sneaky. (In my case, the Senior Pastor loves theology, and in my opinion he appears to be a FG Calvinist. Some of the other pastors, including whoever did the doctrinal statement, appear to be soft LS.)
2) Make sure he is OK with me leading a Bible Study and/or get involved with the youth.
3) Get involved. Volunteer for any opportunity to teach and make sure I am always clear on the gospel of Grace.
4) Get an AWANA program going if possible. If not, get involved with the children in other ways.
5) Don’t be afraid to talk to the other pastors/youth pastors about what they believe. Challenge them in a respectful manner.
6) Pray. Pray for my church, pray for my family, and pray for the pastors.
Should you choose do do this, please don’t neglect your family. Make sure that they are clear on what you believe as well. I ask questions of them periodically and discuss their answers, and I let them listen in when I discuss the issues with people and pastors. My oldest daughter sat through the new members class with me and my wife and heard me clarify the salvation message with the current teacher. He agreed verbally at least with what I said, but it’s good for our family to see we are not afraid to disagree respectfully.
If you do not attend a FG church, how did you decide to attend where you do, and what are you doing there to graciously present your views?
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Fellowship and Unity
By jjohnson | December 8, 2007
Where I live there are very few free grace churches. Planting one has been on my mind for a long time. I love my home church and the churches that I am asked to speak at, but I still think the Spirit might be leading me to take the next step and plant a church. We’ll see what happens, but on this blog, I’d like to kick around a few ideas I have been thinking about.
My first issue for discussion is how do we plant a church using the NT biblical model?
I see that community and unity are prominent themes in both the OT and the NT but most churches struggle with both. In the early church there was a document called the Didache which they used to teach the basics to believers. I wonder if both unity and community could be achieved by doing something similar today. Some might call this Catechism!
We could put both new believers and older believers through this teaching. It would help ground new believers in their faith, and it would get older believers who are entrenched in their theology to see what the scriptures actually teach. We did this at one church plant and it included biblical and systematic theology. It shooed away most who were not teachable or who had an agenda, thereby creating both unity and community.
The only possible problem is that all of this takes time, and in our fast food society I wonder how long people would be willing to sit and listen and learn?
In His grip and grace,
Jim
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We’re Live!
By jeremyers1 | December 6, 2007
Here at Free Grace Churches, we want to focus on taking the Free Grace theology we all know and love, and putting it into practice in our churches, in our communities, and around the world. By joining today, you have the opportunity to change the future.
By becoming a member, you can:
Best of all…there is no charge! Like grace, it’s free.
Check out the site, join today, and start connecting with others.
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Welcome!
By jeremyers1 | November 30, 2007
This site is still “under contstruction.” However, if you are here, let me take the opportunity to thank you for visiting. If you want to help, here are some things you can do:
- I am looking for feedback on the doctrinal statement. Read it in the “About” page above and comment on it below.
- Browse the Forum section and see if there are any categories that need clarification or if we need to add/subtract a few.
- I am also taking suggestions/ideas for how to allow this site to become a network of Free Grace churches that actually reaches out with the Free Grace Gospel both here in the United States and around the world.
If you want to be involved, go ahead and begin making comments below.
Let’s spread the Gospel together!
Jeremy Myers
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