Toothpaste, Courage, and the Protestant Church
July 31, 2009
Insight from David Wells’, The Courage to Be Protestant…
In February, USA Today carried a story about a study that found most Americans are more loyal to their toothpaste brand than their denomination.
The article quotes one cultural critic:
At first blush the findings may indicate that “the United States worships at the church of consumption,” but thinks there’s more to the numbers than that…. “When you actually think about it for more than 10 seconds, none of this is all that surprising and I don’t think it’s actually bad.” He said the statistics demonstrate that some of the age-old rivalries between Protestant denominations have simply dissolved. “Those distinctions, which seemed so important as the various Protestant churches were identifying and evolving … are really not that important to the average churchgoer in the United States.”
I had three thoughts as I read this article.
First, I have no idea what brand toothpaste I use.
Second, I have switched denominations several times in my life. So, in some ways, the statistics of the study are not that surprising. There are, of course, good reasons and bad reasons to change denominations. I have changed for both good and, lamentably, bad. The study apparently did not explore the reasons, good or bad, why people change.
Third, I was somewhat troubled by the comments of the cultural commentator above. It seems to me that he contradicts himself, first lamenting that it may look like we worship at the “church of consumption,” but then celebrating the fact that we are free to choose where to worship because theological distinctions are not that important anymore. If theological distinctions are indeed no longer important in choosing a church, then all that is really left is one’s preference for style. In other words we truly are worshiping at the “church of consumption.”
Here I am reminded of a few things David Wells says in his book, The Courage to Be Protestant:
The evangelical church, or at least a good slice of it, is nervous, twitchy, and touchy about consumer desire, ready to change in a nanosecond at the slightest hint that tastes and interests have changed. Why? Because consumer appetite reigns. And consumer appetites are very much alive in what used to be called the pew. Those who attend churches are now like any other customers you might meet in the mall. Displease them in any way and they will take their business elsewhere (p. 36).
These are challenging words, but I can’t help but think that Wells is right. One of the reasons we are more loyal to our toothpaste brand than to our denomination is because we care too little about theological distinctions (i.e. truth), and too much about our consumerist desires. As I’ve been preaching through the gospel of Luke I can’t help but think of the dangerous desires of Jesus’ disciples. They desired a kingdom of power and glory (Luke 9:33, 54; 11:46; 22:24, 49-50), but Jesus gave them the cross (Luke 9:22, 44), something they did not want nor understand at the time – but something they needed!
Well, none of this ought to surprise us. The Bible tells us quite plainly that this is simply how things are going to be. Paul speaks of the word of the cross as “folly” to those who are perishing (1 Cor. 1:18) and he also says, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth (2 Tim. 4:3-4). In other words, the time is coming (and indeed is here) when “the church of consumption” will reign.
In this ecclesiastic climate, David Wells’ book is appropriately titled. It does indeed takes courage to be a Protestant, not because of persecution from outside the church, but from within. In his opening paragraph Wells makes this exact point, “The truths of historic Protestantism are sometimes no more welcome in evangelicalism than they are in the outside culture” (p. 1).
When Wells speaks of these rejected truths of historic Protestantism, he has in mind three foundational biblical truths (pp. 244-246): First, the truth that God is sovereign and that God alone grows the church; Second, the truth of human inability… we can pray, preach, counsel, and witness, “but God alone gives the growth”; and Third, the truth that God has ordained the means by which his church grows, namely, the preaching of the Word. In summary, Wells has argued that the church has lost the doctrines which allow God to be God over his church, the result being a powerful wave of pragmatism and the displacement of God as central in church life. This can be seen in the fact that people care more about their toothpaste brand than about the distinct theological understandings of God from one denomination to the next.
According to Wells the good news in the midst of all of this bad news is that the current ecclesiastic void left by pragmatic, consumeristic churches can be filled by courageous pastors, leaders, and congregations who are willing to let God be God over the church. Wells concludes his book with the following:
I believe today there is a deep yearning for churches in which God is God…. Churches, in fact, need to be communities that love the truth God has revealed and, in so doing, become serious and joyous about the God of that truth and intent upon serving him in his world. The church is not a business, not an experiment, not a product to be sold. It is an outpost of the kingdom, a sign of things to come in Christ’s sovereign rule, which is now hidden but will be made open and public. Then all the world will bow before him in recognition of who he is.
And this, I dare say, is the only answer we have for the church’s existence and service. It is the anticipation of that great day. It is pointing beyond itself to that great day. It lives in this world, but it lives because it has seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. This is the knowledge that changes everything. Business savvy, organizational wizardry, cultural relevance are simply no substitute for this. Unless the Lord rebuilds the evangelical church today, as we humble ourselves before him and hear afresh his Word, it will not be rebuilt (pp. 247-248).
Short-Term Missions: Blessing or Bane?
July 29, 2009
Well, admittedly it could be either. Thankfully, however, MTW Thailand has established a short-term mission vision that benefits everyone involved. Here’s what the MTW Thailand team leader said in a recent ministry update:
Another missionary once asked whether short term teams were “blessings or a bane?” Overall we would say they have been a tremendous blessing both to those coming, those sending, and those on the receiving end. Our team has been blessed to receive a team of high school girls from Illiana Christian High School (Illinois). This team helped our team expand our ministry at the lower income Mahatthai community, helped lead an English camp, and helped build relationships on Ramkhamheng 2 campus. We have also had a group of interns from Belhaven College and Reformed Theological Seminary-Jackson here for two months. We have gone from a few people playing sports on campus to now having a weekly “exploring Christianity” group meeting. We have also seen University Christian Fellowship be established as a formal club on campus. We give God thanks for the way He moved this secular university to give financial support for our team to have a spiritual retreat for campus students this past month. Finally, we have received a team from Intown PCA and All Souls PCA in Atlanta that have come to help do outreach through the arts in our ministry area. Thank God with us for the safety and good health He provided for these teams. Pray that God may bring long- term workers here from these groups and expand His Kingdom here in Thailand through their ministry and witness.
Pray for the Moose Factory Mission Team
July 21, 2009
This week Calvin PCA has sent a team of six people to participate in the ministry of the PCA’s Mission to the World work in Moose Factory, Ontario at the Cree Reserve. Team members: Paul Eichelberger (leader), Zeb Eichelberger, Kathleen Ewer, David Gould, Rachel Lintner, and Kelly Miller.
They are joining forces with Murrysville Community Church as they travel and minister together to serve with Vacation Bible School and construction projects. Please pray for safe travel and that God would be glorified through their service.
Happy Birthday John Calvin
July 10, 2009
I often miss birthdays, but here is one that is hard to miss. The Reformed world has been acknowledging and commemorating Calvin’s 500th birthday this year with a variety of publications and conferences, and today is his birthday.
John Calvin was born in France in 1509, and he became one of the most influential Reformers during the crucial years of the Protestant Reformation. Perhaps best known for his articulation of the doctrine of predestination, Calvin in fact contributed so much more to the life and theology of the Church. His writings on various topics, such as the believer’s union with Christ, sanctification, justification, the threefold mediatorial offices of Christ (Prophet, Priest and King), worship, the Holy Spirit, and the corruption of man, all combine to form a thoroughly God-exulting theology that has had enormous practical blessings for God’s people. While he is rightly celebrated as one of history’s great theologians, his pastoral ministry is of great significance as well. Calvin preached regularly (daily even) and his theology was always practiced, not in the ivory towers of a university setting, but in the daily life of the church.
There are many reasons John Calvin is important for the church today. Perhaps one of the greatest is found in the simple fact that he was a reformer. And, as history bears witness, as long as Christ’s church remains in its “militant” (not-yet-triumphant) stage, true reformation will always be one of our greatest needs. Like Calvin and the other Protestant reformers, may we be humble enough to recognize this, and bold enough to pursue it.
We are God’s: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God’s: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God’s: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal (John Calvin, Institutes, 3.7.1).
For further reading:
Beeke, Joel R. Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism. Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust, 2008.
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. (Various versions and translations are available).
Lawson, Seven J. The Expository Genius of John Calvin. Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust, 2007.
Parsons, Burk, ed. John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine & Doxology. Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust, 2008.
Why Are We a Confessional Church?
July 9, 2009
Well, Carl Trueman doesn’t answer the question for Calvin PCA specifically, but he does give a good answer as to why the great Protestant confessions are so important to evangelical church life today.
From the new book, Risking the Truth: Handling Error in the Church (edited by Martin Downes), Carl Trueman answers the question, “Why have evangelicals reduced the great Protestant confessions down to minimal statements?” Here’s part of his answer:
Because evangelicalism, as a transdenominational, parachurch movement, needs to sideline great swathes of the faith in order to hold the alliance together. That is not a bad thing in itself…. Such parachurch alliances are important in presenting a popular front for the gospel in the current climate.
Popular front evangelicalism only becomes a problem when, with its minimal doctrinal basis, it comes to be normative for how we actually understand Christianity and thus to impact how we understand the church. Then we find ourselves in a situation where tail wags dog, so to speak, where the identity of the church is shaped not by her own confession but by the exigencies of the evangelical world, where key theological issues such as divine sovereignty, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper are marginalized. Wherever we come down on these issues, Scripture does teach about them; and we have no right to make them merely negotiable matters of indifference in the church. At the ecclesiastical level, I would rather do business with a convinced Arminian or Baptist who knows that the Bible’s teaching on the pertinent issues are important, than with someone who thinks it is all a bit unclear and not that vital anyway.
The long-term impact of abandoning the historic confessions and catechisms is wide-ranging. You stand to lose much historical identity and sense of continuity with the past. With no catechisms and confessions of any depth, you have few resources left in the face of a rising tide of theological illiteracy which leaves the way open for all manner of weird and wonderful stuff to fill the resulting vacuum. You can end up simply replacing them with doctrinal statements which, through their very minimal nature are inherently unstable. And you might find you have a theology which is unsatisfying and ultimately of little use in providing a base from which to address many of the great issues of life.
None of this is to invest historic confessions and catechisms with the authority proper to Scripture alone; but it is to point to them as serious ecclesiastical and historical attempts to wrestle with the great themes of Scripture. If you wish to abandon them, you are free to do so; but unless you can find something which does the job equally well, in just as comprehensive and catholic a fashion, you might want to think twice before you throw them away.
The book from which this excerpt was taken looks to be an important contribution in dealing with various kinds of error within the church (I have an excerpt of the book, but my full copy is on order). As a minister of the gospel I am constantly confronted with the personal need to guard against theological error. As James so clearly reminds all who teach, our judgment will be stricter (James 3:1). So, as I approach the pulpit each Sunday, my fear and trembling is tempered by the knowledge of God’s grace, the understanding that His Spirit is at work despite my lame tongue, and also by the fact that I have a faithful and reliable guide in understanding God’s Word, the Westminster Confession of Faith. Indeed, as Trueman affirms, the WCF does not hold authority on par with Scripture, but it has been received and approved by Christ’s church for generations as a reliable guide to the truths of God’s Word. And if you are prone to stray into the “weird and wonderful” (Trueman’s words, again), nothing can be more helpful than the vast wisdom of Christ’s church passed on through the ages in the form of the great Protestant confessions.
