An Unofficial Response to Westboro Baptist Church

The notorious Westboro Baptist Church is holding a protest at Stanford this Friday (see a good summary at Fiat Lux: why here, their identity, their beliefs, their legal history). In response, the Stanford community is planning a counter-rally at the same time and place as Westboro’s protest.

A group of Christian ministries signed a joint statement opposing Westboro, but the Stanford Daily has apparently declined to publish it (at least, I can’t find it in the online paper). Perhaps it will appear soon (UPDATE: it was published in the op-ed section the day after I put this post up). But in case it does not, I would like to give my own personal response to them here. The official statement was designed to garner support from several different ministries, but what follows is language that no one else but me has signed off on. Consequently, it is considerably more direct.

I think Westboro Baptist Church is crazy. I also think it is unwise to hold a rally opposing a group which thrives on conflict. Attention is the drug they crave. They have become a recurring national news story merely because of their ability to draw crowds and media.

I refuse to protest them, and I also refuse to ignore them. I am in no way ambivalent about their presence on campus: what they are doing is wrong. It heaps shame upon Christ and it causes people made in God’s image to experience an alienating anguish. I believe that prayer is the most effective possible response to this situation. I, my ministry, and several other Christian groups at Stanford will hold a prayer meeting while the protest is going on at which we will ask God to convict Westboro members of their sin and lead them to repentance.

So yeah. That’s what one preacher thinks about their presence.

What Does The Bible Require of a Church?

Agios NikolaosAn alumna of my ministry recently sent me an email asking what the Biblical requirements of a church were. I thought about it for a bit, and this is what I came up with. I’m sure the list of requirements that I have below is incomplete, and I welcome suggestions for improvement.

But if you, like my former student, are looking for a church home then meditate on these points.

Here’s the email I sent her.

What does the Bible require of a church? Probably not the things you expect. The Bible doesn’t require that a church meets on Sunday morning (although it does set that as the pattern: Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2), nor does it require that a sermon be the centerpiece of the meeting (although that is certainly one way of fulfilling the criteria of Biblical teaching below).

The most important thing that God requires of a church is that it be built upon the confession of Jesus as God’s Son and Christ (Matthew 16:16–18; 1 Cor 3:10–11). What this means practically is that Christ is the center of the church and is the focus of its activities.

The church should be engaged in persuading unbelievers to become disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28:18–20; 2 Timothy 2:2; 2 Timothy 4:5), which the Great Commission defines as baptizing them and teaching them to obey Christ. Disciplemaking also includes taking sin seriously and disciplining impenitent believers (Matthew 18:15–20; 1 Corinthians 5:1–13; 1 Timothy 5:19–20; Titus 3:9–11).

The church should meet regularly and the meetings should be encouraging (Hebrews 10:24–25). The encouragement should not come just from the ministry leaders – the community as a whole should be one that strengthens you. Here is a representative list of passages describing how those in the church ought to treat one another.

  • Greet one another 2 Corinthians 13:12
  • Show hospitality to one another 1 Peter 4:9
  • Honor one another Romans 12:10
  • Live in harmony with one another Romans 12:16
  • Serve one another Galatians 5:13–14
  • Comfort one another 2 Corinthians 1:3–4
  • Encourage one another Hebrews 3:12–13
  • Teach and admonish one another Colossians 3:16
  • Be forbearing with one another Ephesians 4:1–3
  • Forgive one another Colossians 3:13
  • Confess sin to one another James 5:16
  • Bear one another’s burdens Galatians 6:2
  • Love one another 1st John 4:7–21
  • Search Biblegateway.com for the phrase “one another” to find more.

There should be singing motivated by gratitude to God (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19–20). Gratitude for who God is and what God has done (both on the cross and in our lives) is what I believe is in mind here. As part of its worship, churches should also celebrate communion on a regular basis (1 Corinthians 11:17–34).

The church should also be a community devoted to prayer (1 Timothy 2:8; Ephesians 6:18). We must remember that when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught them to pray together (it is, after all, “our” Father not “my” father – Matthew 6:9). These sorts of prayers ought to be emphasized:

  • The elements of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13, Luke 11:1–4) should always be central: for God to be glorified, for His will to be done, for provision, for forgiveness, and for holiness.
  • For effective evangelism (Colossians 4:2–4, Ephesians 6:19–20). Note the emphasis of the prayer: it is not for the lost to be saved so much as for us to be bold and wise witnesses.
  • For government leaders to not interfere with our faith, especially not our ability to evangelize (1 Timothy 2:1–2).
  • For the needs of the church (Ephesians 6:18). The prayers of the apostles serve as excellent examples of the sorts of prayers one could offer on behalf of the church (Rom 15:5–6, 13; Eph 1:17–19; Eph 3:16–19; Phi 1:9–11; Col 1:9–12; 1st Thess 3:12–13; 1st Thess 5:23–24; 2nd Thess 1:11–12; 2nd Thess 3:1–5).
  • The elders of the church are specifically instructed to make themselves available to pray for the sick (James 5:14–16).

All the spiritual gifts should be welcomed (1 Corinthians 14:26; 1st Corinthians 14:39, 1 Thessalonians 5:19–20), although they should be deployed in such a way as to attract and not repel unbelievers (1st Corinthians 14:24–25). Their effect on the church should not be chaotic (1st Corinthians 14:40).

A church should be led by Biblically qualified leaders:

  • Who teach Biblical truth (2 Timothy 1:13–14; 2 Timothy 3:16–17; 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Timothy 4:13; Titus 1:9)
  • Who exercise appropriate authority (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Tim 4:11–12; 2nd Timothy 2:22–25; Titus 2:15)
  • Who are above reproach in both character and relationships (1 Tim 3:1–13; Titus 1:5–9)

The church ought to care for the poor, especially poor believers. (2nd Corinthians 8–9; James 1:27; 1st Timothy 5:16; Gal 2:9–10; Gal 6:10; Acts 6:1–4). And the poor should be welcomed into the life of the community (James 2:1–7).

The church ought to also pay ministers – both those who teach and lead within the church itself (1st Timothy 5:17–18; 1st Corinthians 9:3–14; Galatians 6:6) and those who are sent out as missionaries (3 John 5–8; Romans 16:1–2; Philippians 4:10–20)

In order to facilitate these latter two points the church should be receiving offerings (Acts 4:32–37; 1st Corinthians 16:1–2), although it does not appear that they must be received in any particular way.

There are probably other things churches should be doing as well, but these seem to me to be essential. No church will be perfect, of course. Give them the same grace that you give to fellow believers, but avoid churches that are not at least attempting to fulfill these mandates.

[January 23, 2010 update: after some feedback on my Facebook notes page, I decided to add the paragraph about prayer. I also made a few small changes.]

Why Do Christians Evangelize Instead of Just Feeding the Hungry?

Soup KitchenI was recently interviewed by a student writing for the Stanford Daily. A group of off-campus Christians had put on a controversial outreach activity and he wanted to know why Christians share their faith. Apparently my answer wasn’t pithy or interesting enough, because I didn’t make it into the final article. 🙂

His questions (which he asked separately but which I combined for my answer): “Why do Christians try to spread their beliefs? With so many other problems in the world, why expend so much energy on spreading the gospels instead of, for example, feeding the hungry?”

My emailed response:

Jesus said that he is the way, the truth, and the life — he even said that no one could come to God apart from him. So the same compassion that compels Christians to build hospitals and orphanages and feed the hungry also compels us to share the news that everyone can be reconciled to God through Christ.

In addition, we know that by spreading the gospel we also increase the number of people who are feeding the hungry and otherwise doing good deeds. We know from research that religious people give more to charity than nonreligious people do, and so we see that compassion and evangelism are not antithetical. If anything, they reinforce each other.

In summary, we share the gospel with someone because we believe that the gospel meets their deepest needs and will also catalyze them to likewise go meet the spiritual and practical needs of others.

He asked me more questions than that, but I didn’t have time to answer them before his deadline. And even this answer was kind of rushed. If I had my answer to give over again I probably would have put a line about heaven and hell in there, but as it is I feel pretty good about it.

So if you’re not a Christian and wonder why we keep urging you to trust in Jesus, I hope my answer helps you understand our motives. We love you and we love Jesus, so we want to arrange an introduction.

My Philosophy of Rain

raincloudsIt is raining right now in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been raining all day.

This is rare, and it understandably confuses Stanford students. They came to Stanford because they thought all of California was San Diego. That and because Stanford is awesome. But the San Diego thing was definitely a tipping factor. Rain is not featured prominently in the Stanford recruiting materials.

In situations like this some people contemplate skipping Bible study (you know who you are).

I thought I should take this opportunity to clarify my position on rain: Bible studies do not get canceled on account of rain. That’s baseball. And picnics. But not Bible studies.

And you should not skip Bible studies because it is raining. Show up wet. That’s why we baptize you. So you’ll learn not to fear water. And if you haven’t been baptized, come to Bible study and kill two birds with one stone.

And as for our weekly meeting… don’t even think about it. We’ll have that one even if Jesus tells me the Rapture is scheduled for 7:35pm on a Wednesday. I figure those who are left behind will have something to talk about in our absence.

So… yeah. That’s what I have to say about that.

beware the H1XA virus

ChanchocheI sent this email out to my students last night and received such positive feedback I thought I’d share it here for my fellow campus ministers to adapt for use on their own campus.

In case you just stumbled upon this through some random internet search, I lead a ministry called Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship which is abbreviated with the Greek letters XA. That should be all you need to know in order to laugh/groan/hurl tomatoes at the below email.

Members of the Stanford Community,

In addition to the H1N1 virus — the so-called “swine flu” — sweeping
our campus, there is another and more insidious infection to beware.

I speak, of course, of the H1XA virus — the so-called “divine flu”.

The H1XA virus is extremely contagious. Symptoms include joy,
friendship, and a profound sense of spiritual centeredness. Carriers
can be identified by their cheerful countenance, their moral
lifestyle, and occasionally by their stylish t‑shirts. Should you meet
someone already infected, know that there is no cure (especially if
they already have a t‑shirt). Avoid them lest you yourself be seized
by divine purpose accompanied by rapturous joy and immersion in
meaningful community.

There will be a public meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 7:30pm in
370–370 to discuss this disease in more detail. Please know that
epidemonologists are available to help prevent this disease from
spreading. Bring everyone you know who is not already infected.

Do not despair. It will be tough, but we can pull through this together.

Should conditions on campus become unbearable, we can all flee to the
woods Oct 17–18. Get your escape ticket at http://xastanford.org/events

Sincerely,

Glen (a concerned member of the campus community)

Hope you find it useful. Or at least amusing. I’ll even settle for memorable. 😉

And if you’re a Stanford student who didn’t receive this little charmer, sign up for our mailing list at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/chialpha-fellowship!

Chi Alpha Favorably Profiled In The Stanford Daily

Halls of Learning - Stanford QuadThe Stanford Daily published an article titled Testimonies On Stanford Faith about people in our ministry (Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship).

The website the article focuses on is testimonies.stanford.edu.

Reading this article was very encouraging to me because I always fear that Chi Alpha will wind up in the Daily because of some boneheaded thing I said in a sermon… this was a much better experience. 😉

Group Text Messaging

7001 New Messages?
For a few years, Facebook was one of the best ways to connect with college students. Not any more. It’s still useful, but not nearly as useful as it used to be. The novelty has worn off and so students aren’t as responsive on it.

So like Steve Lutz I’ve been thinking about text messaging lately. My younger students (frosh and sophomores) seem to be much more likely to have unlimited texting plans than my upperclassmen and grad students.

In the past I’ve just texted people individually, but now I’m experimenting with group text messaging services.

I considered using Twitter and telling people to subscribe via text. A few problems:
a) College students don’t use twitter.
b) It centralizes the communication too much.
c) I don’t feel confident in twitter’s reliability.
d) The verb “tweet”.

So I’ve been looking into other services. So far I’m drawn to txtBlaster. The thing I like best is that I can deputize as many of the subscribers as I want and allow them to text the entire group, so I can make this a student-driven thing. It’s a free (ad-supported) service. They claim to screen their ads carefully and to target them based on the type of group you set up. So far so good on that front.

Do you have
a) any thoughts on using text messaging effectively as a ministry tool?
b) another service to recommend (such as TextMarks or txtSignal or even the maligned Twitter)?

P.S. If you want to see txtBlaster in action, feel free to text xastanford to 25278. I’ll be playing around with it for the next few days.

Every Ph.D. Has A Little Crazy Inside

Straight Jacket GuyPh.D. stands for doctor of philosophy. Doctor is from the Latin doctor which means ‘teacher’. Philosophy is from the Greek (the verb phileo ‘I love’ plus the noun sophia ‘wisdom’). From an etymological standpoint, a doctor of philosophy is one who teaches others to love wisdom.

But etymology is often a misleading guide to reality. Just ask a butterfly or a pineapple.

There’s an old joke that Ph.D. stands for permanent head damage. Humor usually has more truth buried inside it than etymology. I am convinced that most Ph.D.s have a little crazy in them.

You see, to earn a Ph.D. one must convince not only oneself but also a committee that you are one of the world’s leading experts about one narrow slice of reality. Ideally, you convince the committee that you know more about this very narrow problem than anyone else who has ever lived.

And here’s where the crazy comes in: this idea that you are uniquely qualified to hold a certain opinion in a very esoteric area becomes a habit which creeps into other areas of your life. You convince yourself that you are right and the world is wrong about something quite trivial. Everyone does this to a degree, but there is one important difference: the Ph.D. believes something absolutely crazy.

At this point you are thinking to yourself, “Glen, I know several Ph.D. holders. They’re nice, normal people.”

Yes. They are. They are also insane about something unexpected. They have learned through experience to keep their craziness well-masked. You have to dig down deep.

Talk with your friend long enough and you will likely discover that they raise hamsters for food. Or that they have a plan for which stores to loot in which order after the next major natural disaster, and actually have a shopping list secreted about their person at all times for just such an eventuality. Or that they believe in flooding preschools with marijuana smoke to keep the kids calm. Or that they keep a bazooka in the trunk of their car.

And that’s just the way it is. Some things come with accessories — Barbie dolls are one and Ph.D.s are another. You just have to learn to live with it. This is why I have a much higher tolerance for eccentric beliefs in outside speakers for my ministry if they have a doctorate. I expect the crazy. I actually welcome the crazy — it keeps things interesting.

So if you are my friend and are in pursuit of a Ph.D., know that I love you and that I won’t be distressed when you turn crazy in a few years.

And if you already have your Ph.D., just remember that I know. Somewhere deep in the recesses of your brain is an idea. I don’t know what it is. I don’t even know what it’s about. But I know it is so insane that your family has tried to slip pharmaceuticals into your meals on more than one occasion, which is why you only eat foods that are translucent. Which is crazy.

The Deceptiveness of Sin — Deeper Than You Thought

Justice Preveils?Simon M. Lahama, Adam L. Alterb, and Geoffrey P. Goodwinc report a surprising result in “Easy on the mind, easy on the wrongdoer: Discrepantly fluent violations are deemed less morally wrong” Cognition, Volume 112, Issue 3, September 2009, pages 462–466.

From the paper:

Participants completed a questionnaire in which they read six vignettes describing various moral violations: ‘Punch’ (one man punches another in a bar), ‘Flag’ (teacher burns Australian flag in class), ‘Dog’ (family eats its dead dog), ‘Deface’ (man defaces a memorial), ‘Hitler’ (man taunts Jewish sports fans with Hitler imitation), ‘Kiss’ (brother and sister kiss passionately).

Each of the participants read three of the stories in an easy-to-read format and the other three in a harder-to-read format.

In the words of the authors:

…discrepant perceptual fluency decreased perceptions of wrongness compared to discrepant disfluency. Further, and consistent with effects of discrepant fluency on truth judgments (Hansen et al., 2008), it seems that this difference is accounted for by fluent processing decreasing, rather than disfluent processing increasing, perceptions of wrongness.

In normal English: people thought that immoral choices were less serious when they were easy to read about. In theological terms, they excused sin because of how good it looked (or more precisely based upon how easy it was to understand). Apparently cleanliness is next to godliness (or at least legibility is next to living right).

So the next time you have something to confess, be sure to print it on nice paper and use a laser printer. It just might give you the edge you need.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jer 17:9)

Where Should Prospective Ministers Go To College?

question markC. Michael Patton over at Parchment and Pen (one of my favorite blogs), recently offered some thoughts on entering ministry. He made a statement that has always seemed like common sense to me, but that I know many people find objectionable:

If possible, go to a secular university for undergrad and an Evangelical seminary for your masters. You need exposure to both.

I’ve long been mystified that as a matter of course we isolate prospective ministers from their culture for 4 years (more if they go to seminary afterwards). Surely there’s a case to be made for taking our prospective young ministers and forcing them to solidify their own faith and also minister to their peers in a secular setting. Let them prove that they can be both faithful and fruitful before they invest time and money in education that is useless outside of ministry.

I’m sure a Bible college is the ideal route for some people, but it seems to me that we should highlight secular schools as a viable option. It’s certainly borne good fruit for the Pentecostal movement and the impact in the larger evangelical world is even more impressive (Tim Keller, anyone?).

I suppose the most common objection is that secular colleges are harmful to faith, but that’s just not true. And even if it was, I don’t think it would matter that much. If someone who is planning to enter ministry can’t handle Intro to Sociology or the campus beerfest, then I really don’t want them preaching the gospel. They’re a time bomb waiting to explode and take others with them.

But someone who can thrive spiritually at a secular university and make a difference for Christ on campus… give that person a robust theological education and then turn them loose in the pulpit!