Down-under round-up: 17 June 2015

Issue of the week

This isn’t what everyone is talking about, and I’m a little late to the read myself, but this is an essential article for discussion amongst ministry or eldership teams. Pastors, find someone to talk it over with, please: The pattern among fallen pastors by Garrett Kell.

The author reflects on Howard Hendricks’s study of over 200 men in full-time gospel ministry who committed adultery within a two-year period. Hendricks noted four common characteristics:

• None was involved in any kind of real personal accountability.
• Each had all but ceased having a daily time of personal prayer and Bible reading.
• Over 80% became sexually involved with the other woman after spending significant time with her, often in counseling situations.
• Each had been convinced that it “would never happen to me”.

Kell spells out four conclusions:

1. Sin thrives in isolation.
2. If you flirt with sin, you will fall into sin.
3. Pride blinds us to our weakness.
4. Purity is cultivated by loving Jesus.

My esteemed old colleague, Reg Piper, commented:

I think that #4 should be #1, and that purity is cultivated by being loved by Jesus, which in turn results in loving Jesus.
I also want to say more emphatically that we need to be really honest with God and accountable to him.
There can be no substitute for the day-by-day coming to God in that unhurried and honest reading of Scripture and calling upon God to reveal himself to us more and more.
#1, #2, and #3 may be true, but I think the above is where the key power lies.

I guess Reg was saying accountability to others can be faked, but not with God.

Making disciples of Jesus

Jared Wilson gives four reasons why it’s important for a pastor to say “I don’t know”.

1. Because it’s the truth.
2. Because it impresses the right people.
3. Because it trains others not to be know-it-alls.
4. Because it cultivates humility.

Read it all for the full explanations, but I’d add (lower down the priority list):

1. Because it gives you the chance to go away and learn something new.
2. Because coming back with an answer later can be a chance to show that you care enough to take people’s tough questions seriously.

Two obituaries that made me think of Psalm 116:15 (“Precious in the sight of the Lord is…”):

• Another ordinary pastor: largely unknown Canadian, Bill Campbell
• Elisabeth Elliot, 1926-2015: revered worldwide, she knew deep loss and great gain.

And on the issue of the week, month, decade…

• An honest answer to a current question: Don’t use my pain as a weapon: Infertility and same-sex marriage.
• One of the best opinion pieces in a newspaper I’ve seen from a church leader, Bishop Ian Palmer of Bathurst speaks out on ‘Equal Marriage’ (Sad that the diocesan newspaper sees a need to print a disclaimer that their bishop’s views do not necessarily reflect diocesan policies!)

Image of the week

Elisabeth Elliot, 1926-2015