A Moral Case Against Big Government: How Government Shapes the Character, Vision, and Virtue of Citizens

Nothing about evangelism here. And yet...

Read this Heritage paper. It is important.

The moral nature of governing and the moral implications for society of the nature, size, and scope of government are inescapable. The case for limited government will therefore inevitably need to take these moral considerations into account. A government that understands its main responsibility to be that of administering judgment in terms of justice will play an essential, and essentially limited, role in sustaining a healthy society. A good but limited government will both exercise the authority it is competent to wield—i.e., the power to use legitimate force to defend right—and provide conditions of justice in which local associations can exercise the authority that rightly belongs to them.

The moral case for good but limited government rests on the competency of other institutions to provide for the needs of citizens and to cultivate the virtues necessary to fulfill the moral obligations that sustain a free society. Not only can the fundamental institutions of family and religious congregations, as well as other communities of civil society, provide more personal, humanizing, holistic, and compassionate care, but they can better engender the trust and responsibility required for citizens to fulfill their moral obligations to each other.

Families and churches, as well as such other institutions as schools, businesses, sports teams, community orchestras, professional organizations, neighborhood watch committees, and faith-based and other nonprofit groups, bind their members not to abstract laws, but to other people. They are premised not on individual autonomy, but on the authority of knowledgeable and competent parents, pastors, teachers, coaches, conductors, and other leaders with the power to discipline. They motivate not solely by fear but by trust, and they are united not only by their opposition to unjust interference, but also by substantial positive goals, commitments, and convictions that they share in common.

It is therefore the responsibility of a modern nation-state that desires to bind its "many" into "one" to limit its power and its purse, leaving primary responsibility for moral formation in the hands of local moral communities. Only these associations and institutions can foster true justice and compassion for those in need—a fact that makes them essential for the cultivation of virtuous citizens and the prevention of governmental tyranny.

Serve yourself by serving others

Coming back from Philadelphia on a plane last eve I sat beside a lady who said she was a minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA. She bemoaned the fact that her denomination, some years ago, made the decision to turn inward and "take care of themselves" and ceased to reach out and evangelize or share in compassionate ministry.

I said, "It may be that the way to take care of yourself best is to take care of others...you have to use your gospel muscle - or atrophy." She heartily agreed. And many churches within my own denomination understand this well, because their membership freefall looks a lot like the PCUSA losses over decades.

You grow by serving; you gain muscle by exercising. It is as true personally as it is congregationally.

The power of a long attention span!

"[For over two decades, William Wilberforce] fought tenaciously until the slave trade was finally outlawed. And then he fought for another twenty-five years, despite failing health, for the emancipation of all slaves in 1833. The battle had taken forty-six years. Forty-six years!

Today, we are tempted to throw up our hands and go home if we lose a single election. In our campaigns against modern moral evils, we are too easily discouraged; we have forgotten how to persevere. Of course we will have fierce opposition; sometimes the opponents will play dirty, as they did with Wilberforce. But that is no excuse to give up. Who do we think we are working for?...

In our own era, the campaign to eliminate the killing of unborn children has already taken thirty-four years. And that is just one battle: Christians are fighting as well modern slavery, embryo-destructive research, and the attack on marriage. We had better take a lesson from Wilberforce (and Wesley) and roll up our sleeves---permanently, if necessary... persevering until the battle is won." ---Chuck Colson

Read it and weep - the American slave trade

Oh, where is Wilberforce now?

Read on.

Tuesday morning evangelistic smack-down, #21

A precious story from the front lines and my incoming e-mail:

"We have a para-plegic woman who attends our church who had a severe auto accident 15 yrs ago. She had a long and painful recovery during which her husband left her and took their two children. Her parents took over her care. She was told by one doctor that she would never get out of bed. She now can walk with a walker. Her motor skills are severely limited and she has trouble speaking so that we can understand her--but it doesn't stop her from trying. She can't sing, so during our worship she yells out and stands. That's her way to worship. She had been attending a church which asked her not to do that. It took some getting used to, but now we love it. Since we started public worship services at --------------- in September, she has missed only a few Sundays due to a knee operation. She has been an inspiration to us about not giving up. Whenever we get to feeling wimpy, we just look at ----------- which gives us an instant attitude adjustment."

Matt: I think I speak for most churches in love with Jesus that if yelling is all you can do to praise the Lord, come yell with us!


Divine moments
"God can and does use multiple spiritual resources as He creates divine moments that cause growth in people's lives. You may be thinking, 'What do you mean by "divine moment?'" A divine moment is a spiritual step of obedience a person takes, in response to the Holy Spirit's prompting. It always involves a person somewhere along the process of moving from 'pre-Christian' to becoming a 'global disciple.' The decision to begin attending a church, saving faith becoming personal, a decision for baptism, becoming a self-feeding Christian, joining a Sunday School class or small group, desiring spiritual growth and accountability, joining the church, becoming a worshiper, experiencing and growing in sanctification, getting involved in the church, using spiritual gifts in meaningful ministry, becoming a tither, giving beyond the tithe to the mission of Christianity worldwide, engaging in personal witnessing, are all steps in this process.

"How would you like to have a church filled with people taking these kinds of spiritual steps?....Are you regularly and specifically praying for them to happen?" (Larry McKain, Falling in Love With the Church)


How to personally evangelize
1. Identify your unchurched friends, relatives, associates and neighbors. Everybody has them, we typically don't identify them for purposes of redemption, however. Spend 90% of your evangelistic energy here. It is the most fruitful avenue of spreading the good news. "Stranger evangelism" typically doesn't work.

2. Pray daily, regularly for two months (and then more) that God would go before you and pave the way for their salvation.

3. Lovingly "touch" them 5-10 times. The more, the great their receptivity. Love is a powerful resource of the Christian, and too underutilized. A "touch" includes things like taking them out to eat, being there in compassionate ways when tragedy strikes, taking care of their kids so he can take his wife out on a date, etc.

4. Let them hear the gospel message three times, preferably from your own testimony.

5. Challenge them to pray with you, and then to come with you to your dynamic, discipling church.

6. Go with them to the discipling dynamics of your church, and help them to make seven or more friends in the church ASAP.

7. Repeat. But always remember - prayer, love and testimony are a powerful trinity of tools for the salvation of the world.


Old books you need in your library
To Dream Again, by Robert Dale (talks about the life cycle of the church and how your church can "Dream Again" and budge out of decline and even death).

Daws, by Betty Lee Skinner (the inspiring story of Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators...like, really inspiring)

Nothing to Do But to Save Souls, by Robert Coleman (you cannot put enough study into how John Wesley sparked a revival that still reverberates...and when Coleman says it, you can believe it)

Old books? Sure they are probably out of print. Get on the internet and find them. They are cheap and better than what is being published today.

And a New Movie!
Check out the great new movie on William Wilberforce called Amazing Grace. Trailer here.

New website

If you haven't checked out inthefight.com you need to.

And hint: scroll down to see John McCain singing Streisand. Hilarious!

New OneNewsNow column is up

And it has precious little to do with evangelism, a lot to do with politics.

We are now expected to get excited about Giuliani?

Games Hollywood play (and unprofitable ones at that!)

"Sure, it would be nice to have more family-friendly films, but Hollywood is a business, and like any business, it's designed to make money. If PG-13- and R-rated films rule at the multiplex, it's because they're the most profitable, right? Guess again. PG-13- and R-rated films don't make the most money---not by a long shot. Ironically, it's G- and PG-rated films that prove to be the most lucrative.

"[The Dove Foundation] examined the average profits per film between 1989 and 2003, and it found that G-rated films produced 11 times more profit than R-rated films. Yet Hollywood produced 12 times more R-rated films than G-rated films during the same time period! What sense does that make?...

"So why are [family-friendly movies] few and far between? Maybe it's a question of culture. In blue-state Hollywood, what better way to establish your liberal credentials---and thumb your nose at red-state, middle America---than to trash traditional values at every opportunity? Whatever the reason, we can't change things simply by complaining---or remaining silent. Our best defense is to support good films." - Rebecca Hagelin

That's my Boy!

The Northeast Ledger write-up: "American record-breaker | Caleb Friedeman recently set two American records at a USA Power Lifting meet in Milwaukee, Wis., in the 16-17 year-old, 181- pound division. His deadlift of 600.75 pounds set a division record, as did his total lift weight of 1,460.53 in the three events of squat, bench and deadlift. The Jackson resident holds four national records in the 14-15 year-old, 165-pound division."

He was also named National Merit Finalist Saturday. He has taken seminary Greek and Hebrew. And he plays a mean guitar. A wonderful big brother to four younger guys and a gal. He loves Jesus.

He is a better man than his Dad. Just like we planned.

He turned 18 today. Best 18 years of our lives...

Who cares? The William Booth vision...

"Does the surging sea look dark and dangerous? Unquestionably it is so. There is no doubt that the leap for you, as for everyone who takes it, means difficulty and scorn and suffering. For you it may mean more than this. It may mean death. He who beckons you from the sea however, knows what it will mean - and knowing, He still calls to you and bids to you to come.

"You must do it! You cannot hold back. You have enjoyed yourself in Christianity long enough. You have had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, pleasant prospects. There has been much of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises - very much of heaven on earth.

"Now then, go to God and tell Him you are prepared as much as necessary to turn your back upon it all, and that you are willing to spend the rest of your days struggling in the midst of these perishing multitudes, whatever it may cost you.

"You must do it. With the light that is now broken in upon your mind and the call that is now sounding in your ears, and the beckoning hands that are now before your eyes, you have no alternative. To go down among the perishing crowds is your duty. Your happiness from now on will consist in sharing their misery, your ease in sharing their pain, your crown in helping them to bear their cross, and your heaven in going into the very jaws of hell to rescue them.

"Now what will you do?"

Missional vs. Maintenance

I love lists like these. I usually learn something.

This comes to us from the Blind Beggar Blog on the difference between mission and maintenance:

1. In measuring its effectiveness, the maintenance congregation asks, “How many visitors have we attracted?” The missional congregation asks, “How many members have we sent?”

2. When contemplating some form of change, the maintenance congregation says, “If this proves upsetting to any of our members, we won’t do it.” The missional congregation says, “If this will help us bless and touch someone outside of our faith community, we will take the risk and do it.”3. When thinking about change, the majority of members in a maintenance congregation ask, “How will this affect me?” The majority of members in the missional congregation ask, “Will this help align our activities around the missio dei — the mission of God?”

4. When thinking of its vision for ministry, the maintenance congregation says, “We have to be faithful to our past.” The missional congregation says, “We have to be faithful to our future.”

5. The pastor in the maintenance congregation says to the newcomer, “I’d like to introduce you to some of our members.” In the missional congregation the members say, “We’d like to introduce you to our pastor.”

6. When confronted with a legitimate pastoral concern, the pastor in the maintenance congregation asks, “How can I meet this need?” The pastor in the missional congregation asks, “How can we meet this need?”

7. The maintenance congregation seeks to avoid conflict at any cost (but rarely succeeds). The missional congregation understands that conflict is the price of progress, and is willing to pay the price. It understands that it cannot take everyone with it. This causes some grief, but it does not keep it from doing what needs to be done.

8. The leadership style in the maintenance congregation is primarily managerial, where leaders try to keep everything in order and running smoothly. The leadership style in a missional congregation is primarily transformational, casting a vision of what can be, and marching off the map in order to bring the vision into reality.

9. The maintenance congregation is concerned with their congregation, its organizations and structure, its constitutions and committees. The missional congregation is concerned with the culture, with understanding how secular people think and what makes them tick. It tries to determine their needs and their points of accessibility to the Gospel.

10. When thinking about growth, the maintenance congregations asks, “How many Christians, who aren’t currently members, live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?” The missional congregation asks, “How many unreached people groups live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?”

11. The maintenance congregation looks at the community and asks, “How can we get these people to come to our church?” The missional congregation asks, “How can we go and be engaged with these people?”

12. The maintenance congregation thinks about how to save their congregation. The missional congregation thinks about how to plant new missional communities to extend the Kingdom of God.

Tuesday morning evangelistic smack-down, #20

Quotables:
“The problem of evangelization is gigantic because the factors in it are colossal, involving on the one hand the whole world of the unsaved, and on the other the whole church of the redeemed.” (Arthur T. Pierson, Evangelistic Work in Principle and Practice)

Comment: The local pastor of a church that has been plateaued and declining will agree – “gigantic!” There are loads of lost people out there, and loads of unmoving, uncaring people in here. And therein lies the challenge of just about every church over ten years of age.

“Christ must be proclaimed by life and word so that men shall come to a point of decision, and at that point, however they may come to it, they will accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and thus discover the Christian experience of faith in God within the fellowship of the Church.” (Myron Green)

Comment: “Life and word.” Too many cop out saying “my life is my message” without ever talking to their friends about the truth-claims of the gospel. Others cop out by thinking their talk without a life of righteousness can make the better difference. Life and word are the two wings of an airplane, and when flying no one is fool enough to prefer one wing over the other.

“Evangelism is really the outflow and the overflow of a spiritually vigorous church. Evangelism is the glow of an inner warmth, and the go of an inner compulsion…Evangelism is not the cause but the result of a spiritual church.” (C. William Fisher)

Comment: I hear “outflow” and “overflow” a lot from churches that don’t want to train their people for evangelism. And what isn’t trained for and expected and committed to with time and energy won’t typically happen.

Finney’s seven signs that indicate when a revival may be expected:

1. When the providence of God indicates that a revival is at hand.

2. When the wickedness of the wicked grieves and humbles and distresses Christians.

3. When Christians have a spirit of prayer for a revival.

4. When the attention of ministers is especially directed to this particular object.

5. When Christians begin to confess their sins to one another.

6. When Christians are found willing to make the sacrifice necessary to carry it on.

7. When ministers and professors are willing to have God promote it by what instruments he pleases. (Revival Lectures)

Finney’s four hindrances to revivals:

1. A revival will cease when Christians become mechanical in their attempt to promote. When their faith is strong, and their heartsare warm and mellow, and their prayers fully of holy emotion and their words with power, then the work goes on.

2. A revival will cease when Christians get the idea that the work will go on without their aid.

3. A revival will cease when the church prefers to attend to their own concerns rather than God’s business…They begin to think they cannot afford sufficient time from their worldly employments to carry on a revival.

4. A revival will cease when Christians refuse to render to the Lord according to the benefits received…God has opened the windows of heaven to a church, and poured them out a blessing, and then He reasonably expects them to bring in the tithes into this store-house. (Revival Lectures)

Some possible evangelism-related insights from political commentators…can you make the “gospel” connections?

In WORLD's continuing series profiling presidential candidates, Marvin Olasky looks this week at former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee:

John Kennedy in 1960 and John Kerry in 2004 both pledged not to let their Catholic standing affect their policy decisions. Reporters this year are pushing Mitt Romney regarding his Mormon beliefs. But Mike Huckabee, the former Baptist pastor and Arkansas governor who now seeks the GOP presidential nomination, says he is "appalled" when candidates separate their religion from their policy positions.

"At the heart of my governing is my faith," Huckabee told WORLD on Jan. 26, the morning before he announced on Meet the Press that he was setting up a committee for a run to the White House.

Huckabee said those who say their beliefs don't affect governing have a faith "so inconsequential that [he] can marginalize and compartmentalize it."

From George Will:

John Patrick Diggins's new book, " Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History" - Diggins's thesis is that the 1980s were America's "Emersonian moment" because Reagan, a "political romantic" from the Midwest and West, echoed New England's Ralph Waldo Emerson. "Emerson was right," Reagan said several times of the man who wrote, "No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature." Hence Reagan's unique, and perhaps oxymoronic, doctrine -- conservatism without anxieties. Reagan's preternatural serenity derived from his conception of the supernatural.

Diggins says Reagan imbibed his mother's form of Christianity, a strand of 19th-century Unitarianism from which Reagan took a foundational belief that he expressed in a 1951 letter: "God couldn't create evil so the desires he planted in us are good." This logic -- God is good, therefore so are God-given desires -- leads to the Emersonian faith that we please God by pleasing ourselves. Therefore there is no need for the people to discipline their desires. So, no leader needs to suggest that the public has shortcomings and should engage in critical self-examination.

Diggins thinks that Reagan's religion "enables us to forget religion" because it banishes the idea of "a God of judgment and punishment." Reagan's popularity was largely the result of "his blaming government for problems that are inherent in democracy itself." To Reagan, the idea of problems inherent in democracy was unintelligible because it implied that there were inherent problems with the demos -- the people. There was nothing -- nothing-- in Reagan's thinking akin to Lincoln's melancholy fatalism, his belief (see his Second Inaugural) that the failings of the people on both sides of the Civil War were the reasons why "the war came."

As Diggins says, Reagan's "theory of government has little reference to the principles of the American founding." To the Founders, and especially to the wisest of them, James Madison, government's principal function is to resist, modulate and even frustrate the public's unruly passions, which arise from desires.

HWLW (used by Dawson Trotman – “His Word the Last Word” – which to Trotman was a great way to end every talk)

“Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.” (Proverbs 25:15)

If you like Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith - you will love this

Check it out.

God and Beer

Provocative read.

Every month dozens show up at the brewpub to drink beer and talk about issues ranging from racism in St. Louis to modern art controversies to the debate about embryonic stem cell research. First-timers are invited to check out the church on Sunday, and Journey leaders say many have. Theology at the Bottleworks is just one of The Journey's ministries, but it has helped the church grow from 30 members in late 2002 to 1,300 today.

The Rev. Darrin Patrick, The Journey's founder and lead pastor, says its nontraditional approach is aimed at those who are not likely to attend church.

"We want to go where people are," he said. "We don't expect them to come to us."

New column at OneNewsNow is up

Read it! Quick!

Tuesday morning evangelistic smack-down, #19

Global Christianity changing.

“The map of global Christianity that our grandparents knew has been turned upside down. At the start of the 20th century, only ten percent of the world's Christians lived in the continents of the south and east. Ninety percent lived in North America and Europe, along with Australia and New Zealand. But at the start of the 21st century, at least 70 percent of the world's Christians live in the non-Western world—more appropriately called the majority world.

“More Christians worship in Anglican churches in Nigeria each week than in all the Episcopal and Anglican churches of Britain, Europe, and North America combined. There are more Baptists in Congo than in Britain. More people in church every Sunday in communist China than in all of Western Europe. Ten times more Assemblies of God members in Latin America than in the U.S.” Christopher J. H. Wright, "An Upside-Down World," Christianity Today (January, 2007)

Ouch
Tiger Woods was put on the spot by an evangelical guest of Nike on October 9, 2006, during an exclusive golf outing for top business and entertainment executives.

That day, 30 people gathered at the Trump golf course in Los Angeles for the 2006 ''Tee It up with Tiger Woods'' event, which included a private golf session and lunch with the living legend. During the lunch, there was a question-and-answer session with Woods. Most people asked about their swings or golf questions.

However, one guest of Nike stood up and asked two questions: "Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? And if not, prayerfully, would you?" A source present at the lunch later said: ''You could have heard a pin drop. People were mortified. But Tiger was as unflappable as he is on the golf course."

Tiger said: "My father was a Christian—of course Christianity was part of my life. But my mother is Asian, and Buddhism was also part of my childhood. So I practice both faiths respectfully.'' Mike Herman, Lisle, Illinois; source: Elliot Harris, "Woods Takes Evangelical to Sunday School," Chicago Sun-Times (10-19-06)

Quotables:
"I go out to preach with two propositions in mind. First, every person ought to give his life to Christ. Second, whether or not anyone else gives him his life, I will give him mine." Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

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"Mission is not a burden laid upon the church; it is a gift and a promise to the church that is faithful. The command arises from the gift. Jesus reigns and all authority has been given to him in earth and heaven. When we understand that, we shall not need to be told to let it be known. Rather, we shall not be able to keep silent." Lesslie Newbigin, from Mission in Christ's Way

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“Do you think any farmer would have a crop of corn next year unless he plowed now? You may as well expect a crop of corn on unplowed ground as a crop of grace until the soul is convinced of its being undone without a Savior. That is the reason we have so many mushroom converts, so many persons that are always happy, happy, happy, and never were miserable. Why? Because their stony ground is not plowed up; they have not got a conviction of the law. They fall away. That makes me so cautious now, which I was not 30 years ago, of dubbing converts too soon. Now I wait a little, and see if people bring forth fruit; for there are so many blossoms which March winds blow away that I cannot believe they are converts till I see fruit brought forth.” George Whitefield, "The Gospel Is a Dying Saint's Triumph"

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Dear Sir:
Unless the divine power has raised you us to be as Athanasius contra mundum, see not howyou can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be fore you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.

Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a "law" in our colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this?

That he who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear sir,

Your affectionate servant,
John Wesley
London,, February 24, 1791

A few stats:
$.02—The amount spent on overseas missions for every dollar donated to a congregation, based on a survey of 28 Protestant denominations.

$.10—Amount spent on overseas missions for every dollar donated in 1920. Ted Olsen, "Go Figure," Christianity Today (December 2005), p. 22

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Prayer changes things. That’s what a church in Phoenix discovered after the pastor asked members to randomly choose 80 people from the telephone book. He then requested daily prayer for each person for 90 days. At the same time, he asked members to choose another 80 names from the directory, but the second list was simply laid aside and nobody prayed for those people. After 90 days, members called all 160 people on the lists, asking them whether they would allow Christians to visit them to pray for them.

“The amazing result,” says Alvin VanderGriend of the American Lighthouse movement, “was this: only one person on the list of people who did not receive prayer was prepared to allow Christians to visit, whereas 69 of the 80 people for whom the church members prayed were prepared to allow Christians to visit, and 45 even invited them into their houses, offered coffee and named special prayer requests.” Jay Dennis and Jim Henry, Dangerous Intersections: 11 Crucial Crossroads Facing the Church in America (Broadman & Holman, 2004)

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A survey from the Barna Research Group has discovered that in a typical week more than 100 million adults discuss political issues with others while about 90 million adults delve into religious or spiritual matters.

Of the topics of conversation raised during a typical week, the percentage of adults who discussed:

Movies or television programs: 66
Money: 57
Sports: 55
Politics: 51
Parenting: 50
Moral issues or situations: 49
Spiritual issues and beliefs: 42

Hmmm. Whatever happened to not bringing up money, politics or religion in polite conversation? Barna - Four Out of Ten Adults Discuss Religious Matters During the Week (6-9-03)

Jesus loves Osama!

Ah, controversy.