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Sky Links, 10-27-19
In recent weeks, this conservative evangelical “civil war” has found itself in the midst of a pitched battle kicked off by the ill-timed and uncharitable comments made by John MacArthur and Phil Johnson about noted Bible teacher Beth Moore. Combined with the mocking responses from many attending the conference, MacArthur’s patronizing command to Moore to “go home” started an avalanche of online hatred directed at those who are deemed less complementarian than they should be. The mocking. The insults. The unintentionally ironic ex-cathedra pronouncements of anathema and excommunication of those who dare to be less complementarian than what is deemed acceptable. All of it. Grown men should be embarrassed at the fever pitch their fury over Beth Moore has reached. Embarrassed to the point of repentance, in fact.[1]
Within all of that is the specter of guilt by association. In a blog post calling John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, and others to repent of their uncharitable words and responses to Beth Moore, pastor and theologian Dr. Sam Storms confessed, “I am a complementarian, but I fear in making known my convictions I may be linked with those who claim the same label and yet speak unkindly and in snarky, snide soundbites of our Christian sisters.”
I empathize.
Let’s be honest, the anger, spite, and rancor are mostly one-sided. To the point where, like Dr. Storms, I hesitate to openly label myself a complementarian, even though I am one. Over the last several months, pastor friends and I have commented on how even those times when we agree with organizations like Founders Ministry or Grace to You, we are unable to voice assent because of the acerbic, uncharitable manner in which the truth has been packaged. Not to mention that those truths are often part of a larger system that demeans women and oversteps the boundaries of the Bible’s instructions on women’s roles. Articulating thoughts that I’ve had, one Twitter user wrote, “I’m a complementarian – but wow. Seeing the deep suspicion so many evangelical men feel about a woman’s voice has been eye opening. No wonder so many women are sexually abused in churches. These men dehumanize us. There’s nothing of the heart of Biblical complementarianism in them.”
Back to waiting on God. So why did I say not to pray, worship, sing, read your bible, or listen to soft music while you wait on God for 10 minutes? It's not that any of those things are bad, obviously not, but if we always feel the need to 'fill empty silence' with something we can 'do' for God, then we might be working from a place of performance. Ouch. Before we can 'do', we need to learn to just 'be'. So for the sake of this experiment, for 10 short minutes, don't do anything but wait in anticipation for His voice. Now, remember, you're not just 'waiting' for the 10 minutes to finish, you're 'waiting' for Him to speak. Listening with all 5 senses. Don't limit God's voice to just your 'ears'. He could speak at any moment. Sit in expectation. Listening, watching, feeling, sensing, etc.
The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) recently released a powerful position statement stating that the move to indoctrinate children with the idea that they can pick their gender amounts to child abuse.
They are urging legislators and educators to reject all policies that would condition children to accept chemical and surgical distortions allowing people to impersonate the opposite sex.
Why do I include this post on gender indoctrination on a women’s healthy living blog? Because it is relevant to the health of our children, our homes and the next generations’.
This movement is now in full swing in government schools with LGBT activists demanding bathroom or locker room access. This raises serious privacy questions for girls who will have an anatomical male using their facilities.
Note: On Friday the 13th, May, 2016, the Obama administration issued an edict to all U.S. schools requiring they open bathrooms according to self-proclaimed gender identity instead of biological sex … or risk lawsuit and loss of federal funds.
Gordon MacDonald Shares 8 Decades of Wisdom and Life Lessons
-Carey Nieuwhof
Near Death Experience—What Happens When You Die?
-Doug Addison with Steve Sjogren
There was quite a reaction to one of my recent blog posts about Fresh Expressions in Leicester, England, and how we need new ways of doing and being church today. I’ve had quite a lot of interest in what these new ways could look like. I’ve even been interviewed by radio stations around the world about it.
Whenever I’m asked what these new ways look like I always tell them about dinner churches, which I think is a really beautiful, simple, achievable way to start a new kind of congregation.
And I’m not alone, it turns out.
Leonard Sweet, writer, futurist, scholar, once said, “Whenever I’m asked, ‘What is God up to?’ my most common answer is, ‘Have you heard of the dinner church movement?’.”
So, what is dinner church? Well, it’s dinner. And church. Scrunched together. But there’s so much more to it than that. Here’s a few dinner churches from around the world to give you a little taste.
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