From Richard John Neuhaus in anticipation of the annual fall meeting of the American bishops of the Catholic Church

After the election, some Catholics with itching ears who are manifestly embarrassed by the Church’s being out of step with the new world of “the change we’ve been waiting for” have gleefully pointed out that the assertiveness of the bishops had little political effect. In the presidential and other races, Catholics voted for pro-abortion candidates. So what? It is not the business of bishops to win political races. It is the business of bishops to defend and teach the faith, including the Church’s moral doctrine. One hopes they will keep that firmly in mind in their Baltimore meeting.

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There are deeper problems. In the last four decades, following the pattern of American Protestantism, many, perhaps most, Catholics view the Church in terms of consumption rather than obligation. The Church is there to supply their spiritual needs as they define those needs, not to tell them what to believe or do. This runs very deep both sociologically and psychologically. It is part of the “success” of American Catholics in becoming just like everybody else. Bishops and all of us need to catch the vision of John Paul II that the Church imposes nothing, she only proposes. But what she proposes she believes is the truth, and because human beings are hard-wired for the truth, the truth imposes. And truth obliges.

It is not easy to communicate this understanding in our time, as it has not been easy in any time. In the twentieth century, the motto of the ecumenical movement was “Let the Church be the Church.” The motto was sometimes betrayed by that movement, but it should be courageously embraced by the bishops meeting in Baltimore. The bishops must set aside public relations and political calculations, and be prepared to surrender themselves anew to the task for which they were ordained, to uncompromisingly defend and communicate the faith once delivered to the saints.

Douglas Kmiec has been an outspoken Catholic in favor of Barack Obama and considers himself pro-life even though he supported a pro-abortion candidate in Obama. Here is a quote from Ross Doughat addressing Kmiec and the issue of abortion in the GOP

I suppose I could find a thing or three to agree with in Kmiec’s longer list of ideas for how the party he abandoned could win back his vote. But frankly, I don’t see the point. I understand that the pro-life position on abortion does not command majority support in the United States and that people of good will can disagree on the subject. And I have no doubt that the Republican Party can profit from greater dialogue between its pro-life and pro-choice constituents—and do a better job, as well, of addressing itself to both pro-lifers and pro-choicers who aren’t already inside its tent. But I can’t begin to fathom why the GOP should consider taking any advice whatsoever from a “pro-lifer” who has spent the past year serving as an increasingly embarrassing shill for the opposition party’s objectively pro-abortion nominee.

From Straight Up, the blog for pastors at Harvest Bible Fellowship

Athanasius, Augustine, Calvin, Luther, Wesley, Edwards—men whose enduring legacies have shaped the landscape of contemporary theological thought. Their reflection was deep, their intellect profound, their passion remarkable, and their influence vast. And these great thinkers not only impacted the intellectuals of their day, but were followed and admired by the laity as well. What was it about these men that established them as such significant theologians? What made them so effective in sparking revival, bolstering faith, and reforming the Church?

Though diverse in their theologies, all of these men shared a common and significant mark of distinction—they were churchmen. They were bishops and preachers, pastors and founders of denominations, shepherd of souls. Though not all of them were formally pastors in the sense we understand today, their social, theological, and intellectual life was inseparably woven into the fabric of parish ministry. They were practitioners as much as theologians. Living among the people for whom they wrote and thought, the press and weight of parish life drove the questions that their theology sought to answer. And they were loved by their people because they resided among them, and because the questions that paned the heart of their parishioners, paned also their own. They were churchmen first, and theologians second, and the former gave birth to the latter.

The legacy of such great men teaches us the value of uniting the role of pastor with that of theologian; yet a resounding absence of such a union marks the church today. Our most significant theologians now reside almost exclusively in the academy. To be sure, the rise of the academy requires thoughtful academic theologians who live and move in that environment. But is it best that virtually all of our theologians have moved to the academy? There is a need for a renaissance of the pastor-theologian, pastors who endeavors to do theology from the pastor’s study and not solely the professor’s lectern. Not every pastor is called to a life of scholarship. Nor is every professor called to the pastorate. But many young people today feel the pull between a life of scholarship and the life of the church. It is to our detriment if we force such individuals to choose between these two callings.

The application for this short reflection is as simple: if you find yourself to be that unique sort of person who longs to produce thoughtful scholarship on the one hand, and yet feels called into pastoral ministry on the other, don’t choose between the two. Bring these two passions together. The evangelical academy needs you in the church, producing scholarship that speaks immediately and directly to ecclesial concerns. After all, the most significant task of the evangelical divinity school is training future pastors; who better to write theology for training pastors than pastor-scholars?

Justin Buzzard, one of the main Reformed bloggers out there, is leading people at his church through the Year of the Bible. Here are the Five Directives

1. Set aside a specific TIME and PLACE for enjoying your daily Bible reading
2. Make Year of the Bible a joy, not a job.
3. Keep moving forward when you fall behind
4. Talk about and apply your discoveries
5. Major in the text, minor in notes.

Outstanding stuff.

Excellent article from Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary . I wonder if you could extend this article from students who are only engaged in a campus ministry to students who are involved in a church that acts more like a campus ministry (ie little to no non-student involvement, leadership, and outreach).

Many college and university students know exactly why Katherine resonates more with her campus ministry than with any particular local church. A campus ministry can be unmatched in helping students connect with other like-minded believers, especially in an ideologically hostile academic or social setting. Campus ministries can help equip Christian students to defend the faith, to serve the poor, to be held accountable to one another. A good campus ministry is a gift from our Christ. But it is no church.

The reason many college students identify primarily with a campus ministry rather than with a church is not because of any flaw in most campus ministry organizations. It is because, too often, we evangelical Christians have a deficient view of the church. We assume that it is any gathering of people who believe in Jesus and who do churchly things. Many Christians assume the church exists simply to help us learn more about Christ and pool our resources for missions. If that’s the case, a campus ministry can do all those things, and more. But the Scriptures tell us the church is much more than that.

From Ed Stetzer’s talk at Catalyst

Three Key Kingdom Recognitions for Church Planters:

1. Jesus is Messiah.

Jesus needs to be Lord of your church plant:

• He is the hero, not your creativity.
• He is the answer, not your solutions.
• He is the relationship, not your community.

2. Peter’s Confession is the Foundation of the Church.

3. The Kingdom’s Keys

What are the keys:

1. People are admitted to the “door” of the king Kingdom through proclaiming the good news (the keys)
2. The church is to exercise binding and loosing though church discipline (next is in Matthew 18)

What do you do:

1. Take seriously the keys.
2. Know the Kingdom is more important that your church.
3. Evident and kingdom mindset.

Very interesting post on Ed Stetzer’s blog about the openness of people to door-to-door church invitations. If, Lord willing, I am involved in replanting a local church, this is the kind of research that is super helpful

In fact, as you put together different components of the research, you begin to see a clear picture of the type of community where door-to-door church invitations could be most successful. If you were picking such a place, you’d probably settle on a poor to working class community that’s ideologically conservative with a high number of Protestants. All three of these demographic groups recorded higher than average openness to church invitations through the door-to-door method–all were above 60 percent. Conversely, it’s not as well received in a liberal, well-to-do or middle class, non-Protestant community.

Yet any good news about door-to-door church invitations can only be limited as we look at the study. The fact remains the unchurched are far less interested in being invited to church by someone they don’t know knocking on their door. Only 39 percent of those surveyed who attend church rarely, on holidays, or never would be okay with someone coming to their door and inviting them to church, according to the survey. The numbers are consistently worse when asked about “counseling” for “heaven,” or what we would call personal witnessing. In other words, the very people we say we want to get into our churches the most are the people least likely to be impacted by one of our favorite outreach strategies.

Now more than ever, we need to look toward new methods to get the unchurched into our churches. Some people will be reached through door-to-door methods. Others will not. While more than half of Americans would listen cordially as a stranger at their door invited them to church, more than 60 percent of the unchurched might tune us out before the invitation left our mouths. Now, the cross is always a stumbling block, but we also want to be sure that our methods are less so. The message of the gospel is too important to be spread through just one strategy–and if God leads you and your church to a certain strategy, you should use it. Door-to-door methods can be and are used to reach people. At my own church plant, we went door-to- door passing out flyers and free popcorn to invite people to our preview service. This method can still be an important part of our evangelism strategies, but our study shows that not everyone is open to such an approach. Let us ask God to show us additional ways to reach the unchurched–through relationships, service, ministry, and invitations to visit. Remember, God wants to see the unchurched connected to a family of faith even more than we do.

From Michael McKinley’s post on the 9Marks Blog

I am convinced that what happened last Sunday morning at your church and mine is actually more important than what happened on Tuesday. I can understand why it doesn’t seem like that to the world, but I wonder why more Christians don’t act like it’s true.

Pilate, the first postmodern.

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

Encouragement by Michael Mckinley for pastors to meet each other.

One thing that surprises me most about being a pastor is how few of the evangelical pastors in the area know each other. Maybe it’s different in a small town, but in a megalopolis like Northern Virginia with hundreds of churches and church plants it is certainly the case.

It’s a shame, because if they believe the same gospel, we are all on the same team. I have made it a goal to meet one pastor every month, and I would encourage you to do the same. It’s easy:

1. Make a list of gospel churches in your area. Use Google to get started if you need to. You can get a pretty good sense from a church’s website.

2. Choose a church, and then pray for them, privately or in your corporate gatherings or (preferably) both.

3. Email the pastor letting him know that you are praying for him and inviting him for a cup of coffee.

4. Let the camaraderie commence.

I have found that the Lord has used some men to encourage and challenge me. In other cases, the Lord has used me to encourage and challenge them. In every case, God is honored when we link arms with our brothers in Christ. [