Blog - Page 316 of 318 - John H Armstrong

A Visit to Mars Hill in Downtown Seattle

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:07-05:00May 10th, 2005|Categories: Emergent Church|

I mentioned twice last week my time in Seattle. I continue to process the information that I am learning from the Emergent Church, especially from Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church (www.marshillchurch.org). Mark Driscoll’s vision, and experience, is not exactly like that of other well known leaders in this movement, but his journey is one that is hugely insightful and quite instructive. There is little doubt that God is blessing this visionary pastor and his church. And scores of young pastors are following Mark’s leadership through the Acts 29 network. In addition to this his book, The Radical Reformission (Zondervan, 2004), is an important popular treatment of evangelism, mission and culture. It is a full-scale rejection of the cultural, and even theological, patterns of fundamentalism without rejecting anything essential to Christian orthodoxy. This, in itself, attracts me deeply since robust evangelical faith, outwardly focused upon a positive engagement of the world, is my vision too.

Mars Hill has four core values: truth, meaning, community and beauty. God’s truth is properly placed first. Mars Hill understands that truth is not “your truth” or “my truth” but God’s […]

The Popularity of Joel Osteen

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:07-05:00May 9th, 2005|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

Joel Osteen, one of America’s most popular evangelical preachers, appeared in Chicago this past week. The Chicago Tribune featured a front page religion report on the visit in its May 4 edition. For those who do not know, Joel Osteen is the 42 year old pastor of the largest local church in America, the nondenominational Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. He is the son of a famous charismatic minister, who began Lakewood Church after leaving the Southern Baptist Convention many decades ago, and is also the author of best-seller Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential. In addition Osteen appears on a national television program that is the highest-rated inspirational show in the country according to Nielsen Media Research.

I have mixed emotions about Christian success stories like that of Joel Osteen. This is a good news-bad news situation. Osteen represents some of the best and worst of popular religion in America. He is a gentle and engaging man with a huge smile. His persona is likeable and his message is positive, in a time when negativity is too prevalent. He […]

Church of the King

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:08-05:00May 8th, 2005|Categories: The Church|

Church of the King, in Santa Cruz, California, was my place for public ministry this weekend. I taught three times on hermeneutics, with my dear friend Andrew Sandlin, yesterday. I taught on “Extravagant Forgiveness” (cf. Weekly Messenger, May 2, 2005) this morning and then preached in the morning worship celebration on “The Prayer Christ Will Surely Answer” (Matthew 9:35-38). Audio copies of these addresses, and the sermon on Matthew 9, will soon be available on our Web site at: www.reformationrevival.com. If you would like a free cassette copy of the sermon you may write us at info@reformationrevival.com and request one until May 31. (Be sure to give us your mailing address.) We have a “Friends Tape” that includes the same message when it was previously given in February.

Church of the King (COTK) is a wonderful church family of about 150-200 people. It is served by six godly and effective elders who […]

Sleepless in Seattle: My Connection to Charismatic History

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:08-05:00May 6th, 2005|Categories: The Church|

Reading Nine O’Clock in the Morning seems like a distant memory at times. I was a student in the late 1960’s. The author, Dennis Bennett, was an Episcopalian rector who had been filled with the Holy Spirit while serving a parish church in southern California. His bishop wanted to move him, at Bennett’s request really, so he would not bring about schism in his church. The bishop was also fearful that another John Wesley might arise and challenge the church and thus, like Wesley, face ecclesiastical rejection.

Bennett was sent to a dying parish church in Seattle. His story gripped multitudes through his book and eventually impacted thousands of lay people and ministers alike. People came from all over the world to meet Father Bennett. They prayed for healing, and they spoke in tongues, but most of all they came to seek the fullness of the Spirit. This quiet, mild-mannered man poured himself out into the lives of all who came. He sent large numbers of them back to their own churches, never wishing to build his own ministry so much as to encourage blessing upon […]

Emergent Churches

By John Armstrong|2005-05-05T09:56:46-05:00May 5th, 2005|Categories: The Church|

I am visiting this week with several leaders from within the growing and developing evangelical movement known as "The Emergent Church." I am not sure I can even define what the term means, given the wide divergence I see regarding what gets labeled "Emergent." Even within the movement itself there is considerable nonconformity. There are scores of books, major conferences, journals, magazines, and ministry styles that are all called "Emergent." What is clear to me is this—God is doing something fresh among younger leaders who are serious about mission and creative in their evangelism. The wineskins always require change and these folks know it and are doing something about it.

But this movement is not just about wineskins. There is more. To only see this aspect is to miss the moment and the ministry. There is a clear need for theology in this movement. Some leaders, like the one I talked to yesterday, are deeply interested in theology. Others seem oblivious, or appear to be drifting theologically. Some, certainly not those I am with this week, even appear to be entertaining doctrinal ideas that sound a lot […]

Jim Packer: A Pointer to Christ

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:08-05:00May 4th, 2005|Categories: Personal|

I am blest with a number of freinds who truly love and honor me. Most of them you would not know but to me they are "friends," a word I cherish the older I get. A few who have walked with me for some years now, would not be known to any of you, and a few are well-known to most of you. The danger, and I have succumbed to it over the years, is to "drop names" here and there to impress readers and potential friends. (Real friends are not impressed anyway,and do not need to be!)

I had dinner last evening with one of my best well-known friends, J.I. Packer. I am struck, after all these years, of how well Packer has retained both his natural and supernatural skills. He suffered a heart attack a few years ago, took great care of himself following a surgery, and is doing as very well for a man who will be eighty years of age on July 22. His witty, reflective and generous spirit is as good as ever. As you would expect of someone like […]

The Reformed Church Reforming

By John Armstrong|2005-05-03T08:56:07-05:00May 3rd, 2005|Categories: Church History|

The Reformation was not a movement that created a new church. It was a movement that led one part of the church to reform itself by the Word of God and another to reject the particular work of the Spirit’s renewing ministry in the sixteenth century.

When Luther walked to the University Church in Wittenberg, around noon on October 31, 1517, he did not think to himself, "Today I am going to reform the church. I will make claims for biblical renewal and the result will be a great church split, resulting in a new Protestant Church." He not only had no plans for a new church he still wasn’t even sure whether or not indulgences were right or wrong. He simply knew that profiteering in spiritual things was wrong!

The magisterial Protestant Reformers were most definitely not innovators. And they never desired two churches. They wanted to correct a number of moral and doctrinal abuses by the Word. And they understood that the Word was the gospel of Christ, not just any word from any text. These were not proof-texting radicals. They were faithful sons of […]

The Catholic Church Reformed

By John Armstrong|2005-05-02T06:49:23-05:00May 2nd, 2005|Categories: Church History|

There are a number of different ways by which Protestants speak of themselves, of their origins and development, and of the great Reformation of the sixteenth century. I think it is more important than ever that we understand ourselves correctly. We are not simply a "protest" movement, or a prickly splinter group. We are "the Church of Jesus Christ reformed according to the Word of God," to quote one modern writer. This self-understanding means several things.

1. We did not begin in the sixteenth century. Our churches are not the creation of human reformers. The Reformers didn’t believe this and we shouldn’t believe it either.

2. Our churches are the work of Christ, thus they are an expression of his one body in the world.

3. The goal of the Protestant Reformers was to purify the one church by the Word of God. They desired to give back things that had been lost and to remove things that went contrary to the witness of Scripture and the faith of the earliest Christians.

4. The patristic heritage of the church was not rejected by the earliest Reformers. They argued, […]

Is the Bible a Rule Book?

By John Armstrong|2005-04-29T15:07:55-05:00April 29th, 2005|Categories: Biblical Theology|

Yesterday I wrote an extensive word about the public lecture of Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon at Elmhurst College on Wednesday night, April 27. There is so much that Gagnon said that is worth repeating but for now I will give one simple illustration.

After an hour plus on the subject of sexual ethics and purity he noted that many will say to me, "The Bible is not a rule book." Yes, he noted, this is true for sure. "But it does make commands." Then he said, "The purpose of the Bible is to make us whole." This was followed by the profound question: "Is there a word of grace here in the midst of all these requirements for sexual purity and covenantal fidelity within a one-woman and one-man relationship?" Gagnon answered, "Yes, all of it!"

Challenging Same-Sex Marriage

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:08-05:00April 28th, 2005|Categories: Sexuality|

"Challenging Same-Sex Marriage" was the title of Dr. Robert. A. J. Gagnon’s address last evening at Elmhurst College (IL). I was priviledged to be present among the 250 or so students and area attendees for a most amazing evening.

For those who do not know, Dr. Gagnon is associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PCUSA), where he has taught since 1994. He is a frontline Pauline scholar and the author of the finest book available on this subject: The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (Abingdon, 2001). Dr. Gagnon’s work has influenced me more than any single author in this field. It is simply magisterial. He covers every possible shade of interpretation and destroys the case frequently made by certain Christian authors for homosexual practice. He also maintains the finest Web site available on the subject: http://www.robgagnon.net.

Frankly, Gagnon is hated by many in the mainline churches. This is because his work has done more to galvinize the biblical renewal movements on this issue than any single author. For example, his work is being used presently by renewal leaders to try […]