The periodical Christianity Today is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month. The hefty anniversary issue features many retrospective as well as visionary articles. One we thought might interest you is "The Top 50 Books that Have Shaped Evangelicals." While not directly an "update on the American church," we agree with the editors that such a list reveals much about the ideas that have and continue to influence evangelical leaders in the U.S. today. François Mauriac once said, "'Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are' is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you reread." In a similar vein, the article opens, "People and movements can be defined by the books they read and remember."

Perhaps you've read many on the list yourself. Maybe you'll come across one you'd like to check out for the first time, or a few that would be good to revisit. And possibly you'll gain insight into where some of your supporting churches are getting the ideas you encounter as you partner together with them in ministry. The article may be found at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/october/23.51.html  

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A QUESTION OF VALUES (Peter 1:13-16)
Peter opens his first letter by summarizing the tremendous gifts we have in Christ: a new birth, a living hope, and an inheritance that simply cannot be lost (vv 3-4). Over the next ten verses, Peter praises God with joy and thanksgiving for the hope and salvation we have in Christ, which the prophets searched out and the angels long to look into.

Then we come to vv. 13-16, where we read, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action.” Why do we need to prepare our minds, and for what kind of fight? Paul says in Ephesians that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. Those who align themselves with Christ are in the midst of a spiritual battle.

“Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled.” The Amplified Bible puts it this way: “So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect; morally alert).” With what do we prepare, or brace up our minds? What do we take up in order to be self-controlled and morally alert? I believe Peter is saying here that we need to prepare our minds with God’s truth.

When Martin Luther was accused of heresy, he declared to his interrogators, “Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I cannot recant for my conscience is held captive by the Word of God…” and later, “Here I stand!” Luther’s mind belonged to God’s Word and to his truth, and Luther’s conscience would not let him turn away from it. Truth was seen as absolute and to be obeyed.

How different things are today. Conversely, our culture says, “Truth! What Truth? You mean what you perceive as the truth? What is true for you is not necessarily true for me.”

Our “new” modern worldview stems from Immanuel Kant. In his “Critique of Pure Reason,” Kant states that we cannot know anything about God through rational deduction or empirical investigation. In other words, there is a barrier to our knowledge about God through which the powers of our reason and sense perception cannot reach. So for Kant, the only way one could “know” God was through some sort of leap of faith. It is this reasoning that has formed the worldview held by so many today.

However, I find it interesting that those who consider truth relative and moral absolutes obsolete seem to set aside those convictions when acts of evil steal the spotlight (such as the recent burst of school violence in the U.S.), because those acts remind us that men do not commit evil in a vacuum. More often than not, there is a victim, and no one dares suggest, “Well, it seemed right to the murderer…”

Recently Florida Representative Mark Foley’s sexually suggestive IMs and emails to former male pages have been splashed all across the media, prompting his resignation and a federal investigation. Through his attorney, Foley has also announced that he was molested as a teen, and is gay. I find it interesting that Foley’s first statement when these allegations were made public expressed his remorse for the harm done to his family. He apologized to his family for the hurt and pain caused them by his choices and actions. Self-control is for the protection of others as much as it is for the preservation of self.

These are extreme, highly publicized examples of those who, as far as we know, do not claim to follow Christ. But Peter’s words were to the church, and the heartbreaking reality is that too often we watch our own friends and ministry partners (or even ourselves) fail to be “self-controlled, sober, circumspect, morally alert” and the results are devastating.

I think it’s important for each of us to maybe have a “Luther Moment” in our lives once in awhile. To come back to our own “Wittenberg door” where we declare what we know to be true, that our conscience will not let us recant, and to affirm, “Here I stand.” Let’s prepare our minds for action with the truth of God.

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Faith is not pretending the something is real when deep down you don’t believe it. That’s fear, not faith.

Faith is not an anti-intellectual, warm feel-good that requires you to check your mind at the door. That’s feeling, not faith.

Faith is not a stained glass escapism; it’s not hiding from reality or ignoring the world around you. That’s fluff, not faith.

Faith is not a motivational seminar telling you to picture a better future. That’s fad, not faith.

Faith is not a positive mental attitude; it’s not ignoring the pain and embracing optimism. That’s foolishness, not faith.

Faith is believing the Word of God and acting upon is, no matter how I feel, because God promises a good result.

- HBC 2006; Church on a Mission: Studies in Acts

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Direct Hit: Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission Field by Paul D. Borden
Abingdon Press 2006  (Reviewed by David Korb)

I always take a minute to read the “endorsements” listed in the first few pages of a new book. I was quite surprised, then, that although the first few pages of this book contain blurbs of praise from people I highly respect and whose wisdom I value, I had a totally different response to this book than did the endorsers. I feel like this book is more about “selling widgets” than leading a congregation into a Spirit-directed, Christ-centered missional passion.

Borden asserts in Chapter 1 that “the primary skill required for strong leadership in the church is the ability to use words. …Outstanding leaders understand that they have signed up for a 24/7 task. Every spoken word, every phone call, every e-mail, every verbal interaction (formal or informal) with people in the congregation reflects an overall communication strategy for change. If we lead change only through formal presentations or meetings, then we have unclear thinking about the nature of the task. Every venue, every day—no matter how seemingly insignificant—ought to be a specific tactic in our overall communication strategy. …The skill is not found only in the words. The quality is found in the intonation, the body language, the eye contact, and more, when helping people see we are excited about a new vision.”

Borden feels that the key to a healthy church is strong pastoral leadership, and the most important skill for pastoral leaders to possess and hone is their ability to communicate. In this book, he outlines how a pastor might become this tremendous communicator in order to lead his congregation through a process of change. Borden ends the first chapter with this charge: “God calls you to lead change not only with individuals but also with groups of people, called congregations. …Therefore, communicate well to lead well.” The author’s emphasis on tactics and strategies to be employed by one leader over a group of people with an implied commitment to heavy top-down leadership left me feeling unsettled. Leaders certainly need to have vision, but Borden’s “nuts and bolts” approach to casting that vision before a congregation feels too mechanistic.

Beyond Duty: A Passion for Christ, a Heart for Mission by Tim Dearborn
InterVarsity Press 1998  (Reviewed by David Korb)

Beyond Duty provides a needed counterbalance to the book reviewed above. Dearborn writes, “God’s church falters from exhaustion because Christians erroneously think that God has given them a mission to perform in the world. The Father, the God of mission, has given his church to the world. It is not the church of God that has a mission in the world, but the God of the church who has a mission in the world.” He continues, “The church does not exist for mission. It exists for the Lord Jesus Christ. To set mission before the church as its essential reason for existence is to risk focusing its devotion on an idol. In our age of human-centered pragmatism, where our focus is easily fixed on the fruitfulness of our own labor and where our worth is measured by our successes and failures, we dare not make something we do the justification of our existence.” Dearborn reminds the reader that the call of mission is commitment not to a task but to a person, Jesus Christ.

I highly recommend this book. It offers a refreshing reminder of the clear call of Scripture to have an effect upon society not because of the tasks we perform but due to the love of Christ emanating from our lives.

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