17
group," says one pastor, who believes that only "churches...effective in
inculcating biblical truths and values will be,,, effective in discipling the behavior
of their parishioners."
51
If our ministry is truly based on a theology of transformation made possible by
regeneration, we need to take seriously our accountability to discern and obey
Scripture in these matters. And we need to teach this to the church. It will mean
wrestling with complex issues beyond our usual range of ministry, but it is
inescapably a pastoral responsibility.
May God bless His Church. And may our scholarship and ministry be pleasing
and bring glory to the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Endnotes
1
Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999) 23. Sweet's
position is that we failed to recognize how "seismically dangerous postmodern culture could be"
for Christianity, and now find ourselves overwhelmed by it. He argues that the church must learn
to embrace the opportunities of our times and "help invent and prevent, redeem and redream,
[the] postmodern future."
2
John H. Armstrong, The Coming Evangelical Crisis (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996) 17.
3
Millard J. Erickson, The Evangelical Left (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997) 146-7.
4
Thomas C. Oden, Pastoral Theology: Essentials for Ministry (San Francisco: Harper and Row,
Publishers, 1983) 9-10.
5
Os Guinness, Dining With the Devil: The MegaChurch Movement Flirts with Modernity (Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1993) 26.
6
Jim Peterson, in endorsement statement on back cover of Guinness, Dining With the Devil.
7
Millard J. Erickson, Where is Theology Going? (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994) 23.
8
Ellen T. Charry, By the Renewing of Your Minds: The Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) 233.
9
David F. Wells, No Place for Truth: Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? (Grand
Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993) 5-6.
10
Gerald M. Sanders, in Evangelical Renewal in the Mainline Churches, ed. by Ronald H. Nash
(Westchester: Crossway Books, 1987) 128
11
Ibid., 121, 129.
12
Ibid., 129, 131.
13
Thomas C. Oden, Pastoral Theology, 11.
14
Ibid., 59-60.
15
John R.W. Stott, What Christ Thinks of The Church (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1958) 127.
16
Millard J. Erickson, Where is Theology Going? 209. Erickson emphasizes the importance of
serious theological education of lay people, and expresses concern at the gap between what he
calls "official" theology (our written confessions and doctrinal statements) and "unofficial" theology
(the real theology that shows in our practice and behavior).
17
Ibid. 171-172.
18
Ibid. 171.
19
Eddie Gibbs, ChurchNext (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000) 160.
20
Michael S. Horton, "Recovering the Plumb Line, in The Coming Evangelical Crisis (Chicago:
Moody Press, 1996) 246.
21
John H. Armstrong, Reforming Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2001) 26.