Author: Lisa Spencer

Preaching Problems and Seminary Slaps

Lisa Spencer5 Comments

Pastor Holding BibleThis article came to mind that I wrote 1 1/2 ago 7 Reasons I Think Pastors Should Preach Through the Bible. Now I’ve been exposed to all kinds of preaching. But the past several years I’ve been fortunate to be part of churches where the pastors thought preaching through books was really important. Here are my reasons;

1) It connects the narrative to the whole meta-narrative of Scripture.

2) It anchors the congregation in one theme of thought for an extended period of time.

3) It treats the Bible as it should be treated as the revelation of God and not a self-help manual for living.

4) It teaches people how to approach Scripture on their own.

5) It keeps the pastor from focusing on pet agendas.

6) It keeps the pastor grounded in their task to connect people to God’s word in ways that are interesting.

7) It confronts everyone with hard truths.

But here’s the thing about preaching through books of the Bible, it takes skill and training. This is something that is learned in seminary, how to preach faithful to the text in ways that reach your audience. Now that’s not a commentary on whether women should preach or not, so don’t go there.  I’m often amazed when I hear pastors/preachers deride seminary as unnecessary as if they have actually been exposed to what seminary teaches. And yet just this training alone in preaching methodology is worth the price of admission for any pastor that dares to get in front of people and take responsibility for teaching them God’s truth. Continue reading →

Reflections on ETS, Representation and the Face of Evangelicalism

Lisa Spencer1 Comment

ETS bigcrowdI just came back from the 2013 annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). If you are not familiar with this organization, ETS is a professional, academic society of Biblical scholars, teachers, pastors, students, and others involved in evangelical scholarship. In short, it is representative of the conservative arm of Christianity affirmed by members acceptance of the Chicago Statement of Inerrancy as criteria for membership.

The meetings are centered on a particular theme, which changes from year to year and hundreds of papers are presented mainly from professors, PhD students and some who serve in as pastors or in a professional capacity. I was specifically interested in gleaning information that would be useful for my thesis but I’m also interested in research on a variety of topics that are relevant to the church and Christian commitment. I also enjoyed the camaraderie with fellow students, professors, and new friends. Good conversations were well worth the trip.

In all fairness, this was my first annual meeting. I’ve been a member for a few years and have attended the regional meetings, which pale in comparison to this behemoth of a meeting. But it didn’t take long to observe that the overwhelmingly, the majority of the 2,000+ members in attendance are white, male. To be sure, the main panel was homogeneous in this regard.  Best of my knowledge, that is how its always been. Now, I don’t say that to make this an issue of race but of representation.  I don’t know exactly what the percentage of minorities was and certainly there was but in comparison to the whole gathering, its pretty small.

Women made up an even smaller percentage of those represented. According to one session I attended on the future of women in ETS, the presenter noted that women comprise 7% of membership and 1% of papers presented. The percentage is even smaller for women of color. Yikes! That’s pretty low considering that over half of the church comprises women. Continue reading →

A Closer Look: A Violent Shakedown (Matt. 11:12)

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warriorsI have written in this series in a while. But there’s nothing like that one verse that keeps popping up with an interpretation that I don’t believe is faithful to the context that spurs a revival of sorts. It’s the kind of passage that can easily represent our own imposed meanings because there has not been careful study to determine what Jesus actually meant by what he said.

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force (Matt. 11:12)

Common interpretation: The people of God are to be forceful in kingdom pursuits. An extreme interpretation is that we are the ones who make the kingdom happen.

What’s going on: Keep in mind Jesus’ audience and their expectation for the Messiah, the one sent by God who would restore Israel to her glory days that rested in the promises made to David (2 Sam. 7). They had lost their land over to Gentile rulership and their kingship. The idea permeated this ancient audience that that restoration would be a grand political sweep that would knock out the existing regime.

Also keep in mind that the ministry of John the Baptist was an announcer of sorts of the Messiah so that people would believe in Him. Meaning, that people would come to trust that the promises of God are found through Christ. Here the audience are Jews but we know from the breadth of Scripture that this also refers to Gentiles who would be grafted in to the kingdom as equals. Continue reading →

Re-fashioned Relationship: Creating an Emotionally Satisfying Christianity

Lisa Spencer5 Comments

I’ve been reflecting recently on the concept of relationship that seems to be rampant within Christian circles. Somewhere along the way, we’ve created the false dichotomy of religion vs. relationship, something I addressed in this post.

One of the neat things about God’s revelatory process is that he contextualized himself to the culture of the ancient Near East, adopting the various symbols, structures and norms but doing something unique to show that he is the one true God. This is no different when he established the covenant with Abraham, Moses and David (some would say Noah) to secure relationship with his people. Based on what a covenant was in the ancient Near East, there was both promise and expectation.

Looking at the breadth of 66 books, the fulfillment of covenant relationship in Christ was of course the whole point. One only need look at the book of Hebrews to understand that the “better way” foreshadowed in the Old Testament was Christ himself, establishing a new covenant (cf Jeremiah 31:31-34), thus fulfilling previous covenants…

The main point here is that this was the means by which God established relationship. It was not just some willy-nilly, feel good, “being in love with Jesus” type of thing that typically gets associated with our Christianity.  Relationship with God is governed by promise and expectation specified in Scripture. We can expect for him to be God based on his promises to us ultimately found in Christ. There is expectation for us to love him with our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love neighbor as ourselves. There is expectation for us to walk in his ways. I think that is an accurate depiction of religion based on its own definition.

I think the problem is that we’ve taken the concept of relationship further to define what that relationship must look like and often it is according to what we expect from our earthly relationships. We’ve imposed these expectations on Christianity. Imposed is a good word, I think, when we dictate the terms. So when we say that God is relational, it has come to mean in many cases a relationship that are emotionally satisfying to us. Continue reading →

Dear Obscure Pastor

Lisa Spencer8 Comments

Yes, I intentionally said obscure. Because that means that you aren’t well known, except by those you serve in shepherding and those within your sphere of influence. You have no book deals, don’t really utilize social media unless its to make your congregation aware of some important issues. If that spills over to others, then that is an added bonus. In fact, you probably aren’t a heavy social media user because of your attention to the task you’ve been called to do. This consumes most of your time.

Unfortunately, as Christians applaud the visible “pastors” in the limelight, promote their books and blogs, there is little sentiment left for your obscurity. In fact, some may even disdain it as being non-effective. After all, if you were really doing kingdom work, you’d have a wide impact and be in the spotlight to “reach people”, which may cause you to overlook the people right in front of you.

But your goal is to be faithful to the position for which God has called you. Your heart is burdened for discipleship. You want people to know the Lord and grow in grace and the true knowledge of God. You are engaged in activity that most don’t see: time in prayer, long hours of sermon preparation, agonizing over the struggles, rebellious sparks, and concerns of your congregation.  You visit the sick and downtrodden, befriend your non-believing neighbors and network with other obscure pastors for encouragement and learning. You meet with elders, deacons, other leaders, and if in a denomination, your governing body’s organization over the direction and concerns of the church. You encourage outreach to the surrounding community, leading by example of loving God and neighbor so that your congregants will do the same. Continue reading →