Food For Thought

And yes, the pun is intended. As my little girl gets bigger every day (8 months now!), I'm thinking more and more about how to begin to teach her, and other kids I pray God blesses us with, about Christ. Zach Nielsen has posted some practical advice from Mark Driscoll on family Bible study that I found very appealing and interesting, so I pass it along to you.

Step 1. Eat dinner with your entire family regularly.
Step 2. Mom and Dad sit next to one another to lead the family discussion.
Step 3. Open the meal by asking if there is anyone or anything to pray for.
Step 4. Someone opens in prayer and covers any requests. This task should be rotated among family members so that different people take turns learning to pray aloud.
Step 5. Start eating and discuss how everyone’s day went.
Step 6. Have a Bible in front of the parents in a translation that is age-appropriate for the kids’ reading level. Have someone (parent or child) open the Bible, and assign a portion to read aloud while everyone is eating and listening.
Step 7. Parents should note key words and themes in the passage and explain them to the kids on an age-appropriate level.
Step 8. Ask questions about the passage. You may want to begin with having your children summarize what was read—retelling the story or passage outline. Then, ask the following questions: What does this passage teach us about God? What does it say about us or about how God sees us? What does it teach us about our relationships with others?
Step 9. Let the conversation happen naturally, listen carefully to the kids, let them answer the questions, and fill in whatever they miss or lovingly and gently correct whatever they get wrong so as to help them.
Step 10. If the Scriptures convict you of sin, repent as you need to your family, and share appropriately honest parts of your life story so the kids can see Jesus’ work in your life and your need for him too. This demonstrates gospel humility to them.
Step 11. At the end of dinner, ask the kids if they have any questions for you.
Step 12. If you miss a night, or if conversation gets off track, or if your family occasionally just wants to talk about something else, don’t stress—it’s inevitable.

Adapted from “Family Dinner Bible Studies” by Mark Driscoll in Trial: 8 Witnesses from 1 & 2 Peter, a study guide. (Mars Hill Church, 2009), pages 69-70.

The Glory of Discipleship

From our Minister of Missions' sermon yesterday morning at Hazelwood - not sure if the quote is from someone else or not. It sounds almost Piper-esque, but I can't find it attributed to him anywhere, so I'll credit it to Chris. Remember this the next time you're tempted to neglect the importance of discipling new believers.

"Discipleship is living for the glory of God in others." - Chris Thompson

How's Your Spiritual Portfolio?

Yesterday, I had the honor of sitting on an ordination council for Jake Pratt, a friend at my church who is preparing to begin PhD studies. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the process, the council is made up of the ordained men of the church, both ministers and deacons, who question the candidate to confirm their calling and competence for ministry. I was ordained a little over two years ago, but this is the first time I’ve had opportunity to be a part of the council for someone else. In reality, my presence was really mildly ridiculous – I’ve not even hit 25 yet and here I sit on a council with a seminary professor and several men who have been humbly serving the Lord twice as long as I’ve been alive, questioning a guy who’s far wiser than me and more than 10 years my senior. Though I did ask one question of Jake, I feel like I came away from the council having taken in far more wisdom than I brought to the table.

One piece of wisdom that has particularly stuck with me was from Jake himself. When asked a question about how he feels discipleship should take place in the local church, Jake responded by talking about the importance of mentorship. The most effective form of discipleship seems clearly to be when a wiser, more mature believer (or family of believers) takes a younger person or family under their wing. Jake talked about the importance of recovering that largely lost art. As we split our churches into age-divided classes ad-infinitum, we shoot ourselves in the foot in a way by making it much more difficult for mentor-mentoree relationships to develop. Jake spoke of the importance of community and of investing our faith in others. Ideally, every believer ought to have a mentor in their life, and also one whom they themselves are mentoring. This process communicates wisdom from generation to generation, and guards against our propensity to build our theology and church practice around merely our own preferences. As you look at your journey of faith, who can you point to as a mentor in your life? Take the time to thank them this week, and also ask yourself, “Who am I investing in?” If your portfolio looks empty, perhaps it’s time to, like the servants of Luke 19:11-27, quit holding in the deposit of faith entrusted to us and look for ways to invest in those around you for the glory and the growth of the kingdom of God.