Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Of Apportionments and Stewardship

    Bishop Willimon has a post about pastoral leadership and stewardship, with the particular aspect of stewardship being apportionments. I like the framing that goes on in our church, as apportionments are called “fair-share giving.” I know that sounds better, but I still call them apportionments.

    I think the general finding is unexceptional. Pastoral leadership has a large impact on how a church responds to apportionments. My question is just what it says about an organization that the pastors have that much of an impact. Apparently the members in the pews are often not all that dedicated to apportionments. One major reason could be that very few United Methodist members really understand how apportionments are assigned (though that knowledge might make the less happy), or how they are spent.

    I have yet to attend a United Methodist church that pays all of its apportionments. At the same time, the way in which the denomination spends the money that is sent up the line tends to make me want to go find an independent church. Unfortunately, I am also well aware of the potential problems of independent churches. For some reason, all churches and denominations consist of people, and thus all forms of organization have problems.

    My own answer is that as long as I’m a member of a United Methodist congregation I must support the payment of apportionments and continue my stewardship, including giving to the local church as the Lord leads. But if there comes a time when I choose to become a member of a church of another denomination, the use of money at the conference and denominational level will doubtless have something to do with it.

    What disturbs me here is to hear stewardship discussed specifically in the form of apportionments, and secondly to see how much Methodist churches change with pastoral assignments. The leadership pattern displayed in Bishop Willimon’s post is something I have observed (much less scientifically, of course) in other areas. I have also seen leadership changes do great damage to a church. I know of a church where the pastor went from pro-charismatic to not-so-much pro-charismatic, and then back to charismatic. With each change the church shed members and while it continues to struggle along, it is not thriving, and many pastors are not very anxious to be sent there.

    I wish I knew how to solve this, other than better pastor placement, and I must be honest when I say that I would do much, much, much worse than the bishop and cabinet in our conference. (Amongst a multitude of other things, this explains why I am neither bishop nor even pastor.) But I do believe this is something that should be of concern. It fits the “shepherd and sheep” model, but doesn’t sound much like the “body of Christ.”

  • Idolatry of Apologetics

    Todd C. Wood, a baraminologist (he studies “kinds” as in Genesis 1), has written an excellent post about how we Christians often make idols of our particular arguments (HT: The Austringer).

    Now as far as I can see, Dr. Wood and I would find ourselves on the opposite side of most debates about origins, but we can make, and believe, our arguments without also making them idols.

    If I might summarize my own view on it, it’s a matter of priorities. Often we make so many issues critical that we have no time to focus on the essentials. One lesson of military strategy is that often when you try to guard everything you end up protecting nothing.

    When Dr. Todd says:

    I greatly fear that our faith in Christ has been replaced with an idolatry of apologetics. I fear we’ve stopped believing in Christ and started believing in arguments about Christ (or the Bible or creation or what have you). I fear we’ve bowed to the world’s demand that we believe only that which is rational. We’re certainly no longer content with merely saying “I don’t know.” We have to have answers, and endless (and often pointless) argument has become our substitute for simply telling unbelievers what Christ has done for us.

    Now I’m not saying that logical arguments are not important, nor am I saying that apologetics is not a valuable Christian activity. It is not that evidence and arguments are unimportant. In my own view the problem is that we make many things essential that are not actually essential parts of the gospel. We make the way we see things the norm, and expect others to see them the same way. In this way we make things ultimate that are not, in fact, ultimate.

    There is a time to debate, but there is also a time to “know nothing but Jesus, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

  • Interesting NRSV-ESV Gender Usage

    The text is Psalm 127:3 –

    Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.  (NRSV)

    Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. (ESV)

    The KJV also reads “children.”  I’m suspecting that the author of this Psalm was indeed talking about sons, because of the culture in which he wrote.  At the same time it’s interesting that NRSV switched to “sons” against most of the English versions, while the ESV stuck with “children.”

    Perhaps not too terribly significant, but interesting.

  • On Receiving Copies of Megabelt

    Megabelt - a story about growing up in the Bible Belt

    It’s always great to receive cases of new books, and yesterday was no exception as our first copies of Megabelt arrived.

    I wrote earlier (Beware Friends Bearing Manuscripts) about receiving the manuscript for this little book. Since then we have done considerable work with it, produced what I think is a truly unique and creative cover (by Robert J. Hill of InnerLight Productions), and added illustrations.

    In this case it was especially enjoyable to receive the books, because within an hour of their arrival, I had author Nick May visiting to get his hands on copies, even if it required special mental powers to do so. He has done an extraordinary job of publicizing his own material. (Note to aspiring authors: You are your own best salesperson!) I really enjoy having authors come to me and say, “I think we need to do such and such, will you pay for it?” rather than waiting for me to come up with the ideas.

    Of course for a first time author, such as Nick, getting your hands on that first copy of your book is a special occasion. So we got to talking about reactions to the book.

    I summarized my reaction thus: There are many things in Megabelt that I have done myself. Many of them, I’m not going to do again. A few of them, I’m going to do anyhow, but I’m going to laugh while I do them. I got a chance to laugh a bit while pulling out my church bulletin and claiming the 10% discount at a restaurant, even though I fully empathize with the fun that Megabelt has with this and some other practices that happen in the Bible belt.

    Nick’s response was simply that this was precisely what he hoped. He wanted to hold up a mirror and get people to think about church culture. I like that idea.

    I sometimes sound like a broken record when I talk about books offending people. But I have to remember the time when a young man spent half an hour berating me at a show because my book What’s in a Version? doesn’t tell people that the KJV is the one and only true Bible. I had another person inform me that he had discarded one of the books I publish because he wouldn’t have it contaminating his book shelf. I have been criticized because I would not declare that I would publish only books that contained only the truth. The problem there, amongst other things, would be the notion of setting myself up as the final arbiter of truth. I could publish only books that I believe to be the truth, but that might result in a narrow list.

    What I hope I’m doing is publishing books that will send readers forward on the search for truth. I can say it about Megabelt, because it was intentionally written as a sort of mirror. But I hope the same thing happens elsewhere. Let the things I publish drive you to the source. A Bible study guide should just be a way station on the way to studying the Bible for yourself. One on prayer of the gifts of the Spirit should be a way station on the way to your own process of listening to God and being led by the Holy Spirit.

    But I digress into excessively serious reflection. Megabelt is fun. Have fun, but don’t be surprised if you feel impelled to change some of your churchy behavior after you read.

  • Blogging Contest about the Church

    My company, Energion Publications, is sponsoring a blogging contest, which provides you with the opportunity to win Barnes & Noble gift cards and books from Energion Publications for doing what you do anyhow – blogging!

    Entries are open until November 2, 2009, the day that Dave Black’s new book Christian Archy is released.

  • Is There a Problem with this Sign?

    What Through Traffic?
    What Through Traffic?

    Does anyone other than me see a problem here? I will reassure you that the gate goes all the way across and so does the mountain of dirt. The only through traffic will be the road destruction equipment.

  • All Saints Day – Cycle B

    Believe it or not, I do regularly read the weekly lectionary passages.  Finding time to write about them is another matter.  This week I’m going to start by providng some links to previous discussions of lectionary passages.

    First, I have a write-up on Isaiah 26 which discusses the structure of the entire chapter.  I think it’s worthwhile to look at passages in context, especially here.  In this case, John the Revelator uses material from the Isaiah passage in our New Testament epistle reading, Revelation 21:1-6a.  I use a series of scenes to illuminate the structure of Revelation in my study guide, and you can find an outline of these combined with my draft translation.  Reading the two side by side, and then expanding the context of the Isaiah passage by reading the whole chapter will give you some insight into the use of the Old Testament in the New.

    Later in the week I hope to post some audio of my previous teaching on the gospel of John.

     

     

  • Ben Witherington on Women in Ministry

    Ben Witherington is taking on Biblical arguments against women in ministry in an article titles Why Arguments against Women in Ministry Aren’t Biblical. (HT: Dr. Platypus.)

    I personally find his first and second arguments quite good, while I tend to be less convinced by his arguments regarding the specific texts. It seems to me that if, as he notes at the beginning of the argument, the New Testament is moving away from patriarchy, that is the overarching argument. Witherington says:

    … As I have argued at length, the patriarchal family was the existing reality in the NT world, and what you discover when you compare what is in the NT and what is outside the NT, is that Paul and others are working hard to change the existing structures in a more Christian direction….

    Thus I would regard his point #2 as the controlling factor in reading the texts cited in #3. The exegesis seems a bit too tortured for me, even when I want to agree with the conclusion. I’d prefer to say that these instructions were correct for the churches and the times to which they were addressed, and did mean that Paul did not permit women to teach at those places and times. I think Witherington’s argument in point #2 suggests that those commands do not apply universally, as the trajectory is toward more rather than less equality.

    I’m glad to see someone of Dr. Witherington’s stature address this issue. Too often those of us who are in churches that accept women in ministry as a matter of course don’t bother to even examine the Biblical arguments. As long as this is not discussed, we have no way to build unity with those of our brothers and sisters who disagree.

  • Purpose of Discussion Section

    Watch here for announcements related to this book and links to other information on the web related to the study of the book of Revelation.

  • Hebews 6:1-6 in Selected Translations

    Polycarp is comparing God’s Word to the Nations with some other translations and has come to Hebrews 6:1-6.  I must confess I prefer the way the NLT translates this passage, but GW is not bad.

    I’ve written on the passage before:  Hebrews 6:4-6:  Can Those Who Fall Return? and then St. John Chrysostom on Hebrews 6, and then in my book Not Ashamed of the Gospel: Confessions of a Liberal Charismatic from a more personal perspective.

    I do believe that trying to resolve the hard words through translation is misguided.  This is a difficult passage, not because of poor translation, but simply because it is a hard passage.