Telling the Story of the Local Church
by Velma Sumrall and Lucille Germany The Seabury Press, $7.95
Reviewed by Lorolie A. Brown Copy editor, Input magazine Grand Rapids, Mich.
SITUATION: You want to tell people about Jesus Christ; to let them know how your church can meet their needs.
QUESTION: How do you get the attention of people conditioned to video, stereo, technicolor, and four-color foldout?
ANSWER: You use the channels they’re tuned in to: film, slides, tapes, television, radio, newspaper, flyers, leaflets, mailouts.
Sumrall and Germany say we short-circuit the gospel message if we confine ourselves to the traditional sermon, Sunday school, and prayer groups as our means of communicating God’s message.
The authors inventory the forms of mass media, talk about their possibilities, and then tackle the practical what-you-need and how-to-do-it with thorough step-by-step suggestions.
The key is to discover the talents, abilities, and available equipment of the people in your congregation. List them on index cards in a “talent bank” file.
An editor who’s a diplomat in securing articles as well as a surgeon in wielding a few basic editing rules can make the church newsletter an interesting “meld of many voices.” The authors’ guidelines for lively page layout and printing procedures are straightforward and practical. The basic how-to’s are given for services the church can provide to the local media: a reference sheet of terminology used in your denomination, well-written news releases, and write-ups of interviews. These can help newspapers and radio cover your church news.
But print isn’t the only medium people pay attention to. In fact, the authors point out that our world today is “literally wired for sound.” Cassette recorders and stereo and quadrophonic systems have become commonplace. Churches large and small have growing tape ministries. It’s a simple medium, but it pulls people together, sparks group discussions, builds bonds between churches, and links shut-ins with churches, overseas workers with home base, and different age groups within the church.
Slide-tape shows get people involved both in production and viewing They can be teaching tools, a promotional package, or an introduction of the church to newcomers. Film, with its potential for drama, promotion, interviews, and artistic expression, is not so out-of-reach as small congregations might expect. The availability of super-eight cameras and projectors makes film a real possibility.
How about television? Not every church can use television to its fullest, but Sumrall and Germany explore approaches to local television programming, public broadcasting, network, and cable. One chapter discusses the equipment needed, and another offers tools any church can use. The church can “take the role of the participant” in television by studying and evaluating what television is and is not saying. Questions can prompt discussion that raises our viewing awareness of the values communicated by soap operas, news, commercials, and situation comedies. “What role did destructive forces play? What kind of person was Joe? What motivations did you see for the action? Did the problem solving reflect Christian principles?” Information that churches can use to influence programming at local and network levels is listed, as well as some “jobs for a TV checking committee.”
Telling the Story of the Local Church tries to help people reach people: “We have a responsibility to tell, to use the mechanical features of our age to the glory of God. It is not to seek numbers, to fill sanctuaries, to establish an image, or to build a reputation. It is to share the gift that we know in Christ Jesus . “
Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness
by Jerry Cook with Stanley C.Baldwin Regal Books, $3.50 pb.
Reviewed by M. Dean Register Pastor, Enon Baptist Church Franklinton, La.
I read this book while lying in a hospital suffering from ulcers and exhaustion. My health was broken and my spirit was shattered by racing to meet every need in the church and every crisis in the home. Our church was alive and well, but I had paid the price
for growth.
Is there a better way to grow the body of Christ? Can the congregation be equipped to share the load of ministry? Can the church demonstrate authenticity to a non-Christian world by love, acceptance, and forgiveness? Cook answers with a resounding yes and his book is a message of hope and help for pastors and members.
Cook believes the church is people, real people changed by the power of Christ. However, before they can be brought to wholeness, certain guarantees must be made: that people will be loved without exception, accepted without reservation, and forgiven without any bitter aftertaste. Whenever these three guarantees prevail, then the “church becomes what Jesus was in the world: a center of love designed for the healing of broken people, and a force for God.”
Interwoven in his wholeness approach to ministry, Cook examines various styles of pastoral leadership. He says we must ask the basic question, “Is a pastor to spend his or her entire life on call as a spiritual ambulance, or is there something more fundamental to do?” The reply is that the church must be equipped to share the burden of ministry. It’s not necessary for the pastor to meet everyone’s needs, but to see that everyone’s needs are met. The pastor is a facilitator rather than an ambulance. However, Cook does not discount the reality that crises do arise that call for immediate attention.
Regarding the nature of the church the author contrasts two concepts: the church as a field, and the church as a force.
In the field concept, the church is the place where people come to do the work of God. It emphasizes the organization, centers the goals around the facility, accomplishes the ministry through professionals, and receives motivation from programs and promotions.
In the force concept, the church is “people, equipped to serve, meeting needs everywhere in Jesus’ name.”
The priorities are worship, training and fellowship. The goals focus on the individual rather than the facility, thereby enabling every member to “come to wholeness, be equipped and be released into the world to minister.” The force concept accomplishes its ministry through a climate of love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Ministry is not limited to a professional or a staff of professionals. Instead, it is placed in the hands of believers to meet the needs of hurting people. Its motivation comes from the biblical injunction to equip the saints. “When the saints start doing the ministry they get excited, and the church truly becomes a force for God in the world.”
As pastors, we must run- the risk of delegating ministry. Admittedly, nonprofessionals make mistakes. Lay people often get in a jam. So what? “God is big enough to turn our goofs into something positive.” We must trust the life of Christ in one another and build up a disposition of confidence rather than one of suspicion.
Cook acknowledges that this is not easily accomplished, whether the environment is the church or the family. Conflicts frequently arise; difficulties must be handled; criticism, devisive-ness, and unresolved offenses demand loving confrontation. Family problems need the salve of love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Family members need the “security of knowing they can blow it and still be loved and totally forgiven with nothing held over their heads.” He adds, “One of the greatest love gifts you can give your partner in marriage is total, unqualified acceptance.”
The conclusion of the matter is that it’s time to get the church into the world and thus fulfill what Cook calls the “Immanuel Principle”-God with us. When we reach out in authentic demonstration of this principle, God reaches with us.
Although books on the subject of church and ministry are numerous, none is more penetrating than. Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness. It can help heal us where we hurt.
Celebration of Discipline
by Richard J. Foster Harper & Row, $7.95
Reviewed by Dallas Willard Associate professor of philosophy University of Southern California Los Angeles, Cal.
Many evils prey on faithful Christians in our times: virulent cultism, naturalism, successisms, and many forms of psychological and social distress. These prosper in large measure because of the lack of sensible instruction in how to live the joyful Christian life.
Celebration of Discipline speaks to that need with training in the conduct of the spiritual life. Drawing upon the Bible, wide stretches of the history and literature of the Christian church, as well as on his own experiences and experiments, Foster focuses on twelve types of activities:
¥ meditation, prayer, fasting, study (the inward disciplines)
¥ simplicity, solitude, submission, service (the outward disciplines)
¥ confession, worship, guidance, and celebration (the corporate disciplines)
In a readable yet informative fashion, he deals with the nature of each activity, how it is entered into, the process and problems in its development, and the fruits of its practice for the life of the disciple.
Although appropriate for beginning disciples, Foster’s discussions are especially useful for Christians who have “gone the route” with regular church attendance and methodical service in the commonly recommended pattern, but who carry on with little confidence in the Christlike quality of their own lives in prayer, work, and witness.
This book should inspire pastors, teachers, and other leaders to reexamine aims and methods. To what extent do we today seriously and intelligently labor to conform people to Christ? In the past there’s been a rich heritage of practical teaching and direction to assist us in this task. Foster’s book is a fine place to begin to reformulate such teachings.
Developing Spiritually Sensitive Children
by Olive Alexander Bethany Fellowship, $3.95 pb.
Reviewed by Ruth Gibson Freelance writer Wheaton, 111.
“Somehow he managed to get upright on the first limb. Then up to the next limb he went. Up one more. Up another. He sat there awhile. Coming down was easier. He seemed more confident. At last he was on the ground. … He had done it.”
Alexander goes on to tell of this small boy, the tree climber, who goes back into the classroom after playtime and concentrates as never before or his math problems. “It was a transformation. He was a different child.” The author paints pictures for us of successfully completed tasks which enable children to accomplish further “work.” She refers to the work of learning how to walk, talk, and relate interpersonally. If adults shortcut these natural processes by rushing a child or by doing for the child what he is learning to do for himself, they are not being of service to the child.
Alexander believes adults in care-taking positions should be servants to children, acting as examples and unobtrusive supervisors.
As a Montessori teacher and a mother of two children, the author’s teachings are born out of experience. Developing spiritual sensitivity is a life task, not something to be sandwiched into an hour or two a week. She speaks of setting up an environment conducive to growth. Putting things back in their places, for instance, is important as part of the total learning exercise at home or school.
Adults must have a proper relationship to God for children to learn what God is like. As parents, teachers, and leaders, Alexander reminds us that our own obedience and response to God’s authority teaches children these disciplines. Recognition of the authenticity of a child’s faith encourages growth. Furthermore, helping children identify their feelings leads to growth and selfdiscovery.
Alexander recommends creative ideas that promote vitality and growth, regardless of the fact that “It’s never been done that way before.”
Her own children, as pre-schoolers, slept on the floor in sleeping bags so their rooms would provide plenty of work and play space. They would roll their sleeping bags neatly against the wall, thus succeeding at the task of “bed-making.” Having recently gone through the stage of sleeping bags on the floor for five years, I resonate with the author’s boldness. I know the more conventional among us disapprove of such departures from the norm; but she points out the bonus of taking her children to Bible studies where they fell asleep under the chairs while the Scriptures were the last words they heard.
This book makes no separation between the secular and spiritual development of the child, recognizing the total integration of the human personality. Further, the author’s academic achievements do not get in the way of her effectiveness. Her transparency, simplicity, and wisdom leave the impression that the Holy Spirit is her teacher, and that it’s a coincidence that her principles are psychologically sound.
I wonder how this wise mother and teacher would deal with the powerful force of television. Her use of work material for children is so simple that, other than “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” it is doubtful that most TV offerings would be suitable for the simple and high standards she sets for children. She remembers the simple hallmarks of mature men and women of God. She sees the potential in children to become loving, obedient steadfast, and trustworthy. Reading this book should remind Christian parents what their priorities are and where to find their primary missions- in the home.
Your Pastor’s Problems
by William E. Hulme Augsburg Publishing, $3.95 pb.
Reviewed by Roy C. Price Pastor, First Alliance Church Louisville, Ken.
“Pastor, you’re a dummy!” Although few come out that bluntly to put down ministers, it’s implied in many ways in our culture.
Hulme claims the minister faces a problem of professional inferiority. One of the contributing factors is the plethora of how-to-do-it seminars that tell the “dummy” how to counsel, carry on pastoral care, preach, disciple, make hospital calls, evangelize, ad infinitum .
Adding to this crisis is the pastor’s need to maintain a personal spiritual life. It’s much too easy for spirituality to become professional. Rather than being immune from the regular pitfalls of life, the pastor may be more vulnerable because he is supposed to be a cut above the mundane. The book serves as a mirror allowing the pastor to confront the crises facing the ministry.
This mirror looks at the “successitis” disease that is nearly epidemic among the clergy. Type of church, number of staff, salary, and similar criteria leave the rural pastor at the bottom in the standings. These factors hinder the character development of the pastor. Bitterness can poison an older minister when he is “polevaulted” by a younger person who is more personable and better educated. As a result of the drive to succeed, the pastor falls prey to congregational pressures, which unconsciously shape the spirit of his ministry. Hulme recommends face-to-face communication between the pastor and congregation through committee meetings, home visitation, and informal settings.
The perfectionist is a person driven by guilt, whose sense of worth depends on being perfect, yet who knows this standard is an impossible one to reach. The constant demand to reach goals of attendance, finances, and other projects only aggravates the situation. The pastor can impose this feeling on others by attempting to motivate them through guilt.
A discussion of pastoral problems requires consideration of the marriage. Arguments and tension can work a multiplied strain on both husband and wife. The pastor must have a successful family life; but pressures of performance in attending committee meetings, making calls, and doing a thousand-and-one other things can result in a deserted family playing second string to pastoral work.
“Leadership in faith is different than having administrative ability, speaking ability, or even personality appeal,” writes Hulme. It can’t be “identified with accomplishments such as building a parish house, increasing the membership roll, or successfully promoting the church program.” Leadership must be expressed, not by deeds, but by the essential character of the person.
It’s when a pastor is alone with God that frustrations, fears, inadequacies, and doubts can be ventilated. The quiet time removes the facade. “Rather than praying nicely, pray honestly.” Obstacles to a consistent devotional life include its contemplative and self-examining nature, its appearance as inactivity, and its very essence of being intimate with God. The key? Disciplined persistence. Hulme strikes home when he says, “What we consistently put off due to the press of other demands, we either value lightly or are resisting.”
Is the overly busy pastor out to prove personal importance? Hulme cites the peculiarity of time structure, the tension of creative work, and the tortuous demands of unfinished business as basic time problems every minister faces. One fundamental procedure that would help many is to list tasks, prioritize them, and then stay with them until they are accomplished .
The Christian Counselor’s Library
By Gary R. Collins and Laurence M. Tornquist Word, Inc., $235.00, book and tapes
Reviewed by Webster C. Muck Professor of psychology Bethel College; St. Paul, Minn.
The Christian Counselor’s Library came out of an educational setting. Where else would one find oneself faced with such an overwhelming compendium of material?
The Library includes two notebook binders with twenty-eight cassette tapes, a set of tape guidesheets to go with them, and a book, Christian Counseling: a Comprehensive Guide, by Collins.
Collins is the teacher; he sees that the materials really cover the field. Tornquist is the therapist; his concern is that all the materials answer the question, “What will be useful in helping the hurting?” The partnership is effective.
The written materials speak from Collins’ strength as a synthesizer and interpreter; they analyze counseling problems, suggest ways of helping, and tentatively offer church programming for preventive counseling. The perspective is biblical, in the center of American evangelicalism; and psychological, in the center of American psychology. Collins assumes that both approaches, biblical and psychological, can be good and usable, and are reconcilable.
The tapes, each dealing with a specific problem such as anxiety, families, communities, or counseling, are designed to be loaned to a client, usually after two or three counseling sessions. Each is accompanied by a guidesheet (permission to copy both tapes and guidesheets is expressly granted) that describes, outlines, and summarize, s the tape message and suggests a variety of practical exercises. Eighteen different speakers are featured on the tapes.
The tapes are clinically oriented. Don’t expect to get ammunition for your own personal views on topics such as divorce or the role of women. The Library is concerned with treatment, and takes sides only incidentallv to its main focus.
“These tools are not intended to replace the counselor,” says the introduction to the manual. The homework assignments of taking tests, discussing, changing behavior, reading, and listening to tapes should be a part of counseling, not instead of, or in addition to. Not all clients can use tests profitably, and not all can listen to tapes. These chores should be assigned only to those who can.
The use of tapes in evangelical circles has become widespread. These authors are unusual not in using them, but in the careful, thoughtful instructions they provide for effectiveness in use.
Is this the kind of material that might sit unused on the shelf in the church office like many an encyclopedia? I think it easily could. It should be bought with specific users and existing or completely planned programs in mind.
I assigned the tapes to a teaching assistant for reaction. He took forever to get through them, saying, “But they’re so practical! I couldn’t rush them; I kept thinking of people they’d be useful for, and ways I could change myself.” That’s a good measurement of this tool.
Copyright © 1981 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
