Book review on PT’s blog
Posted by Tom Welch on July 2, 2009 under Essay | 
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Humble Christians
Posted by Tom Welch on June 25, 2009 under Essay | Be the First to Comment
“Forgiven souls are humble. They cannot forget that they owe all they have and hope for to free grace, and this keeps them lowly. They are brands plucked from the fire – debtors who could not pay for themselves – captives who must have remained in prison for ever, but for underserved mercy – wandering sheep who were ready to perish when the Shepherd found them; and what right then have they to be proud? I do not deny that they are proud saints. But this I do say – they are of all God’s creatures the most inconsistent, and of all God’s children the most likely to stumble and pierce themselves with many sorrows.â€
- J.C. Ryle
From Ed Stetzer – Small Churches Can Thrive
Posted by Tom Welch on June 22, 2009 under Essay | Be the First to Comment
Monday June 22, 2009Â Â Â ~Â Â Â 2 Comments
The July/August issue of Outreach Magazine features my article on small churches. Yep, small churches – I love ‘em! Especially when they are thriving on gospel and mission.
As a speaker at a number of conferences each year, I continue to see pastors and leaders going from one workshop to another searching for “THE” answer. They show up and hear amazing stories about implausibly happy people who willingly follow a new vision for their lives and their church.
They have heard all the strategies and promises, but for many small-church leaders, the conferences, led by rock star celebrity pastors, are like “ministry pornography”– an unrealistic depiction of an experience they’ll never have that distracts them from the real and wonderful thing. In other words, the lust of the megachurch distracts them from the mission of their church. (I’m not anti-big church–I preach at a megachurch every week– but I am also pro-small church.)
The reality is that smaller churches can thrive, too. More than 65 percent of the churches that participated in the research survey for Comeback Churches (B&H)–the book I co-wrote with Mike Dodson– had under 200 regular attendees. Smaller churches are not always unhealthy churches; it depends largely on their mindset. In our research, we found that the small churches which experienced revitalization often did so around prayer and outreach.
Sorting out “justification by faith” and the role of “works”…
Posted by Tom Welch on May 19, 2009 under Essay | 2 Comments to Read
Last week we talked about the importance of reading the Bible in context and seeing how different writers use words differently. For instance, James and Paul say the same thing about Faith and Works, but they approach the topic from two different vantage points. And when we look to see how the church has sorted the issues out, we see a remarkable consensus on “Faith that Works”!
Paul and James on “Justification” and “Works”
Paul |
James |
|
“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28) |
“You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24) |
| Focus: How a person gets into a right relation with God. Gentile Audience. | Focus: What that relationship must look like to receive God’s final approval. Jewish audience |
| Justify: The initial declaration of a sinner’s innocence before God – Romans 4:5
“Declare to be Righteous” |
Justify: The final verdict of innocent in the judgment – Luke 7:35
“Prove to be Righteous” |
| Faith: Not mere intellectual assent, but “Faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6 | Faith: An active faith that produces a changed life. James 2:14 |
| Abraham: Looks to an early episode of faith in God. Genesis 15:1-6 | Abraham: Looks to a later episode of acting on his faith: Genesis 22:9-14 |
| Works: A return to the law as a means for establishing or supplementing righteousness. | Works: The evidence and effects of true saving faith seen in acts of mercy and charity. |
| Misunderstood: To be an Antinomian! | Misunderstood: to be a Legalist! |
The Historical Record on “Justification” and “Works”
The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church IX-XV (1794)
Article IX-Of the Justification of Man
We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.
Article X-Of Good Works
Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit.
Westminster Confession of Faith CHAPTER XI.
Of Justification.
I. Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone…
II. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but works by love.
