The Church Pillow
I’ve often wondered why the group of people who govern and handle the business affairs of a church is called a “board.”
Admittedly, there are times when the members of a board are splintered in their opinions on a matter. They also are likely to face knotty problems on occasion. And once in a while, they may even beam.
There is probably some merit as well to the theory that the designation was first used by an indignant parishioner who couldn’t get the deacons to give ear to her proposal to paint the pulpit lavender and red.
“You’re all as deaf as a board,” she was heard to say.
Moreover, there are times when a board becomes so resolute and unyielding that it can be characterized as being as stiff as a board.
Considering all this, I’d like to propose a name change. “Pillow” would be nice. Can’t you imagine reading in your Sunday bulletin that the “pillow of elders will meet on Thursday night to discuss the church budget”? Doesn’t that have a relaxed, friendly, comfortable sound to it?
Besides, with a designation like that, they might even be a soft touch.
EUTYCHUS
Beyond Temporary Relief
The Arthur Simon (Bread for the World) interview on world hunger in CT’s September 6 issue [“ ‘Hunger Is No Longer Necessary’ ”] is most significant and important. Organizations like ours, and sister groups working in famine areas, recognize the vital importance of moving beyond temporary Band-aid relief to meaningful self-help development programs for hurting people in the Third World. The future for struggling, suffering nations must concentrate on the development process—and for evangelical agencies it becomes an integral part of our obedience to “go into all the world.”
Simon is right: the world hunger problem can be solved, if we have the will to make it happen. An even greater challenge is to reach the “hidden peoples,” who are a major part of the “hungry half,” with the gospel. God help us not to stop with relief and development programs, as important as they are, but use every means possible to present the ultimate answer to all of life’s struggles, our Lord Jesus Christ.
TED W. ENGSTROM
President, World Vision
Monrovia, Calif.
Using Animals For Culinary Pleasure
I find it incongruous that in the same issue of CT that portrays Wilberforce’s crusade against slavery, Boyce and Lutes argue in favor of killing animals for food [“Animal Rights: How Much Pain Is a Cure Worth?” Sept. 6].
I agree with the basic thesis of the article—that animals are on a lower level than man, and may be sacrificed when it is necessary to save human life. But that does not justify sacrificing them for mere culinary pleasure, particularly in a country where—unlike the world of Christ—fresh, nutritious food is abundant, and flesh is totally unnecessary as an article of diet.
TIM CROSBY
Ellijay, Ga.
Real Faith
Donald McCullough makes an excellent point in “The Pitfalls of Positive Thinking” [Sept. 6]. God’s people are, after all, people of faith. Like the ancients before us (Hebrews 11), we too may die “not having received the things promised.” What some positive thinkers call faith may actually be its direct opposite. Real faith can see “beyond the brokenness of the present” as McCullough suggests, all the way to God’s future.
REV. BOB PARKS
Goleta Baptist Church
Goleta, Calif.
One only wished McCullough had had space to mention (1) the 8 “don’ts” in the Decalogue and the 17 in the Sermon on the Mount; (2) that about half of Jesus’ parables end on a negative, not a positive, note; (3) that the great “Pessimist” from Nazareth also said, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:14, NIV).
We need a few more pieces on McCullough’s theme. The half-full glasses have been hoisted for quite a while; maybe it’s time to raise a few half-empty ones.
LON WOODRUM
Defuniak Spring, Fla.
A Wealth Of Direction
Paul Borthwick’s excellent article “Does Your Youth Ministry Measure Up?” [Ministries, Sept. 6] supplied much-needed biblical direction.
After also reading the review of Robert Webber’s book Worship Is A Verb, I am prompted to ask Borthwick for a final point. It could be “Are Youth Developing Biblical Patterns of Worship?” I desire to “prompt” our teenagers to worship God in our times together, to help them understand the difference between “pagan” and “Christian” worship, and to prepare them to be worship leaders in the church.
CAROL SCHMIEL
Tehachapi, Calif.
The theme of the title of Webber’s book and the agreement of the review make a significant point that is much needed in our times. Indeed, there is an all-too-common tendency for that which is called a worship service to be merely a program where the speakers and musicians are the performers and the people are the audience.
I seriously question, however, the validity of identifying God as the audience for worship, as attributed in the review to Kierkegaard and endorsed by the reviewer. Would it not be more consistent with Scripture to identify God as the object of the verb worship, and not as the audience for it? The process becomes blasphemous not when people are the audience, but when people who function as the subject of the verb substitute anyone or anything else for the one true God as the object of the verb.
ROBERT B. FISCHER
Provost and Senior Vice President
Biola University
La Mirada, Calif. 90639
I want to point out that it is the attitude (noun) of worship, not the actions (or verbs) that make it acceptable. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit [noun] and truth [noun].” Both Cain and Abel offered (verb) sacrifices, but it was the spirit of the sacrifices that was different.
Changing slightly the analogy of a performance, which was used in the review, God is the performer, the center of attention, and the prime actor. We the audience respond to his creative activity and who he is by applauding or worshiping. However, it isn’t what we do that makes it worship: it’s our adoration, enthusiasm, and gratitude. The pastor is merely the emcee or cheerleader.
MARK BODETT
Burke, Va.
Following John And Paul
Thank you for “A Man Under Orders” [Editorial, Sept. 6]. It is a fine update on the Roman church. If Pope John Paul II would be “endeared to the hearts of evangelicals,” he would have to drop his title and follow John in his gospel (3:7) and Paul in his epistle to the Romans (5:1). He then could carry those names “John Paul II” with honor and pride and go down in history as a truly great man, endeared to the hearts of all true Christians.
REV. W. B. MUSSELMAN
Fulton Bible Church
Fulton, Mich.
The top line on page 15 ought to have read, “many Protestant leaders, as well as [instead of especially] many Anglicans, have expressed dismay …”; otherwise, to read it as written implies that Anglicans are Protestants, and we all know that there are three branches of the Church Catholic: Roman, Orthodox, and Anglican.
REV. W. FRISBY HENDRICKS III
St. Martin’s Episcopal Church
Richmond, Va.
When Kantzer says Mary’s role is meaningless except to have given birth, one may read Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12, or perhaps consider the words of Jesus at the cross to John, “Behold thy mother.” When he says, “search the Scripture,” he may also consider 2 Peter 3:16. There are things here that are hard to understand, which the unlearned distort—as they do the rest of Scripture—to their own destruction.
You have some very good articles, but when it comes to my salvation, I’ll leave that to the truths of the one true Roman Catholic Church.
MARY ANN VALICENTI
Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Reconciling Christianity And The Arts
Your “tip of the hat” toward the reconciliation of Christianity and the arts has been tremendously refreshing. The recent reviews of Amadeus and The Christian, the Arts and Truth: Regaining the Vision of Greatness, as well as references to the power of Christianity through the arts in the Soviet Union, show a willingness on the part of CT to promote (or at least point others toward) Christian excellence in music, film, and serious literature for the glory of Jesus Christ. Thank you—and please continue!
MARK HIJLEH
Ithaca, N.Y.
A recently expanded Refiner’s Fire also now appears in most issues
—Eds.
Second-Career Seminarians
Your editorial [“Winning Isn’t Everything”] in the August 9 issue hit home. Especially pertinent were your citations regarding the “dental surgeon with a six-figure income and a luxurious home [who] quits his practice to enter Princeton Theological Seminary at the age of 46” and the Wall Street Journal report “of a new trend” of “second-career seminarians.” At a Presbytery meeting I attended last June, I met an attorney, businessman, and engineer leaving established careers for seminary and the pastoral ministry.
In my own case, I discovered that leaving behind the “world’s expectations” is not so much a matter of what one gives up—though it may be substantial—as what one gains for the cause of our Lord Jesus. These “many second-career seminarians” are eliciting more credibility for the pastoral ministry, especially in the skeptical male who may feel his pastor is where he or she is because he can’t make it in other professions.
REV. G. TURNER HOWARD III
West Emory Presbyterian Church
Knoxville, Tenn.
Amen to Tom Minnery’s editorial. As Jesus said, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him. I am afraid that we would rather settle for a “Christianized” nation than for one that is evangelized.
REV. DAVID E. CARLSON
Evangelical Fellowship Chapel
Ridgewood, N.Y.
Letters are welcome. Brevity is preferred, for only a selection can be published. All are subject to condensation. Write to Eutychus, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
