Uniting Church and Home Blog

Eric Wallace has written several excellent articles to kick off a new blog about Uniting Church and Home. After my pastor introduced me to Eric's book, I was surprised to "accidentally" bump into him on a train in Atlanta (you can read about that adventure here). Subsequently, I have been excited and encouraged by his Gospel-centered thoughts.


If you're looking for a Biblical alternative to the culturally-driven, Gospel-diluting, program methodology of contemporary Evangelicalism, you will find a good one in Eric's paradigm-shifting approach (or should I say paradigm-restoring?).

Eric's blog: http://uchlink.blogspot.com/


Here's an excerpt from one of the posts:


Tragically, the Gospel has become one-dimensional, not the all-encompassing rubric through which God's Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ. Everyone (men, women, children, youth--and most especially--elders and Heads of household as they are the ones whom God has called to oversee the transformation process in those under their care) must understand how to apply the Gospel to the whole of the Christian life; from start (justification) to the process of transformation (sanctification) to the final perfection of that transformation when we get to heaven (glorification).


You can also learn more at this link: Institute for Uniting Church and Home.

What a Good Pastor Does

I had an interesting conversation with my pastor recently. We met for lunch, and I had a very pressing matter to discuss. It concerned my struggle with another person, in which it seemed quite clear to me that the other person was in the wrong. After I related my horrific tale of how I have been abused and mistreated by this person, my pastor asked me a few simple questions. I walked away from those questions very troubled. I walked away unsettled. I walked away more humbled and confronted than I have been in a long time. I suddenly found myself begging God to show me the ways I have sinned in the matter. Without being presumptuous or overbearing, my pastor had asked me if I was willing to take the big fat log out of my own eye.

It seems that we often need to be gently confronted with the reality of our sinfulness in specific situations - something we are oddly blind to, no matter how much we practice spiritual disciplines and try to serve God. I'm fairly good at developing the theology of my general depravity. But when it comes to the truly humbling aspect of this truth applied directly to myself on a daily basis, I am woefully inadequate. I can't self-pastor. This is one of the reasons God has established the Church. It's one of the reasons He has commanded us to exhort, encourage, rebuke, restore and forgive one another. In essence, He tells us to "be Jesus" to one another. And that's what a good pastor does. I wouldn't trade it for a thousand purpose-driven sermons. I'm convinced that God is much more pleased with a servant who preaches the Gospel and authentically disciples others than He is with a CEO-pastor building a mega-"church" for the masses or leading a social movement. I know I'm helped more by the servant.