Monday, August 31, 2009

The Release of the Spirit.

Book Review.

Nee, Watchman. The Release of the Spirit. Pub. Sure Foundation. 1965.

Comment. Henry.
Knowing that the author is a Chinese pastor who lived in China during a very stressful time, especially for believers, helps to put his writings in context. This is obviously a translation and assumes some understanding of the culture (religious and political) of the time and place. The thrust of the message is probably familiar to church people who are seniors. It is heavily guilt ridden with very little focus on relationship and what would today be described as missional and/or incarnational. Younger readers will certainly find this resource ‘thought provoking’.

Here is how Watchman explains our spiritual being. We are made up of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit he refers to as the “inner man”, the soul is the “outer man”, and the body is the “outermost man”. God’s indwelling takes place in the inner man. Thoughts will, and emotion are part of the outer man. It must become the “organ or vessel for the spirit”. (5) The outermost man must be broken in order for the inner man to become effective in God’s work. “The cross must destroy all that belongs to our outward man- our opinions, our ways, our cleverness, our self-love, our all.” (15) When this has happened we begin to enjoy the presence and peace of God. Our spirit will not be released if our outward man is not broken.

There can be no spiritual discernment of another person’s need until we have experienced brokenness. Brokenness is what is required for us to gain from the reading of the scripture. There can be no effective ministry, powerful preaching through the quickening of the Spirit until there is brokenness. It is through the “discipline of the Holy Spirit” (57) that the outward man is destroyed.

The release of the Spirit happens when the outward man (body) is destroyed. This is the basic lesson of this book.

www.henrydirksen.blogspot.com

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Too Small To Ignore.

Book Review.

Stafford, Wes. Too Small To Ignore. Why the least of these matters most. Waterbrook Press. 2007.
W.S.- Dr. Stafford is president of Compassion International one of the world’s largest Christian child-development agencies, partnering with more than sixty-five denominations and thousands of churches to serve more than six hundred thousand children in twenty-three countries.

Comment. Henry.
Although the focus of the book is the work of Compassion International it is very much a biography of its president. It is a story of great suffering and tragedy that became a driving force for good. It champions children and those who are involved with helping children realize their potential.

Wes spent his childhood in an African village of the Ivory Coast and in a residential school for missionary children, Bandulo Christian Academy, 750 miles away. The village part of his childhood was heaven compared to the school part which was hell. That hell was physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse of major proportions by the adults of the school. As a ten year old child Wes became the first child to break the silence forced upon the children to keep parents and other ‘outside’ adults from knowing what was going on.

Wes explains how his understanding of community and relationships developed in his life in the environment of a close African village. He felt involved and needed as a child in his father’s missionary ministry. He observed very strong relationships in a primitive culture. This gives him a unique understanding and motivation in his present ministry.

All the children of the boarding school during the time Wes and his sister were there experienced serious trauma. Many of them were damaged for life. As an adult Wes was able to turn that damage into good. He became a ‘fanatical’ champion for children. He was able to use the pain to become a “superachiever, which is a prison of its own”. (263)

For most of my 36 years as a school teacher I worked with elementary aged children. I was encouraged by the reading of this book that I did have an attitude toward these children that was based on Jesus’ teaching about the importance of “the least of these”. It was also a reminder for me to not neglect opportunities that I still have to encourage and empower children in their faith and development and the realization of their potential.

www.henrydirksen.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Prodigal God

Book Review.

Keller, Timothy. The Prodigal God. Recovering the heart of the Christian faith. Dutton. 2008.
T.K.- pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Manhattan.

Comment. Henry.
This book is a pastoral exposition of Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32, usually referred to as the parable of the lost son. This exposition will add to your understanding of this portion of scripture and also impact your personal inventory of spiritual resources.

The parable in Luke 15 is more correctly called the parable of a father and his two sons. The two sons represent two groups of people Jesus focused on during his earthly ministry, the religious and the irreligious, the Pharisees and the ‘unbelievers’.

Both sons have acted in very disrespectful ways to their father. The father (Father) has responded to these actions in a most non-traditional way extending grace, forgiveness and love. Both sons have ‘sinned’ against their father, one through his self-discovery and the other through his hypocritical conformity. “The gospel is- everyone is wrong, everyone is loved, and everyone is called to recognize this and change.” (45)

Both sons illustrate truths about ‘lostness’ a biblical metaphor for sin. The younger son lost his way and decided to rebuild his life. The older son responded to his ‘lostness’ with anger and resentment. Anger causes us to loose our moral footing. It reflects an attitude of superiority and self-righteousness. It is suggested that the ‘lostness’ of the older brother may well have had a major part in the decision of the younger brother to do what he did to escape from such hypocrisy. When these brothers (groups of people) come to a point of reconciliation with the father and each other, they come with their own unique baggage which must be dealt with.

“We were created to live in the garden of God.” (95) Until we reach that garden our experience will be that of exiles (prodigals) longing for home. And there will be a feast.

The father’s feast is symbolic of the Father’s feast that is described in Revelation and is for all who have experienced restoration, salvation. That salvation is experiential, material, individual and communal.

www.henrydirksen.blogspot.com

Monday, August 17, 2009

Missional Renaissance

Book Review

McNeal, Reggie. Missional Renaissance. Changing the scorecard for the church. Jossey-Bass. 2009. A Leadership Network publication www.leadnet.org

Comment. Henry
The term ‘missional church’ has become a buzzword among church leaders. Reggie takes this concept to a new level by describing what he calls a Missional Renaissance. He writes as a respected church consultant with a passion for the church in our ‘church-saturated’ culture. This is a must read for those who are serious about church being relevant today.


“The rise of the missional church is the single biggest development in Christianity since the Reformation.” (Intro.) For a church to become missional it will have to make three significant shifts. It needs to shift from an internal focus to an external focus, from program focused to people development, and from church based to kingdom based. These shifts are labeled “Missional Renaissance”.

This renaissance is being fueled by “the emergence of the altruism economy, the search for personal growth, and the hunger for spiritual vitality”. (3)

“The missional church is the people of God partnering with God in his redemptive mission in the world.” (24) Our personal and corporate mission is to bless people and share the life of God with them. To the extent that this goal is not being met, we (the church) need to undertake a ‘realignment’ of our priorities. “Missional is not a place you arrive at but a direction in which you are moving.” (38)

The shift from internal to external is a shift from church-centered to kingdom-centered focus. Such a shift will result in a change of score-card for the church. “What gets rewarded gets done.” (68) There will be a reallocation of resources.

The overwhelming dominance of church programs is a phenomenon of the last century. Shifting from program development to people development is part of becoming missional. People are developed in relationships not programs. The church score-card will focus on changed lives.

The shift from church-based to kingdom-based leadership is a shift from leading an institution to leading a movement. A score-card for such leadership will focus on “paradigm issues, microskill development, resource management, and personal growth”. (158)

Fear is a formidable enemy of legitimate, potentially freeing, change. Change is often resisted by expressed by anger. Change in the church always triggers strong emotions. Reggie has presented a blueprint for change that is scripturally sound with great potential to breathe new life into the church.

www.henrydirksen.blogspot.com

Monday, August 10, 2009

Life By The Hour

Book Review.

Schroeder, Tim. Iife By The Hour. Knowing when you have had enough- for now. Trafford Publishing. 2009

Comment. Henry.
Tim is a local pastor who has been an impressive model to me regarding his involvement in the community. He writes out of these experiences and a strong commitment to scripture. I appreciated his response when I asked him whom he was targeting with this book; “Your neighbor”. His thesis of living (the Christian) life one hour at a time is a very helpful, fundamentally sound concept.

It is one thing to survive in our spiritual life but it is quite another thing to flourish. Flourishing involves a strategy of living life one hour at a time. Making right decisions (hourly) develops a foundation for making right decisions in the big decisions of life.

We should not accept meaninglessness in our schedule of life. We need continuous personal inspiration. Clear life values are developed and maintained hour by hour, e.g. practicing gratitude. Making sure our soul is alive and well-nourished and our bodies are healthy is our responsibility.

Lofty goals are reached with honest, genuine beginnings. Distractions and hurry, two enemies in our lives, are things that are totally within our control. The solution to stress and fatigue is not inactivity but some wholesome form of re-creation. “Resist predictability.” (102)

We are commanded to forgive. Forgiving is both an event and a process. Worry and anxiety will become fatal if left unchecked and/or unmanaged. The peace of God is a gift that we need to appropriate by faith. At all times recognize the lies in a temptation. The life of a Christ-follower requires total commitment and the giving of your best (one hour at a time). Prayer is fundamental in order to move from surviving to flourishing.

The challenge of not being mastered by money is best accomplished hour by hour. “Those things with the greatest capacity to bring the greatest pleasure also have the capacity to bring the greatest pain.” (190) e.g. our sex life.