Focus in the Underworld

I went to see Focus down at The Underworld in Camden last night (Tuesday). This was the last show in a recent short tour. I was in two minds about going really but a Tuesday night in London and the family away - why not? I got down there early as I had not bought my ticket. I saw Thijs and Menno on the street and Bobby in the distance. Unusually I came across a busker with a flute but the paths of the two flautists didn't cross I gather. Inside I spotted Thijs's daughter Eva (no based in France where she is an artist in ceramics I see here). It was an opportunity to thank her personally for her contributions to family Christmas albums such as this one (although she was taken aback to be reminded of it). It was nice to see Thijs's grandson near the back of the stage snapping away with his phone. (THe current Mrs van leer was as ever on the merchandise stall).

The Underworld is a dump and the two opening bands (Sonic Mass and Sondura) were very much rock bands (some nice melodies with Sondura, however) and I was beginning to feel I'd rather not be there when Focus eventually came on and suddenly I was entranced. They began with Thijs on alto flute and then a chorused vocal and soon they were into an exquisite rendition of Focus 1 with a brief burst of Anonymus and then House of the King (all from the ancient first album). Then it was the rocker All hens on Deck and the melodic Focus 7, both from the latest album - both again very good. A highlight was the Tommy from a long version of Eruption. We then had the obligatory Sylvia and La Cathedrale followed by Harem Scarem with some solos. Menno Gootjes is very competent and is now thoroughly conversant with the material and plays very subtly. Given the opportunity to do his own thing he likes to rock in a very seventies way but not one that I feel is very much the Focus sound. Interest waned a little at that point for me, having trodden this path many times. Overall still a great band to see and showing no signs of waning.
Two of my sons and a nephew were watching Arctic Monkeys in Cardiff at the same time. Wonder how they got on. Imagine them in their sixties!

London pastors in prison

See the current article in Evangelical Times on this subject here

Novelists 32 Henry James

Henry James (1843 – 1916) was an American-born British writer. The first of his novels I read was The spoils of Poynton which I really enjoyed (as did my mother). I haven't got much further really though I intend to. James is not an easy read but repays the effort. He was the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. He alternated between America and Europe for the first 20 years of his life, after which he settled in England, becoming a British subject in 1915, a year before his death. His style has been compared to impressionist painting. He was also a literary critic. He was quite a prolific writer of various things apart from novels. Notable works include The American, The Turn of the Screw, The Portrait of a Lady, etc.

Stop and Look

One of the delights of being with the Drions was that Donna kindly gave me a set of her beautifully illustrated Day One books for children. They came out a few years ago. I didn't really take them in as my boys are beyond this age group but they are really lovely books They can be found here at the publishers website. See here.

Lord's Day October 27 2013

It's half term here this week and so yesterday was a little bit different, mostly with people away visiting family (including my own family). I preached in the morning on the final section of 1 Corinthians 10. I feel like I've nailed that part of Scripture now (although that may be a dangerous things to think). I think the illustrations of the iron hand in the velvet glove or the flexible flesh with the hard skeleton beneath catch Paul's approach. Christians are to fit in, to be involved in this world. Nevertheless, there are things they will not do. There is a line they will not cross. I was encouraged to see that we finished with a firm focus on Christ our great example. Anyway, in the evening we completed our studies in Jonah with Chapter 4. Again very interesting and hopefully catching the spirit of the original. The challenge to be concerned for the lost is not a note I have sounded for a while.

Busy Past Week

Last week was so busy that there was no time to make note of it all. On Monday morning I got myself over to the LTS where I had planned to meet with one of the students (Paolo Patuelli, who is from Italy). We are so glad to be mentoring someone again this year, especially a family man. Then it was on to the Evangelical Library to hear a very good lunch time lecture on the Pentateuch from Dr Ian Densham. This was a helpful look at some of the issues and included helpful pointers on preaching from that part of the Word. I was only sorry that we didn't have more people there. I picked up a couple of books on Jansenism which I have begun to read. I then drove to a home in Wembley to visit the oldest member of my church. It's always good to see Lilian. In the evening I was over in Ashford for a Bible Preaching Trust committee. The Bible Preaching Trust makes small grants to ministers in financial need. It was good to agree on grants for men in Scotland, the north of England and Spain this time.

Then on Tuesday I was supposed to be involved in a prison Bible study but that was not possible so I went over to Highbury and Andrew King very kindly helped me get my forms sorted out for getting into this work more thoroughly with CPR. I then went on to the Royal Free Hospital to visit my longest standing church member. It's always good to see Ken too.

Wednesday began with attendance at a funeral at Golders Green Crematorium. I got to know South African David Strauss when he moved in next door to the church and started attending. The place burned down a few years later and he ended up in the north of the borough and keeping contact was difficult, although we would see him from time to time and he would phone fairly often. David was a most interesting character and not always the easiest to deal with, very much an Afrikaaner I guess he was a professing Christian. I then headed down to Clerkenwell to meet up with Tom and Donna Drion (like the Kings, home schoolers I discover) for lunch in the chapel there where Tom is heading up the GraceLife work with Ross Orgil. Tom studied in John Macarthur's Master's Seminary. They seem to be making real progress with a multi-national congregation,. It was good to meet. From there I went on to a regular appointment speaking at a BUPA home in Golders Green. In the evening it was our midweek meeting on Providence, making further use of John Flavel's excellent Mystery of Providence.

The rest of the week was less busy in some ways but with a regular meeting with my fellow elder, sermons to prepare and a newsletter plus two short talks for the Friday night clubs I was not twiddling my thumbs and appreciated the extra hour.

Lord's Day October 20 2013

 

 

I always print my sermons out and I do it shortly before leaving for church. Anyway, just occasionally there can be a problem. Yesterday morning was one of those times. I got something printed in good time, however, and it was okay. Only thing is when I stood up to preach page 2 of two and a tiny bit pages wasn't there. That made me nervous but dependent on God and it worked out okay I think. I was quite short but I was going to be short anyway as the passage I had chosen (1 Corinthians 10:14-22) is pretty brief and to the point. In the evening after communion I preached Jonah 3 I was a little tired after being in Cardiff the day before but it was okay. Good congregations morning and evening, though some missing as ever.

Modern Life

This was sent to me today. You've all seen this sort of thing. It's one of the things that reminds you that you are living in a world that is and is not like previous ones. I knew it was genuine as I don't bank with Barclays but my bank always begins "Dear esteemed customer".

Book of Common Prayer

Melvyn Bragg's In our time was on the Book of Common Prayer. Very interesting, as ever. See here for the recording.

Novelists 31 Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) Hardy is one of the truly great novelists. Having had a sheltered upbringing I had never heard of him until my later teens when he was the doyen of English literature students at school and college. I have read lots of his novels but not all. Tess is the best perhaps although the Mayor of Casterbridge is a contender. Once you've read Jude the Obscure, however, you should be able to see through Hardy and his anti-God pessimism. There is no great desire in me at least to read much more. Hardy himself gave up writing novels after that one and it is not hard to see why.

Prince among the Puritans

The Life and times of Arthur Hildersham, Prince among Puritans by Lesley A. Rowe (Reformation Heritage Books) ISBN: 978-1601782229

This new work on Arthur Hildersham is superb in every aspect and is a must read for anyone with an interest in 17^th century Puritanism or in the doctrines that the Puritans believed and taught.

Hildersham lived from 1563 to 1632. His name is less well known than that of John Owen, Richard Sibbes and others whose works were reprinted in the 19^thand 20^th centuries and which continue to be available in various formats today. In his day, however, Hildersham was a leader of the Puritans and deserves to be better known than he is.
The book is a beautifully produced 210 page, Bible-black, gold-embossed hardback. The glossy black dust wrapper features a colour portrait of the man in question; the clear white pages, the simply drawn maps on the endpapers and the who's who, bibliography and index all add to the book’s attractiveness. The author is well qualified to write this biography which is clearly the fruit of countless hours of careful research. Not only is she a professional historian, currently based at Warwick University, but she is also very sympathetic to her subject while never abandoning her critical faculty.
The book is made up of 14 fully footnoted and well written chapters, largely following a chronological order. The chapters not only provide an intimate portrait of a hero of the faith but also, as the title intimates, give an idea of the times in which Hildersham lived, thus providing a useful tool for the study of the period as well as the man. The book charts Hildersham's life from his birth to his death taking in his education, call to ministry, arrival in Ashby de la Zouch, his message and circumstances, his suspension, suffering and years of enforced silence and his final years. A final chapter suggests ten lessons that can be learned from this quite remarkable life.
(This review also appears here)

C S Lewis

I have written an article for the November Evangelical Times on C S Lewis, which you can preview on the website. The whole edition looks like it's worth getting I'm sure.

 

Back in my salad days when I was green in judgement, some 20 or more years ago, I remember telling a congregation, by way of application, not to bother to read anything by C. S. Lewis. I did not say he was of the devil or not a Christian, as some would maintain, but I thought there were better things to read. I remember a young man challenging this statement, which I defended then but would now want to nuance quite a bit. Like all generalisations, including this one, it was inaccurate. But what prompted such a swingeing generalisation?

More here ...

Helpful Onesiphorus

2 Timothy 1:16-18 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.  On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.  May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.

Verses 16-18 are about a man called Onesiphorus. We know nothing about this man except what is here (and in the passing reference in 4:19). We are told four things about him. First, that he was eager to do good. Paul says that when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me no doubt to help the apostle in his need. Second, helping was his default position. Timothy would have been well aware as Paul says of how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. Thirdly, he refreshed or revived Paul in Rome, either by providing physical help or though his very words, perhaps. Fourth, he was not ashamed of my chains. He sounds like a wonderful Christian man. The way Paul writes here suggests he is dead by this point, hence the wish for his household to know mercy and for him to be granted mercy on that day. Onesiphorus is one of the many unsung heroes of the New Testament that we catch only a glimpse of. Their counterparts are alive today and a church that has an Onesiphorus is a church that is blessed indeed. A lot depends on ministers but not everything. Without men who will be eager to do good, who help in different ways, who are able to refresh God's servants and who are not ashamed of Christ and his servants are a real asset. Appropriately, the name means "bringing profit".

A long term ministry - pitfalls and positives Positives 2

Here are the final positives

 

5. There is more likelihood that a minister will show self-control and discretion

Royer points out that if a man intends to stick around for some time to come

he will be very cautious as he mingles with the people in any of the very many possible relations, he will guard his tongue, watch his acts, even his facial expressions, lest he leave a deleterious impression upon the hearts of the people whom he has been commissioned to bless.

Motives are also sanctified to some extent. Anyone can be impressed by a new minister, it is the man who stays year after year whose inner life is exposed and really begins to make an impact.

Royer again, “A man of doubtful character and questionable motives may manage to remain in almost any pastorate for a few years, but if he is wrong at heart the fact will make itself manifest. He must ring true if he hopes to prolong his labours through the years in one place.”

6. The impact of personal disappointment is diminished

This is a point that a writer called Richard Dreselhaus makes. Let me simply quote him

It is virtually impossible for me to recall a time in 45 years of pastoral ministry when I was not battling disappointment, a sense of falling short, of letting people down, of failing to reach goals or achieve objectives.

When pastors stop the clock at any of these moments, the disappointment seems crippling. But when pastors focus instead on months, years, and decades, the hurts of the moments are swept away by the passing of time.

Let me personalize it a bit. Repeatedly I have reviewed the stats for a given Sunday and felt the cause was hopeless; but, when I saw that single Sunday against the backdrop of decades of ministry, the picture began to change.

When evaluating goal achievement at the end of the year, it is tempting to ignore the progress of the decade and focus only on the shortcomings of a given year. The long pull matters. It is winning the war that eclipses the isolated battles that may be lost or won along the way.

One benefit of hindsight is that the valleys are lifted and crooked places are made straight. The criteria used for measuring ministerial effectiveness become increasingly more accurate and reliable. The perplexities of a given moment are diminished and minimized by the trustworthy verdict of passing time. … I argue for the long-term pastorate. I grieve when I see the premature resignation of a gifted minister. I want to shout: “Hold on. Hang in there. What is a day or two, a month or two, or even a year or two in light of a 40- to 50-year lifetime call to ministry?”

I also am a realist. Sometimes the Lord’s assignment is short. Sometimes a pastor has no control over things that happen. There is a right time to conclude an assignment. ... Leaving can be as much a step of obedience as staying. The fact remains, many pastors leave their assignment prematurely and by doing so miss the incredible opportunities longevity can bring.

 
7. Long range goals are possible

Royer observes that it is foolish to take a one size fits all approach to a pastorate. Successful methods in one place are rarely equally useful in another. “Vicinities and congregations differ of necessity, and the elements which differentiate one congregation from another may require years to master and control. It is also true that the same community and pastorate change vastly.”

He also says that it is only the long term pastor who “can secure unity of purpose in a congregation”. Many churches suffer from the arrival of a series of young men all with their own ideas. In Childs Hill the pattern from the fifties to the seventies was (to caricature) – a fundamentalist, followed by a Lloyd-Jones man, followed by an activist, followed by a Charismatic. Because these men only stayed between four and seven years they had an impact but no really lasting impact. Meanwhile the church got pulled in this direction and that to no great purpose.

8. You have the opportunity to see a generation rise

This may not apply quite where a congregation finds it hard to keep its young people but it is still a joy, for example, to know that someone I dedicated as a child is now on the mission field herself in France, a mother of three. Beasley-Murray says

It is a wonderful privilege, for instance, to be involved with families over a period of time and to see those children brought for a service of dedication later confess their own faith in baptism; and then at a later stage to be involved in their marriage and even in the dedication of their children.

9. You have an opportunity to see the teaching take root

Royer says of the minister “unless his ministry extends over a number of years, he will leave them much as he found them in their way of thinking, believing, and doing.”

Dreselhaus and others say that if you look at the work of the Barna Group, you will find that the median number of years pastors have served in their present assignment is four. (According to Jerry Scruggs, with forced terminations on the increase, the median tenure for Southern Baptist pastors is barely three years; 'The Flexible Leader', Search Winter 1991, 30). Other stats suggest maximum effectiveness does not occur until around the seventh year. (Others note that growth often occurs between five and ten years in). “The point is irresistibly clear:” Dreselhaus says “most pastors leave before they achieve their maximum impact in ministry.”

10. You have the opportunity to see the impact of a full ministry

It is not good for a church to keep changing its minister. Every time a change comes too soon the full impact of a ministry is not seen.

A long term ministry – positives and pitfalls Warnings and Positives 1

Warnings

So there is a fairly lengthy list of pitfalls. And I am not finished yet. There are a few more things of a negative nature that can be said before we come to something more positive.

These negatives consist of brief warnings rather than pitfalls as such.

1. You may not see the teaching take root

A lot depends on the situation you go into but you may find that there is not the response to the teaching that you seek. If a man spends a long time in a place, it is more disappointing to see the teaching not take root than if he is there a short time.

2. You may see the people melt away before your eyes

Length of stay does not guarantee success of any sort. One hopes to see numbers increase rather than decrease and again it is hard to take if this happens over a long period. The feeling that a lot of effort has brought little obvious reward is hard to resist. Some authorities say that Joseph Caryl's congregation rather diminished during his long series on Job and that is why it joined with John Owen's after Caryl's death. Others deny this but it is certainly something to consider.

3. You will have to come to terms with what cannot actually be changed

You may have received this pastoral advice before but the fact is that some situations just will not change. Let me give you two examples.

Imagine a person who suffers from depression. The depression drags them down and everyone around them. Okay, you say, depression can be treated these days with drugs. Yes, but this person believes it is wrong to take such drugs. Well, tell them it isn't. What is likely to happen is that they will every  now and again try some but then not be sure and so we are back to square one.

Or imagine someone in their eighties perfectly sane in many ways but convinced her octogenarian husband is having affairs with women who steal things and is trying to poison her. It is clearly dementia and unless some miracle drug is invented there will be no change.

When you are a young pastor you are full of confidence that you can solve such problems. After a while you realise that you will not.

4. You will have to live with your mistakes

One final warning. If you stay in the same place for any length of time then you will inevitably make mistakes and by not moving on you will have to live with those mistakes. One of the attractions of a fresh start is just that you begin again and your past mistakes can be forgotten. If you stay in the same place then you have to live with your mistakes.

 

Positives

Well, that's enough negativity for one morning. What about something more positive? Despite all these negatives, I think we have to say that there are many positives about a long pastorate in the same place. Let me mention some.

1. With a long pastorate the element of the ‘exciting new personality’ is non-existent.

This is a point Geoff Thomas makes well.

No one is focused upon the minister himself. The assembly knows him backwards and inside out! It knows his stories, foibles and gestures. So the concentration of the congregation is on the message that he preaches, the passage of the Bible he opens up, the application he makes of it to the varied condition of the hearers, known so well to him. That is a very different attitude from the anticipation a congregation has in the sound of a new voice coming from a barely known minister occupying the pulpit … I once was foolish enough to say to Dr. Lloyd-Jones how fortunate he was to go as a household name to Sandfields. Everyone in the steel town knew that he had given up a notable career in medicine in London to come to Port Talbot. What crowds then came and heard him from the start. The Doctor leaned forward and spoke straight at me with immediate earnestness; 'It did me no good at all,' he said. They were curious about me and they came to look at me. They did not come to listen to what I said. I had a barren six months at the beginning of my ministry as they were simply motivated by fascination. It was not until that curiosity had been satisfied that they began to settle down and listen to what I was actually saying. Only then did people begin to turn to God. An advantage of a settled pastorate is that it makes a people look to God, and more dependent on God, the one who alone can regenerate and sanctify a people, the one who must bless or we remain unblessed. The people have to learn not to look to mere man.

2. You have more time to get to know the people

How long does it take to get to know a person? Well, that all depends on what you mean by know. You can get to know a person at a certain level in a few hours or days. To really know a person it usually takes some years.

I can think for example of people I know who you would think are pretty confident, balanced people who keep it together very well. And yet in each case I know there is a volatility that can be set off by a certain train of events. Thankfully, good teaching and good advice and wise friends make all the difference.

I think too of someone who again exudes a measure of confidence although to a lesser extent than might be the case with others. Now I don't know their whole story and I have never felt it my pastoral duty to delve into the past and ask probing questions. However, I know enough to realise that again without good teaching and good advice and wise friends the situation would be rather different.

When you have been with people a long while you get to know their moods and their stress points, you get to know something of their background, their family ties, the pressures they are under at work. All this lies hidden to the visiting preacher who is really like a blindfolded man with a gun and even a man who has been there five or six years, say, and is beginning to see where his shots are landing is only starting to get to grips with who exactly it is that he is preaching to.

3. You have more time to get to know the community and for the community to get to know you

At the same time you have more opportunity to get to know the community and for them to get to know you. Country villages are notoriously slow to accept people. I was staying in a village in South Wales many years ago when a friend I was with who lived there said hello to a man who was passing and then smiled to me and laughed. He explained that they always referred to that old man as the man from outside the village and yet he was much older than my friend who, nevertheless, had been there from when he was a baby. Even in London you have to be here at least two years before anyone thinks your permanent.

It is only when you have been in a place 10 years, 20 years, that you really get to be part of the furniture and you get to know who the people are who live in that community. When I am walking to Golders Green I will see Lord Childs Hill, perhaps and may be I'll speak to him. He's not easy to spot if you're not in the know. Similarly, it takes the same amount of time for them to get to know you and to be assured that you are not some phoney or some fly by night who will be gone very soon. Although simply getting to know people will not convert them, the very fact that they have got to know a Christian minister may count for something.

4. There is more opportunity for a man to develop as a minister and so be useful

When a man moves from place to place, especially if he does that a number of times, then obviously his time is going to be taken up each time with the move, with getting to know his situation – the congregation, the community, his living situation. Time spent on this is time that cannot be spent on other things. The temptation to revisit the barrel of previous sermons will be too great to be resisted and so the need for fresh study will diminish and that will, generally speaking, be detrimental to the minister's development. “Many simply repeat their five year bag of tricks everywhere they go” (Paul Beasley-Murray). Royer suggests a correlation between length of pastorate and knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. He wonders if this is because “the pastors who preach to the same people year after year must depend especially on the unsearchable riches of divine truth, and there are only two avenues to the heart of the sacred Scriptures, viz., the Greek and Hebrew languages, and the Scriptures - these two are the unfailing fountain of all riches to the preacher.” Certainly the longer a man is in one place the more he will feel a need for Greek and Hebrew.

Beasley-Murray says

longer pastorates will be successful only to the degree that ministers themselves are growing and developing. For this to happen pastors need others to help them grow and develop. Hopefully the stimulus will in part come from within the local church - I have been fortunate in having leaders who have contributed to my own growth and development. Certainly there is something lacking if pastor and people cannot 'journey' together. However, outside resources are also vital.

Geoff Thomas says

You learn your trade. You learn from the lectures you received in theological seminary. You learn from hearing men speak on these themes at conferences. You learn from sitting under the best ministry. You learn from books and from the web, from whatever sermon series are contained there. There are finally appearing in the public domain through all these media examples of fine consecutive preaching on books other than the epistles of the New Testament. You are a foot soldier in the army of the church of the Lord Jesus alongside others. You seek to grow as a preacher.

People will never hear all the Bible preached to them in a lively, vital, applicatory manner without sitting under a minister whose intention is to remain in that pulpit for as long as it takes to preach the whole of Scripture.

He says of Lloyd-Jones

I think he retired too soon, when he still had some years to give to Westminster Chapel and to arrange for a man with his same commitment to expository evangelistic preaching to succeed him. Ministers do not retire, we are frequently told, they are still preaching. Yes, but they do remove themselves from the demands of two or three new sermons a week, from having to dig deeply into the Word of God, to inquire, to think biblically. There is a long-term relationship between himself and passages of Scripture which cry out to be preached on which is as much a part of his life as his own family. The retired minister is now absent from one congregation that loves him as their own pastor-preacher, and continually prays for him in the unique dynamics of this God-created relationship. These are huge losses.

Conrad Mbewe has written that you cannot preach through the Bible completely with any meaningful depth even if God allows you to live to the ripe old age of Methuselah.

As a preacher, you also keep studying and thus grow in your knowledge of the Bible. Hence, you can come back to passages you have preached through before and preach through them again with new and deeper insight. At least, that has been my experience.

Coming at it from the other end, another writer says that he firmly believes “continuing education is imperative if a pastor is to be effective in a long-term pastorate”.