Monday, November 17, 2008

Race, Religion, and Politics

Race, Religion, and Politics

Author Mark Noll is one of the preeminent historians of religion in American history. That designation is sure to grow with his timely release of “God and Race in American Politics: A Short History.”

Could there possibly be a better time for the release of this work then weeks before our nation elected its first African American President? Race, religion, and politics in American history have always alternated between great triumphs and shameful failure. Noll outlines this contradictory history and provides theological and cultural insights into the reasons.

As the sub-title suggests, Noll writes a short history (200 pages). That is not to be confused with an incomplete history. Noll moves through the issues of race, religion, and politics from the origins of American slavery, to the start of the Black Church Movement, to the Jim Crow years, through the Civil Rights years, and onto the present. In doing so, he provides a panoramic view of what he accurately describes as “spectacular liberation alongside spectacular oppression.” And he does so not in a dry-as-dust historical style, but in an engaging, appealing, captivating narrative style. Surely this is one of the most important books on religion, race, and politics written to date.

Reviewer: Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of “Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.”



Sunday, November 16, 2008

Where Are All the Brothers?

In Defense of Christ and His Church
A Review of Eric Redmond's
"Where Are All the Brothers?"

Pastor Eric C. Redmond writes with a burning passion for revitalization in the African American church. For Pastor Redmond, such revival begins with theology. While that word (theology) may terrify some, Pastor Redmond realizes how relevant theology is to everyday life.

In fact, "Where Are All the Brothers?" is "theology in disguise." It is a practical manual written with wit and wisdom in particular for the black male who has a litany of reasons for being unchurched. Chapter by chapter in bite-size chunks, Pastor Redmond helps men to digest biblical and practical answers to questions they have about the value of Christianity and the Church. He challenges men to give him ten minutes for nine days. His prayer is that his male readers will be transformed by truth and in turn African American churches will experience a reformation as an army of African American men march back into leadership in church and society.

In many ways, Pastor Redmond writes like the great African American pastors of the past--Rev. Richard Allen, Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne, Pastor Peter Randolph, Pastor Lemeul Haynes, and so many other stalwarts of the faith. They share in common the courage of their conviction that God's truth sets men free.

Day by day, Redmond disabuses men of lies about Christ, Christianity, and the church. Day one: addressing hypocrites in the church. Day two: explaining the inspiration of Scripture. Day three: interacting about the role of men and women in the church. Day four: exploring the preacher's calling. Day five: contrasting what Islam claims to offer Black men and what Christ offers all men. Day six: discussing the church and money. Day seven: defending organized religion. Day eight: honoring the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Day nine: outlining eight marks of a healthy church. What we have here is the ability to communicate.

Pastor Eric Redmond has penned an "ecclesiology for everyday life" (a practical defense of the relevance of the church--especially for the black male who has his doubts). But this book is not only for the black brother. It is for all brothers and sisters. And it is not only for those who are not attending church. It will strengthen the faith and resolve of church members also. "Where Are All the Brothers?" is enticing, educating, equipping, and empowering reading for all believers.

Reviewer: Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Heroes in Black Church History

Friends,

RPM Ministries is please to announce the launch of another new, power-packed, one-day seminar: Heroes in Black Church History: Learning Life Lessons from the Legacy of African American Christians.

In just one day, your church or para-church group will be introduced to over 250 years of amazing African American men and women of faith.

All of it condensed into a creative, engaging, empowering summary contained in 15 pages of notes, over 100 PowerPoint slides, and an interactive experience.


Your people will leave motivated to develop multi-cultural relationships and equipped to sustain, heal, reconcile, and guide one another by following the legacy of past African American Believers.

If you are interested in creating a competent, caring, multi-cultural community in your congregation, contact me for more information.


Bob

PS: Here's a summary of the goals and an outline of the day.

Christians of All Races Will:

*Be empowered by the founding fathers of the African American church about how to be a godly male leader.

*Be equipped by the heroic sisters of the spirit of the African American church to be a powerful female spiritual friend.
*Be enriched by past African American husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers concerning how to nurture and enjoy godly living in the home.
*Be enlightened to apply proven ways to help people find healing hope in the midst of deep pain by identifying with past African American believers.
*Be enabled to minister more effectively in cross-cultural settings by uncovering the buried treasure of wisdom contained in the legacy of African American soul care and spiritual direction.
*Be encouraged to skillfully practice the historic soul care arts of sustaining, healing, reconciling, and guiding.
*Be enthused to build healing communities where Christians find courage and comfort in God and each other.

Schedule:

8:00-8:45 Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:45-8:55 Worship
8:55-9:00 Greeting and Prayer
9:00-10:30 Session One: So Great a Cloud of Witnesses: Following the

Ancient Paths
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:00 Session Two: Watered with Our Tears: Communal Comfort

and Family Faithfulness
12:00-1:00 Lunch Provided
1:00-1:10 Worship
1:10-2:30 Session Three: The Old Ship of Zion: Uniting in Christ
2:30-2:45 Break
2:45-4:00 Session Four: This Far by Faith: Embracing the Lost

Spiritual Legacy
4:00 Closing Benediction
4:00-4:30 Optional Book Signing

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Changing Lives Seminar

Friends,

RPM Ministries is please to announce the launch of a new, power-packed, one-day seminar: Changing Lives.

In just one day, your church or para-church group will be introduced to all the concepts in my books Soul Physicians and Spiritual Friends!

That's right. Almost 1,000 pages condensed into a creative, engaging, empowering summary contained in 15 pages of notes, nearly 100 PowerPoint slides, and an interactive experience.

Your people will leave motivated to become biblical counselors, equipped to be spiritual friends, and enlightened to be soul physicians.

If you are interested in creating a competent caring community in your congregation, contact me for more information.

Bob

PS:

Here's an outline of the day.



RPM Ministries Changing Lives Seminar

How to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth:
Using the Bible Accurately and Powerfully in Biblical Counseling
and Spiritual Formation

Changing Lives Morning Session (8:30-12:00)

How to Build a Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction:
Making Biblical Counseling Truly Biblical

Changing Lives Morning Session Abstract

Everyone talks about “biblical counseling,” but how do we define and practice it? Learn how to use God’s Word and Church history to develop a comprehensive biblical model of counseling that truly values the sufficiency, supremacy, authority, profundity, and relevancy of Scripture to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

Changing Lives Morning Session Learning Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this Changing Lives session,
believers will be able to:

1.) Examine the spiritual anatomy of the soul by developing a biblical counseling model of people from the doctrine of Creation.
2.) Diagnose the fallen condition of the soul by developing a biblical counseling model of problems from the doctrine of the Fall.
3.) Prescribe God’s cure for the soul by developing a biblical counseling model of solutions from the doctrine of Redemption.

Changing Lives Afternoon Session (1:00-4:30)

How to Practice the Arts of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction:
Following the Ancient Paths of Biblical Counseling

Changing Lives Afternoon Session Abstract

In this session, we will probe four compass points on the intersection between biblical counseling and spiritual formation. As pastors and lay spiritual friends, we will learn and practice how to offer the historic soul care and spiritual direction arts of sustaining, healing, reconciling, and guiding to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

Changing Lives Afternoon Session Learning Objectives:

¨ Upon successful completion of this Changing Lives session, the participants will be able to:

1.) Read God’s biblical and historical compass to discern the four compass points of S-H-R-G: sustaining, healing, reconciling, and guiding.
2.) Implement biblical and historical soul care through the practice of the relational competencies of sustaining and healing.
3.) Implement biblical and historical spiritual direction through the practice of the relational competencies of reconciling and guiding.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

If You Want a Meaningful Job and a Purposeful Life, Then Minister

If You Want a Meaningful Job and a Purposeful Life, Then Minister

Where do America’s most satisfied workers work, and in what jobs do we find the people with the highest general happiness? We no longer have to guess, because a University of Chicago Study by Tom W. Smith (Job Satisfaction in the United States)[1] provides the answers.

And the Study Asked

Smith asked 1000s of people in 100s of occupations two questions.

1. Job Satisfaction:

On the whole, how satisfied are you with the work you do—would you say you are very satisfied, moderately satisfied, a little dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied?

2. General Happiness:

Taken all together, how would you say things are these days—would you say you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?

And the Survey Says

Only one occupation ranked in the top twelve in both questions.

The clergy.

That’s right. Those whose work is self-defined as “conducting religious worship and performing spiritual functions associated with beliefs and practices of religious faith or denomination” reported very high job satisfaction and being very happy with life.

In fact, of over 198 occupations, the clergy ranked number one—highest—in both categories! Other than members of the clergy, only firefighters (3rd and 2nd) and special education teachers (9th and 5th) scored in the top dozen in each category.

In job satisfaction, 87.2% of clergy reported they were very satisfied with the work they do. Next in order were physical therapists, firefighters, educational administrators, painters and sculptors, teachers, authors, psychologists, special education teachers, operating engineers, office supervisors, and security and financial services salespersons.

In general happiness, 67.2% of the clergy reported that overall, they were very happy with life. Next in order were firefighters, transportation ticket and reservation agents, architects, special education teachers, actors and directors, science technicians, mechanics and repairers, industrial engineers, airline pilots and navigators, hardware and building supplies salespersons, and housekeepers and butlers.

The Contentment Source

So what is it about the ministry that leads to very high job satisfaction and very high general life happiness? The Rev. Dr. Rick Wright answered that question for Kristina Cowan, of PayScale.com, saying he enjoys helping people and being creative. “With ministry, I get to tie in my fundamental beliefs about God and life with what I do all day. So I get to work with people and assist them. And in ordained ministry I think it’s a bit unique that people will open up to you because you are a priest/pastor and share who they really are inside.”
[2]

Frankly, this should come as no surprise or shock for students of the Bible. Nearly 2,000 years ago the Apostle Paul described his delight in ministry and his contentment as a minister. “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

The Creator of the Universe built into the very fabric of our being a core other-centeredness. Only when we are ministering for others will we find life’s meaning for ourselves. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:3-5).



[1]Tom W. Smith, Job Satisfaction in the United States, NORC/University of Chicago, April, 2007.
[2]Kristina Cowan, “Where Do America's Happiest People Work?,” PayScale.com, November 11, 2008.

Monday, November 10, 2008

The First African American Family: Then and Now

The First African American Family: Then and Now

Surfing the Internet, a prominent message one reads from African Americans about the election of Barack Obama relates to the joy many have at the thought of a Black family in the White House. Barack and Michelle Obama, along with their children Malia (10) and Sasha (7), will be an example of family life to a nation and to the world.

The African American Family Now

For instance, the November 5, 2008 issue of the New York Times notes, “As the first African Americans in the role, they will be a living tableau of racial progress, and friends say they are acutely aware that everything they say and do—the way they dress, where
Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, go to school, even what kind of puppy they adopt—will brim with symbolic value.

“‘Here’s an intact black family, a happy family, with beautiful kids and a loving extended family,’” Ms. Williams (a family friend) said, “’and they happen to live in the executive mansion.’”
[1]

The African American Family Then: Pulling the Rope in Unison

Unfortunately, it has become something of a cliché to imagine that Black families today find it difficult to experience stability because of a long history of instability caused by slavery and racism. While not at all minimizing the obstacles that enslaved African American families have faced, history paints a truer and more optimistic picture of their response. Though everything fought against them, enslaved African Americans battled gallantly to maintain family cohesion—a cohesion that provided a sturdy platform from which to handle life courageously.

In my book, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction,
[2] I offer many examples of such family cohesion. For example, Jennie Hill was born and enslaved in 1837 in Missouri. Florence Patton interviewed the ninety-six-year-old Hill in 1933. During her interview, Hill adamantly resisted the notion that enslaved families lacked closeness. “Some people think that the slaves had no feeling—that they bore their children as animals bear their young and that there was no heartbreak when the children were torn from their parents or the mother taken from her brood to toil for a master in another state. But that isn’t so. The slaves loved their families even as the Negroes love their own today. . .”[3]

Communicating the message of African American family love was so important to Reverend Thomas Jones that he bore witness to it on the very first page of his narrative. “I can testify, from my own painful experience, to the deep and fond affection which the slave cherishes in his heart for his home and its dear ones. We have no other tie to link us to the human family, but our fervent love for those who are with us and of us in relations of sympathy and devotedness, in wrongs and wretchedness.”
[4]

Satan longs to blind African Americans to their legacy of family love. He wants all of us to believe that hardships make it too hard to love. Hill’s family, Jones’ family, and millions like them, belie that lie.

Enslaved African American couples sustained strong marital relationships. Venture Smith was born in Dukandarra, in Guinea, about 1729. Kidnapped at age eight, Robertson Mumford purchased him a year later. After living with Mumford for thirteen years, Venture married Meg at age twenty-two. They remained together for over forty-seven years, through many trials and tribulations, until parted by death.

Venture’s narrative contains an explanation for their marital faithfulness. On the occasion of their marriage, Venture threw a rope over his cabin and asked his wife to go to the opposite side and pull on the rope hanging there while he remained and pulled on his end. After they both had tugged at it awhile in vain, he called her to his side of the cabin and by their united effort they drew the rope to themselves with ease. He then explained the object lesson to his young bride. “If we pull in life against each other we shall fail, but if we pull together we shall succeed.”
[5]

Premarital couples, newlyweds, and seasoned married spouses would all do well to heed Venture’s guiding wisdom. And all families will be watching to learn what guiding wisdom they can glean from the example of the Obama family—the First Family.


[1]Jodi Kantor, New York Times, November 5, 2008, Online Edition.
[2]Kellemen and Edwards, Beyond the Suffering, Baker, 2007.
[3]Blassingame, Slave Testimony, p. 593.
[4]Andrews, p. 211.
[5]Bontemps, p. 30.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 13

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 13: Dream Number Twelve
Biblical Counseling Will Be Multi-cultural

Welcome to the final post in a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Twelve: Biblical Counseling Will Be Multi-cultural

The fact that biblical counseling is universal in no way excludes the truth that biblical counseling should be and will be multi-cultural—integrating into its universal worldview the unique Christian perspectives of both genders, all races, and all nationalities (Revelation 5:9).

The day of exclusive theory-building by white males (I am one) and of history-making by dead white males, thankfully, is over. Historical and contemporary insights and practices derived from Christian women and men from all people groups must be integrated into our biblical counseling worldview. Otherwise, it is hypocritical to call it a worldview.

That’s why I have been passionate about co-authoring books like Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, and Sacred Friendships: Listening to the Voices of Women Soul Care-Givers and Spiritual Directors. Giving voice to the voiceless throughout church history and in our current times is essential.

Conclusion: Daring to Dream

I dream of the day when I speak on biblical counseling and someone says, “When you say ‘biblical counseling,’ do you mean lay, pastoral, and professional Christian counseling that is scriptural, theological, historical, positive, relational, relevant, transformative, holistic in theory, holistic in methodology, holistic in equipping, universal, and multi-cultural?” Together, let’s make that dream a reality so that when we place “biblical” in front of “counseling,” pastors, seminary students, professional Christian counselors, and lay spiritual friends respond with joyful anticipation.




Friday, November 07, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 12

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 12: Dream Number Eleven
Biblical Counseling Will Be Universal


Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Eleven: Biblical Counseling Will Be Universal

Comprehensive World-Changers

The Apostle Paul insists that all mature, equipped believers are competent to counsel (Romans 15:14). Therefore, biblical counseling is universal—it is what lay people do as spiritual friends, what pastors do as soul physicians, and what professional Christian counselors do as caregivers.

Comprehensive Worldview

Biblical counseling and Christian counseling are synonymous. That thought is sure to surprise some and raise objections from others. However, biblical counseling is a mindset, a perspective, a worldview, a way of looking at life that informs how we understand people, problems, and solutions. It is universal in that it shapes our view of the universe based upon the view of the universe revealed by the Creator of the universe.

Sometimes we fail to grasp that all counselors counsel out of some worldview. The Bible provides the worldview out of which Christian counselors minister. It doesn’t imply an endless stream of Bible quotes thrown at a counselee or parishioner like a lucky charm from our toolbox of canned verses. Instead, it results in unique, person-specific, situation-specific, naturally-flowing spiritual conversations and appropriate, relevant, shared scriptural explorations built from a comprehensive worldview.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 11

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 11: Dream Number Ten
Biblical Counseling Will Be Holistic in Equipping

Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Ten: Biblical Counseling Will Be Holistic in Equipping

Many training models for biblical counseling tend to focus either on content (biblical truth), competence (relational skillfulness/counseling techniques), character (the counselor’s spiritual formation), or on community (connecting as the Body of Christ). Future equipping in biblical counseling will make no division between content, competence, character, and community.

Many verses exemplified this four-fold, comprehensive equipping model, including Romans 15:14. “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge, and competent to instruct one another.”

Scriptural insight, learned in the context of intimate Christian community, and applied to the spiritual character development of the counselor-in-training will result in the relational competency necessary to interact soul-to-soul and deeply impact others for Christ. This holistic, four-fold model, applied in lay, pastoral, and professional Christian counseling training, will produce maturing wounded healers.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

African American Hope—Then and Now

African American Hope—Then and Now

As I pen these words, America has just elected its first African American President—Barack Obama. While Evangelical Christians may take issue with President-elect Obama’s pro-choice views on abortion, and perhaps with various other political positions, no Christian, of any race, can deny the historic nature of what has just occurred.

For African Americans in particular, Obama’s election is a ray of hope. And hope—awaiting a better future day—has always been core to African American Christianity.

Hope Then: The Story of Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne
[1]

African American Daniel Alexander Payne was a Bishop in, an early leader of, and the official historian for the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC). Reflecting back on the 1816 organizing convention of the AMEC, Payne believed that the separation of the AMEC from the white Methodist Episcopal Church was “beneficial to the man of color” in two ways.

“First: it has thrown us upon our own resources and made us tax our own mental powers both for government and support.” Secondly, it gave the black man “an independence of character which he could neither hope for nor attain unto, if he had remained as the ecclesiastical vassal of his white brethren.” It produced “independent thought,” “independent action,” and an “independent hierarchy,” and the latter “has made us feel and recognize our individuality and our heaven-created manhood.”
[2]

Personally, Payne experienced numerous opportunities to live out his Christian manhood. Early in his life Payne was devastated when a new law forced him to stop teaching his fellow African Americans.

Wavering on the precipice of doubt, he girded up the loins of his mind with solemn words of hope, “‘With God one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Trust in him, and he will bring slavery and all its outrages to an end.’ These words from the spirit world acted on my troubled soul like water on a burning fire, and my aching heart was soothed from its burden of woes.”
[3]

Payne engaged in a spiritual conversation with himself in which he exhorted himself to see this life from God’s eternal perspective. He encouraged himself to trust that God is good even when life is bad.

From 1619 when a Dutch man-of-war came ashore in Jamestown, Virginia carrying twenty enslaved African men and women, until November 4, 2008, 389 years elapsed. That’s almost 150,000 days waiting for hope. Hope that slavery and all its outrages, that prejudices and racism and all their outrages, would come to an end.

Hope waits. It waits 389 years. It waits 150,000 days.

Hope Now: Stories of African Americans Today

Mitchell Landsberg of the Los Angeles Times reports on hope now.

“God bless America,” the woman said as she walked past the line of voters standing outside a mid-city Los Angeles elementary school. She was middle-aged, African American, with an “I Voted” sticker on her blouse. And she was bubbling over with emotion.”God bless America,” she repeated, and disappeared down the street.


It was that kind of day in heavily black neighborhoods of Southern California, where a swirl of emotions—joy, hope, pride, fear—crested after months of anticipation. For the first time in American history, an African American appeared poised to become president of the United States, and people were savoring the moment.”I’d be lying to say [race] didn't matter,” said Vincent Marshel, 43, an audio-video director at a hotel who got in line at 6:36 a.m. to vote near his home in Eagle Rock. “I’m glad I was alive and kicking to see this day come.”

Marshel was in line early, but not as early as Iris Hill. She showed up at her polling place in Valley Village at 5 a.m., and was the first voter in line at Faith Presbyterian Church. Hill, 27, usually mails in an absentee ballot, but wanted the experience of voting in a booth this time. “I’m excited about this one” she said, “It is a historic opportunity for change, and voting in person just felt right this time.”

Hill, who is African-American, sees the election as a sea change. “This election means a great deal. So much had to change to get to this point,” she said. Hill said she was thinking of her grandmother, who was born in 1929 and lives in North Carolina.”She was part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s in Birmingham, fighting for basic rights. And for her to go from being a disenfranchised non-voter in the South to being able to vote in this election for an African-American for president. . . .”
[4]

Hope Waits

One need not have voted for Barack Obama, nor agree with his political positions to understand that November 4, 2008 is a profound day in American history. It is also a profound example of the power of hope, of the power of trusting in a good God who shapes beauty from ashes, who empowers us to move beyond the suffering.

It is a day that can profoundly impact each of us personally if we will apply the message of hope to our lives, particularly to times of suffering in our lives. How long do you wait when life beats you down? How do you cope when devastating doubts seek to defeat your faith?

Hope waits. Hope waits on God who is a time-God. Hope waits 150,000 days for God to bring good out of what people intend for evil.

Hope waits because hope trusts that God is good. Hope believes that our physical eyes perceiving our physical world can never be the final arbiter regarding the goodness of God. We need faith eyes to see that God is at work even when all seems lost.

And, yes, sometimes we do not see His work until that final day when all tears will be wiped away. But every once in a while, even in this life, we can see glimpses, a small taste now, of that future day of hope.

For many, November 4, 2008 is such a day.



[1]For more on Bishop Payne, see Kellemen and Edwards, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, Baker, 2007.
[2]Payne, A History of the A.M.E. Church, I, pp. 9-12.
[3]Payne, Recollections of Seventy Years, p. 28.
[4]Landsberg, Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2008.




The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 10

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 10: Dream Number Nine
Biblical Counseling Will Be Holistic in Methodology

Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Nine: Biblical Counseling Will Be Holistic in Methodology

In Christian counseling today, there seems to be a great divide between models that focus on suffering and those that focus on sinning. Biblical counseling will treat both suffering and sin by recognizing that God’s Word is profitable for dealing with the evils we have suffered (soul care) as well as with the sins we have committed (spiritual direction). True biblical counseling offers comfort for the hurting as well as confrontation for the hardened. It provides sustaining and healing for those battered by life as well as reconciling and guiding for those ensnared by Satan.

Parakaletic Counseling: Soul Care for Suffering/Sanctification—John 14:15-31; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Sustaining and healing (soul care for suffering) are classic terms in the history of Christian pastoral care.
[i] Through sustaining and healing, biblical counselors will offer parakaletic care (called alongside to comfort—like the Holy Spirit our Divine Comforter, John 14:15-31; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11).[ii]

Sustaining says, “It’s normal to hurt.” The counselor climbs in the casket with the hurting spiritual friend to empathize with the pain of their earthly story.

Healing says, “It’s possible to hope.” The counselor celebrates the empty tomb and helps spiritual friends to see life with spiritual eyes through grasping God’s eternal story of working good out of evil.

Nouthetic Counseling: Spiritual Direction for Sin/Sanctification—Romans 15:14

Reconciling and guiding (spiritual direction for sin and sanctification) are equally historic terms.
[iii] Through reconciling and guiding, God will use biblical counselors to empower repentant and forgiven believers to apply principles of growth in grace.

Reconciling says, “It’s horrible to sin, but wonderful to be forgiven.” The counselor loads the conscience with guilt while lightening the conscience with grace.

Guiding says, “It’s supernatural to mature.” The counselor empowers the counselee to tap into Christ’s resurrection power.

Parathetic Counseling

What might we call such holistic counseling? Combining the comforting element for suffering implicit in the Greek word parakaleo with the confronting element for sinning implicit in the Greek word nouthetic we have parathetic counseling. It is comprehensive, holistic, and balanced biblical counseling that deals both with suffering and sin.



[i]William Clebsch and Charles Jaekle. Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. New York: Harper & Row, 1964, p. 8.
[ii]See Tim Clinton and George Ohlschlager, Competent Christian Counseling: Foundations and Practice of Compassionate Soul Care. Colorado Springs, Waterbrook, 2002, pp. 54-61. See also, Robert Kellemen, Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2007, pp. 39-57.
[iii]William Clebsch & Charles Jaekle. Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. New York: Harper & Row, 1964, p. 9.



Monday, November 03, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 9

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 9: Dream Number Eight
Biblical Counseling Will Be Holistic in Theory


Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Eight: Biblical Counseling Will Be Holistic in Theory

In the past, at times some models of biblical counseling have focused on one primary aspect of human nature—our volitionality—our ability to act, will, choose, behave. Such a focus is incomplete. It does not offer a fully biblical “personality theory.” Without a biblical personality theory we have no way of accurately assessing whether the model provides a scriptural perspective on people, problems, and solutions.

The Imago Dei

Biblical counseling will focus on the full range of human nature created in the image of God (imago Dei). A holistic biblical understanding of the imago Dei includes seeing human beings as relational beings who desire (our spiritual, social, and self-aware capacities), rational beings who think, volitional beings who choose, emotional beings who experience, and physical beings who act. Biblical counseling models of change will focus on each of these areas, seeing the human personality as holistically united.

Biblical counseling will not deny the interplay or the complexity of our mind/brain and body/soul connection. Such biblical counseling will take seriously the role of the brain (in a fallen world in an unglorified body) and its impact on healthy human functioning.

The Complexity of Human Functioning

One way to assess whether any model is truly biblical or not is to ask whether that model provides a thorough assessment of who we are in our Creation, Fall, and Redemption.

Biblical counseling models provide theologically sound and practically relevant description of God’s original design for us as relational (spiritual, social, self-aware) beings, rational, volitional, emotional, and physical beings.

Biblical counseling models then provide theologically sound and practically relevant diagnoses of how our fall into depravity distorted God’s original design for us as relational (spiritual, social, self-aware) beings, rational, volitional, emotional, and physical beings.

Biblical counseling models then provide theologically sound and practically relevant models of how our redemption in Christ returns us through our salvation and progressive sanctification to God’s original design for us as relational (spiritual, social, self-aware) beings, rational, volitional, emotional, and physical beings.


Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 8

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 8: Dream Number Seven
Biblical Counseling Will Be Transformative

Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Seven: Biblical Counseling Will Be Transformative


Historically the two fields of biblical counseling and spiritual formation were one. It is our dream that they once again become synonymous—hence the Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation name and mission.

Progressive Sanctification and Daily Transformation

Biblical counseling applies the principles of progressive sanctification to the daily lives of believers. It does so through spiritual formation which cultivates communion with Christ and conformity to Christ through the practice of the biblical/historical individual and corporate spiritual disciplines.

God’s Role and Our Role in Spiritual Formation

Such transformative biblical counseling will highlight God’s role and our responsibility in spiritual growth through its emphasis on the cultivation of the disciplines that connect us to Christ’s resurrection power. It will underscore the inner life through its emphasis on forming the character of Christ in us—our inner life increasingly mirroring the inner life of Christ. It will accentuate the Body of Christ by encouraging the corporate spiritual disciplines and by equipping believers in the individual spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual Theology of the Spiritual Life

Transformative biblical counseling will require the development of a comprehensive biblical theology of the spiritual life that provides the basis for a relevant biblical methodology for spiritual growth. Biblical counseling and spiritual formation will offer a theological and practical approach to sanctification that is effective in the “real” world where people hope, dream, stumble, fall, and live everyday.



Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 7

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 7: Dream Number Six
Biblical Counseling Will Be Relevant


Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Six: Biblical Counseling Will Be Relevant

It is not enough to promote the sufficiency of the Word if we do not also minister in such a way that demonstrates the relevancy of God’s Word.

The Truth Will Set You Free

The pejorative stereotype of biblical counseling as “take two verses and call me in the morning” will be replaced with the constructive identity of “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Our redemption in Christ provides the power for victory over sin. God’s Word powerfully sets us free to move from victims to victors.

The Truth Will Give You Rest

When people think of the biblical counselor, they will think of “Jesus with skin on” and be filled with words of hope like, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Soul rest comes to those who apply the Scriptures to matters of the soul.

The Truth Will Give You Abundant Life

Problems in living that most people label only as psychological disorders curable only by psychological methodologies will be seen as spiritual, relational, mental, volitional, and emotional issues addressed in the Book of Life by the Author of Life so that we can live the abundant life (John 10:10). The Bible is not so heavenly minded that it is of no earthly good. Quite to the contrary, the Bible offers eternal life forever and abundant life today.

Monday, October 27, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 6

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 6: Dream Number Five
Biblical Counseling Will Be Relational

Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Five: Biblical Counseling Will Be Relational

In the future, the Trinitarian roots of our faith will blossom as biblical counselors will be known by their fruit—the fruit of compassion and passion. For all eternity the Trinity (John 1, 17), engages in an ongoing “dance” of mutual adoration and admiration. As the God of the Bible is the eternal Community of intimate Oneness, so biblical counselors will eschews aloofness in favor of what one African American friend describes as “real and raw counseling.”

While techniques, skills, and tools of competency will not be ignored, soul-to-soul relating will be emphasized. Like the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:8, we will say to our spiritual friends, “I loved you so much that I gave you not only the Scriptures but my own soul as well.”

When put into practice, Trinitarian, Paul-like relational competencies will highlight neither directive nor non-directive counseling. Rather, they will birth collaborative counseling where the counselor, the counselee, and the Divine Counselor form a trialogical relationship. Biblical counselors will work together with their counselees, seeing them as mature believers capable of examining and applying the Bible directly to their own lives.

Friday, October 24, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 5

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 5: Dream Number Four
Biblical Counseling Will Be Positive

Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Four: Biblical Counseling Will Be Positive

God calls us to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). This is not only our calling when we are counseling, but also when we are assessing counseling “models” that differ from our own.

Corinthian Counselors: 1 Corinthian 1:10-17—Anti-Everything and Everyone

The modern history of biblical counseling has all too often become enmeshed with negativity, biting criticism, territory-protecting, camp-building, and “againstness.” Biblical counseling has often defined itself by being anti-this or anti-that. That’s not biblical counseling; that’s “Corinthian counseling” (1 Corinthians 1:10-17), a carnal caricature of the truth.

Corinthian counselors ultimately are not of Christ so much as they are of “Paul, or Cephas, or Apollos” (1 Corinthians 1:11-12). When they meet someone “not in their camp,” their knee-jerk reaction is one of attack.

Berean Counselor: Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15-16—Critical Mind Minus Critical Spirit

In the future, biblical counseling will be known as “Berean counseling” (Acts 17:11). Biblical counselors will have a critical mind minus the critical spirit. They will seek to focus positively on correctly understanding the Word (2 Timothy 2:15), on searching the Scriptures to evaluate human theory with discernment, and on graciously interacting with those with whom they disagree, while emphasizing the affirmative attitude that all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

Berean counselors ultimately realize that Christ is not divided (1 Corinthians 1:13). They understand that the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome (2 Timothy 2:24-26). When they sense someone disagrees not with them, but with the teaching of the Scriptures, they will humbly and gently speak the truth in love. Berean counselors are concerned about rightly dividing the Word of God, not wrongly dividing the Body of Christ.


Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 4

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 4: Dream Number Three
Biblical Counseling Will Be Historical

Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Three: Biblical Counseling Will Be Historical

The future of biblical counseling is the past. During the last twenty years we have witnessed the Christian community returning to its proper respect for that “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1-3). History, Chesterton reminded us, is “the democracy of the dead.”
[i]

Counseling Wars

I vividly and sadly recall the “counseling wars” that occurred while I was in seminary—wars pitting competing modern counseling “camps” against each other. I also recall thinking, “Surely the Church has always helped hurting and hardened people.” That sentence sent me on a quarter-century search for the legacy of Christian soul care and spiritual direction. Simultaneous to that, God’s Spirit was moving many others along the same path.

Returning to the Ancient Paths

Biblical counselors of the future will return to the ancient paths (Jeremiah 6:16). They will seek and apply the ancient legacy and consensual wisdom for living found in the writings of great historic Christian soul physicians.

Church historian Thomas Oden illustrates how blatantly we have discarded the grand wisdom of the great cloud of witnesses. He examined how in the 19th Century those who wrote about pastoral counseling quoted copiously from believers of the past. He then compared how those who wrote about pastoral counseling in the 20th Century quoted exclusively from contemporary or past secular counselors and not once from Church history.
[ii]

It is well past time to return to past times—to seek wisdom from those who have gone before. We can learn from them how to change lives in our changing times with Christ’s changeless truth.


[i]G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2004, p. 3.
[ii]Thomas Oden, “Recovering Lost Identity.” The Journal of Pastoral Care 34 (March 1980): 4-19.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part Three

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 3: Dream Number Three
Biblical Counseling Will Be Theological

Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number Two: Biblical Counseling Will Be Theological

Perhaps we should say, as we do in later “dreams,” that biblical counseling will be holistically theological. The “modern” biblical counseling “movement” has at times been limited in it’s theological focus, emphasizing humanity’s Fall into sin and the effects of depravity, while tending to neglect our Creation in God’s image and our Redemption in Christ.

The CFR Narrative

I was introduced to the “CFR Narrative” as an eighteen-year-old freshman at Baptist Bible College in Old Testament survey. Dr. Lawlor’s reputation as a exacting professor preceded him into the classroom. So when he stepped to the lectern the first day to address a room full of over 100 intimidated students and said, “Repeat after me,” we would have said most anything.

“Creation. Fall. Redemption,” he said.

“Creation. Fall. Redemption,” we repeated.

“Remember those three terms and you will remember everything you need to know about biblical theology.”

I’ve never forgotten Dr. Lawlor’s lesson. Nor should any biblical counselor.

Creation, Fall, Redemption: People, Problems, Solutions, Psychology, Psychopathology, and Psychotherapy

As already stated, too often, current models of biblical counseling start and end at the Fall—focusing almost exclusively on human depravity. As a result, they often counsel Christians as if they are still unsaved—apart from the justifying, redeeming, regenerating, and reconciling work of Christ.

Biblical counseling will unite Creation, Fall, and Redemption.


In studying a biblical theology of Creation, biblical counseling will examine people—God’s original design for the soul (anthropology).

In probing the Fall, biblical counseling will examine problems—how sin brought personal depravity and suffering (hamartiology).

In investigating the Bible’s teaching on Redemption, biblical counseling will examine solutions—the gospel of Christ’s grace which offers eternal salvation and provides us with daily victory in our ongoing battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil (soteriology).

Creation, Fall, and Redemption also have psychological correlates. Creation is biblical psychology—the biblical study of the soul. The Fall is biblical psychopathology—the biblical study of the sickness of sin. Redemption is biblical psychotherapy—the biblical study of God’s healing of the soul through Christ.

Reclaiming What Is Rightfully Ours

In the minds of some, the use of these psychological terms is invalid. How sad that we have allowed the world to steal these solidly biblical, theological, and historical terms. It is time that we took back our heritage and redefined these terms. Franz Delitzsch, writing in 1861 (before the advent of modern secular psychology), noted that “biblical psychology is no science of yesterday. It is one of the oldest sciences of the church.”
[i]

Psychology is native to our faith. Not secular psychology, but biblical psychology—understanding and ministering to the soul designed by God, disordered by sin, and redeemed by grace.
[ii]


[i]Franz Delitzsch, A System of Biblical Psychology. Second edition. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1861, p. 3.
[ii]See Eric Johnson, “Christ: The Lord of Psychology,” Journal of Psychology and Theology 25(1), 1997, pp. 11-27. See also, Robert Kellemen, Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2007, pp. 131-141.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part 2

The Future of Biblical Counseling
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part 2: Dream Number One
Biblical Counseling Will Be Scriptural

Welcome to a multi-part Blog on The Future of Biblical Counseling. We need clarity on the issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Dream Number One: Biblical Counseling Will Be Scriptural

Yes, I know, “Duh!” But hold that thought. While it seems so logical that biblical counseling would be and should be biblical, theologically and scripturally this is often untrue.

Some who claim to be biblical counselors simply follow a shallow one verse, one problem, one solution mentality and approach. Others who claim to be biblical counselors in actuality rarely use the Bible for developing their approach and practice to counseling.

The Supremacy of Scripture: Colossians 2:2-3, 8-9

Biblical counseling will cling tenaciously to the supremacy of Scripture. In Colossians 2:2-3, 8-9, the Apostle Paul reminds us that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Paul also warns us not to be taken captive by the empty and hollow so-called wisdom of this world, but instead rely totally upon the fullness of knowledge and insight we have in Christ.

The Sufficiency of Scripture: 2 Peter 1:3; 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Biblical counseling will cling tenaciously to the sufficiency of Scripture. In 2 Peter 1:3, the Apostle Peter teaches us that we have all that we need for life and godliness. In the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God, Christianity provides us with all we need for godly living. According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the Scriptures, rightly interpreted and carefully applied, offer us all-encompassing insight for life—so that the biblical counselor is thoroughly equipped.

The Profundity (Profound Depth) of Scripture: Philippians 1:9-10; Hebrews 4:12-16

Biblical counseling will cling tenaciously to the profundity of Scripture. The Scriptures deal in the most profound ways possible with the real and raw life issues we all face on a daily basis. God’s Word provides the depth of insight and knowledge that empowers our love to abound more and more, and allows us to discern what is best and right (Philippians 1:9-10). The Bible is the sharpest sword in the universe, able to divide and discern the depths of the motivations of the heart (Hebrews 4:12-16).

The Bible provides us with the interpretive categories for making sense of life experiences from God’s perspective. By building our counseling models on Christ’s gospel of grace, we obtain wisdom for bringing people healing hope, the stimulus for change (God’s glory), and the understanding of human motivation that energizes these God-honoring changes.



Monday, October 20, 2008

The Future of Biblical Counseling, Part I

The Future of Biblical Counseling:
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams

Part I
Introduction: What Makes Biblical Counseling Biblical?

Six months ago I blogged on the future of biblical counseling in a four-part blog. I want to expand that initial blog with what will become a thirteen-part blog. The more I speak around the country, the more I become aware that we need clarity on this issue of what makes biblical counseling biblical. I invite you to join the conversation.

Part I
Introduction: What Makes Biblical Counseling Biblical?

As I speak around the country on biblical counseling and spiritual formation, I’m frequently asked the question. “When you say ‘biblical counseling,’ you don’t mean ___________ do you?” Various people fill in that blank with different labels—all negative to them. What a shame that placing the word “biblical” in front of “counseling” causes so many in the church to recoil in fear. Something has gone terribly wrong.

But there’s good news—the tide is turning. Warped caricatures of biblical counseling are being replaced by scripturally and historically accurate portraits of counseling that are truly biblical—and attractive (Titus 2:10). While no one can provide the final, authoritative definition of biblical counseling, I offer for your consideration this summary understanding.

Biblical counseling depends upon the Holy Spirit to relate God’s inspired truth about people, problems, and solutions to human suffering (through the Christian soul care arts of sustaining and healing) and sin (through the Christian spiritual direction arts of reconciling and guiding) to empower people to exalt and enjoy God and to love others (Matthew 22:35-40) by cultivating conformity to Christ and communion with Christ and the Body of Christ.

Given this working definition, over the next twelve blogs, envision with me the nature and shape of the future of biblical counseling—twelve dreams of one possible future for biblical counseling as practiced by lay spiritual friends, pastors, and professional Christian counselors.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

It's Not About Market Share

It’s Not About Market Share

In our crisis economic times, it’s so easy to think of how big or small my slice of the pie is compared to the person down the street.

Unfortunately, we bring the same competitive, hoarding spirit into the work of the Spirit.

That’s true regarding the Spirit’s work in our marriages and it’s true regarding the Spirit’s work in our ministries.

An Inspired Question

James said it well (actually, he said it perfectly well since he said it under the Spirit’s inspiration) in James 4:1-4. James asks the age-old question, “What causes the fights and quarrels among you?”

What causes the fights and quarrels among husbands and wives?

What causes the fights and quarrels among church members?

What causes the fights and quarrels between various counseling “groups”?

James offers God’s answer to any with ears to hear; to any with the wisdom and humility to listen.

“Don’t they come out from the desires that battle (soldier) within you? You desire but you have not. When you don’t get what you want, you kill and covet—you retaliate and manipulate, and yet that still doesn’t get you what you want. So you quarrel and you fight some more—the vicious spiral spirals ever deeper.”

When we image life as a competition, then everyone else is, of course, our competitor. When our image of life is a war, then everyone else is, of course, our enemy. When we see life as a finite pie, then everyone else is racing against us for their slice of our pie.

A Supposedly Inspiring Answer

The world has a solution—compete smarter, fight better, race faster. To the victor goes the spoils. To the winner goes the crown.

Of course, the world’s solution is based upon the world’s angle. From the small angle of small minds looking at what seems to be a finite, small world, there’s only so much “stuff” out there. I have to demand my share of the finite stuff. The one with the most toys wins.

Some how this line of “reasoning” is supposed to inspire us. And inspire it does—it inspires a me-against-you, an us-against-them mentality.
If the “victor” gets the “spoils” in a marriage, then what does the “loser” get? If my “side” of the church squabble “wins,” then what does the “losing side” end up with? If my “camp” in the seemingly never-ending “counseling wars” “wins,” then what does that leave the other “camps” with?

I’m sorry, but even as fleshly as I can be, I am decreasingly inspired by this “hoard the wealth” mindset.

An Eternally and Daily Inspiring Answer

Forget the world’s answer to a worldly problem.

Consider God’s answer.

“You have not, because you do not humbly ask God. You have not, because even when you do ask, you ask with selfish motives—in order that in the pleasures of YOU, you may squander.”

When we assume that God is a Hoarder and that His universe has a finite supply of “stuff,” then even when we think to ask God for “stuff,” even “ministry stuff” (like a “better marriage,” a “bigger church,” a “ministry with larger impact”), then in God’s eyes (and His eyes are the only ones that matter), our motives are selfish.

God does not care about our agendas. God cares about our getting on board with His agenda. God does not focus on our kingdom building. God focuses on our building His Kingdom.

If God is a Hoarder and His universe has a finite supply of the stuff I think I need, then I demand my share (more than your share!) of His limited stuff.

In marriage, I demand my share of being “right,” my share of my “needs being met,” my share of “satisfaction.”

In church conflict, I demand my share of putting you “in your place,” my share of the “congregation’s trust.”

In counseling wars, I demand my “market share” of “followers,” I demand my slice of the people-pie saying, “I am of your group!”

How sick.

How immature.

How childish.

How sinful.


How worldly.

How adulterous!

“Adulteresses!” James labels us. “Don’t you know that loving the world’s way means hating God and God’s way? Anyone who chooses to befriend the mindset of the cosmos, chooses to be God’s enemy! Repent! Draw near to God! He gives ever more grace!”

God Is a Grace Rewarder, Not a Hoarder

God’s supply is never exhausted. His supply of grace is infinite. God is a grace Rewarder. Those who come to Him, the author of Hebrews reminds us, must believe that He exists, and that he generously, graciously rewards those who diligently, humbly seek Him.

In the beginning of our fallen cosmos, Satan schemed to deceive our spiritual parents into believing the unspiritual lie that God was a “Shalt-Not-God.”

“God,” Satan whispers then and now, “is a Hoarder and His supply is limited. Grab the fruit of the tree now before someone else exhausts His limited supply.”

“God,” the Spirit whispers in His still, small voice then and now, “so loves the world that He gave infinitely—He gave His only begotten Son that whosever believes shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.”

“God,” the Son whispers in His authoritative, loving voice then and now, “so loves the world that He gives infinitely. That’s why I came—to give you everlasting life and ever-expanding life—abundant life. Spoiling and spilling over life—not so you could consume it on your own lust, but so you could share it out of the overflow of my Father’s infinite supply!”

So?

So . . .

So what?

Since God is a generous grace Rewarder who showers us with everlasting life and ever-expanding life (eternal life and abundant life) . . . so . . . we give. So . . . we mimic His giving, His sharing.

So, in our marriages, we are not competing for a limited supply of who is right or who is satisfied or whose needs are met. We are working together to advance God’s Kingdom of giving to others out of the overflow of God’s infinite love working in and through us.

So, in our churches, we are not competing with the other “faction” for a finite supply of whose style of music or style of preaching or style of leadership or style of youth ministry or style of carpet wins the day. We are working together to win the lost and equip the found so that God’s eternal, expanding is advanced in and through us.

So, in our “counseling wars,” we are not contending against rivals to see who will shout, “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas!” We are building bridges and working together to say, “We are of Christ—the infinite God who has generously graced us with forgiveness and with resources that are everlasting and ever-expanding so we minister in humble harmony learning from each other, empowering each other, respecting each other—so that the Body of Christ dances to the eternal song of the Trinity.”

What’s It About?

It’s not about market share.

It’s about sharing the mark of the Trinity—the eternal Community of mutual admiration and adoration. The everlasting Community of overflowing goodness and oneness. The infinite Community of equality and mutuality.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Clueless

Clueless

The liberal, biased media is at it again. This time with their typical religiously clueless attacks on Gov. Sarah Palin.

So, a number of years ago (2004), Kenyan Bishop Thomas Muthee called Palin to the front of the church to lay hands on her and pray for her. I know, how shocking!

First, let me acknowledge my own “background.” I am not Pentecostal or Charismatic. That said, at least I can respect the spiritual tradition and cultural background of Bishop Muthee and Gov. Palin.

By the way, Gov. Palin has not regularly attended the church (Wasilla Assembly of God) where this service occurred for a number of years. She has been a member for seven years at Wasilla Bible Church — “a nondenominational, Evangelical church.”

This is an example of the liberal media not only blowing out of proportion the nature of this prayer service, but also of their cultural insensitivity.

“What you saw was something very basic that happens in a Pentecostal church,” said Anthea Butler, a religion professor at the University of Rochester. “You would see this in any Pentecostal church on any given Sunday.”


Yep. But clueless Keith Olbermann called the video “terrifying” and said it made Rev. Jeremiah Wright look “pretty mainstream” in comparison. And just where did Olberman receive his theology degree?

And what about cultural insensitivity? Isn’t this the great PC mantra of the liberal left?

Some of Muthee’s beliefs come from his experiences in Kenya, where he and wife, Margaret, founded a church in a violent area on the outskirts of Nairobi in 1988.

“Witchcraft [Muthee, among many other things, prayed for victory over witchcraft in his prayer for Palin] is a sad reality in many parts of Africa, resulting in scores of deaths in Kenya over the past two decades,” Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement that chastised the media for its coverage of the video.

“Bishop Muthee’s blessing, then, was simply a reflection of his cultural understanding of evil. While others are not obliged to accept his interpretation, all can be expected to respect it. More than that, Muthee should be hailed for asking God to shield Palin from harmful forces, however they may be manifested,” Donohue’s statement said. “And for this he is mocked and Palin ridiculed?”

“I don’t know why they are making a big thing out of it,” Olupana said of the media reaction to the video. “Witchcraft as part of a belief system is real to the people who live there,” he said, noting that there was “nothing unusual about what happened.”

Yes, Keith Olbermann and others like him are once again clueless about the normalcy of such a prayer service for millions of Pentecostal Americans. They are also clueless and culturally insensitive (biased, judgmental, arrogant) about the spiritual values of Kenyon Bishop Muthee.

So, who really is “Legally Blonde” here? That pejorative moniker has been hung around Gov. Palin’s neck by Olbermann and his ilk. Yet, Olbermann shows just how spiritually clueless and culturally “legally blonde” he is with his uneducated, insensitive, biased, and unsophisticated rants against Gov. Palin and Bishop Muthee.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Listening to the Silenced Voices

For far too long, church history has been HIS-story. For far too long, the powerful, empowering voices of women have been silenced. It is a sad pattern that we can trace back all the way to Hagar!

Her Story of HIS Story

Fortunately, a fair and balanced study of church history shows that women have always been about the business of helping hurting and hardened people. Women have always spoken God’s truth in love to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

It’s time for church history once again also to be Her-story!

That’s why my co-author (Susan Ellis) and I have penned Sacred Friendships: Listening to the Voices of Women Soul Care-Givers and Spiritual Directors. In it you read about fifty-two amazing women. No longer are their voices silenced.

What Others Are Saying

Here’s what Professor Cathering Mueller-Bell of Grand Rapids Theological Seminary has to say about Sacred Friendships.

“Sacred Friendships is a refreshing portrayal and celebration of the impact that women have made in the lives of others that has reflected the image of God in the healing process for those who are suffering. At last we see a book that promotes the fusion of biblical truth and loving grace as the foundation for the complexities of the sanctification process. Sacred Friendships unveils the rich heritage of diverse women in Christian ministry from a global, developmental perspective which informs a model of soul care that is powerful by suggesting an approach that provides all of the elements necessary for authentic spiritual transformation.”

Listen to what Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School and Senior Editor of Christianity Today says about Sacred Friendships.


“Robert Kellemen and Susan Ellis have done a masterful job bringing together here the stories and voices of Christian women throughout the history of the church. A wonderful anthology of women’s voices. They steer an amazing course between feminist misreadings on the one hand and irresponsible neglect on the other. A superb presentation! I am sending the table of contents to all our Beeson faculty members encouraging them to look for the book.”

Benefit Now

For a 50% off e-copy you can visit:

http://www.rpmbooks.org/credit_card_orders.html#sacred

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Sarah Palin: Sexism Then and Now


Sarah Palin: Sexism Then and Now


I have a confession to make. I’m upset. Yes, angry at the sexist, biased, and vicious coverage of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Readers of my blog know how hard I work to stay out of politics. But you also know how hard I work to be a voice for the voiceless—to speak up for minorities and the oppressed.

Sarah Palin is being oppressed by the bigoted, biased, arrogant media.

Well, history is on her side. Consider just a few quotes from and about great women in church history—quotes collated from my latest book, Sacred Friendships: Listening to the Voices of Soul Care-Givers and Spiritual Directors.

“Just because I am a woman, must I therefore believe that I must not tell you about the goodness of God” (Julian of Norwich).
[1]

“Women’s history has certainly come a long way in a very short time. Perhaps the reason for this phenomenal progress is the fact that so much of it was there, just waiting to be rescued from obscurity by interested historians.”
[2]

“‘Where were the women?’ ‘What did they have to say?’ ‘How did they shape the life and thought of the church?’ For many of us, the courses we took in church history or the history of Christian theology left these questions unanswered.”
[3]

“Books surveying the history of Christianity have been traditionally ‘his stories’—describing the flaws and celebrating the achievements of great theologians, eloquent preachers, and powerful administrators.”
[4]

Here’s the thing. Women have always been pushed down. This is especially true of strong women who dare to think for themselves, who dare to act on their convictions.

Take just one such example from the courageous life of Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin is clearly pro-life. She was so pro-life that she carried a Down Syndrome fetus to term despite the usual medical pressure to have him aborted. To the pro-choice media and establishment this only proves she is an extremist on the abortion issue. To most people who fall in the middle, this says “here is a woman who is true to her convictions.” But, nowhere does the standard media narrative about America break down more than on her “feminist” posture. The standard media and establishment argument is that she really can't be a feminist because she is pro-life. But, the public saw a rather rugged husband who gave up his 20-year stint as an oil worker for BP to become the primary care giver for their five children when she became Governor. To real people making real life decisions, that is a powerful statement about gender issues.
[5]

How ironic. How revealing. The supposedly enlightened press still lives in the dark ages when it comes to allowing a woman to have her own mind, to demonstrate the courage of her convictions.


[1]Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, 11.
[2]Ranft, A Woman’s Way, 1.
[3]Oden, In Her Own Words, 11.
[4]MacHaffie, Her Story, xi.
[5]Lawrence B. Lindsey, “The Public, the Press, and Palin,” The Weekly Standard, 9/3/08.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Living Her Pro-Life Convictions


Living Her Pro-Life Convictions

Twice within less than one week Governor Sarah Palin, Republican VP Candidate, has demonstrated that she lives her pro-life convictions. Whether one is a Republican or a Democratic, an Independent or a Libertarian, all should agree that applause and props are due any candidate who actually lives what they believe, rather than live according to political expediency.

When first nominated by Senator John McCain, the news came out that Governor Palin’s fifth child had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome—early enough that she and her husband could have chosen the “legal” route of terminating the life of this child. Mom and Dad Palin chose life.

Then today, the news tumbles out that Governor Palin’s seventeen-year-old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock. While millions would shout, “abort!” the Palin family has expressed their full support for their daughter, who plans to marry the father and give birth to their unborn child.

As Senator Obama wisely and fairly has noted, his own mother became pregnant with him out of wedlock when she was eighteen. So this is not a partisan issue—Obama’s now-deceased mother also chose life.

On a related issue, some now are charging Governor Palin with guilt because she believes in abstinence-only education. In the political, “gotcha’ mentality,” they claim, without any logical or statistical foundation, that this somehow proves how naïve abstinence-only education truly is. As if other forms of sex-ed somehow guarantee that young people will not have sex outside of marriage? Please, get real.

What we have here is consistency. Like her views or not, Governor Palin lives her convictions, walks her talk, has the courage of her convictions. Props all the way.