On Reformation
by David Whitthoff
Over one weekend, at a
conference in USA Central called Re:generation, the idea of
the Army reforming itself (at the least in my context) came
up. Reformation is an interesting idea. I've been concerned
though because of the nature of reformation and how history
has shown just how hard it is for an institution to reform
itself. No Christian institution that I know of has really
reformed itself. I say Christian because I have heard of
businesses that get a new CEO and such and do much better.
But reformation in the church is much different and much
harder. Even The Reformation did not reform the Catholic
Church. The Reformers ended up breaking off and starting
their own churches. So while they reformed Christianity in
incredible ways, we should not think they reformed their
church.
That brings me to my concern over the state of the Army now.
If we hope to reform our institution in any large way we
would be doing something even the reformers did not do. On
the other hand, the Catholic Hierarchy of that time was much
more powerful than any institution that exists now. Still,
the Reformers had devotion, probably more than we do, and it
was based on the Word of God; it was based on the truth. Yet
even with this they still broke off. This shows that even
though they did what was right in trying to fix their
church, it still ended up in a split.
Some say that the answer to the Army's problems is music. If
we could have the right music in our corps it would all be
right. For others the answer is holiness. If we could
get blessed it would fix everything. For others it is the
military metaphor. If we got rid of some of our weird
traditions, we'd be alright. The list goes on an on. Until I
went to this conference recently I hadn't heard anyone guess
that it might be a lack of God's Word that is the root of
the Salvation Army’s decline in the West. When that idea
crossed my mind I knew it was true. What else could inspire
the Reformers to give up their lives? And what else, if
missing, could dry up the Army? Brengle said not to let love
leak out, but what is love without the Truth of God (and
vice versa)? We have almost everything else: we have service
ministries, small groups, passion, tradition, heritage,
family, friends, community, love, joy, music, fellowship,
fun, food, and the list goes on. If we have all these things
going for us and our corps, why do we not have a bigger
impact on the salvation of the world? We have and do so much
more than other denominations and churches.
But we lack knowledge of the Word of God.
I think we could have love in our corps and in our
communities without having the Truth preached well in our
corps. We could have soldiers striving for holiness even
without the Word of God being accurately taught. We could
have great music without the Word of God. We could be more
like other churches, even without the Word of God. But the
love would be hollow, the holiness would be turned into
efforts and legalism, the music would be pointless and dead,
and our identity would be stripped from us without the Bible
being taught and studied well.
Where are our preachers? Who teaches from the Bible? Does
your officer preach magazines, books, articles, stories,
analogies, life experience, and leave the Word of God to be
nothing more than powder sugar on top? I hope for the sake
of the Kingdom that they start using the Scripture as their
main text (In 1 Timothy 3, it says being "able to teach" is
a requirement for pastors).
If the Army even hopes to reform itself, on a large or small
scale, it will start with a rediscovery of the Word of God.
It will establish the Scripture as the center of everything
that is The Salvation Army. For too long the Army has been
centered on the social gospel, on service, on programs, on
being a community center, on being revolutionary. Without
the Word of God these will all be in vain. We must be
centered on the Scripture.
Practical steps toward higher biblical literacy and
comprehension can be divided into application for the
administration of the Army (THQ, DHQ, and the CFOT), corps,
family, and individuals.
Individuals
A Bible reading plan is a good way to start. Just get
reading. If you don't start in Genesis, which is just fine,
make sure you are aware of the context that you start in.
Pray about what you read. There is a connection between the
Holy Spirit inside of believers and the Word of God. He
guides us in illuminating the scripture as we read. But
don't get disappointed if your reading is not accompanied by
strong emotion. As you read more and more of the scripture,
the desire for God's Word grows. That has been the
experience of most people I know. It may take some time for
the emotional connection to develop.
I once heard a speaker talk about memorizing a book of the
Bible. In fact, this speaker had memorized Ephesians, a few
other epistles, the gospel of John, and he was working on
Acts, if I remember right. He did this by picking a book and
reading it once every day for a few months. Now for John and
Acts he read one half first and the second after. Still, by
reading a whole book through you get to understand the big
idea of the message of the author. If you read a book by
your favorite author one page at a time, how exciting do you
think it would be? You might lose interest if you went that
slowly! If you want to go about memorizing, this would
certainly be raising the bar on what we're usually
challenged with. If memorization is not your goal, it's
still a great study method for understanding a whole book.
Families
The family might be an overlooked area for Biblical
teaching, but it is one of the most vital ones. God has
placed parents to bring up their children to fear (respect,
honor, love) the Lord. This is a call to parents to teach
God's Word to their children. I've heard of some children
who, after every dinner at home, would watch as their Dad
took out the Bible and gave devotions when they finished
eating. This kind of consistent teaching shows children as
they grow that the Word of God has a place and a priority in
their family (obviously, devotions and teaching can occur at
whatever time works for your family). All parents should
teach their children to value the Bible and how to study it
for themselves.
Corps
People in corps should be aware that corps differ
drastically from one another. What applies to one might be a
disaster in another. So while teaching the Bible should be a
priority in every Corps, the method will vary. That being
said, there are still a few general principles that all
corps can follow.
1. Check and make sure that you need your Bible when you go
to your Corps (particularly on Sundays or when you are going
to anything like a Bible study or small group). If not, your
corps has a problem.
2. Talk about what you are reading in the Scripture. It
reminds people of what they have read recently, or that they
have not been studying recently.
3. Like I mentioned earlier, preaching should be done from
the Bible, and if necessary other sources can be quoted or
cited to strengthen a point that is found in the scripture.
This applies not only to preachers (which would be all corps
officers), but also to Bible study leaders, small groups
leaders, cell group leaders, and if possible Corps Cadet
teachers (I do realize this class is subject to the
curriculum.....). The only exception I can think of is if a
small group needs to study a certain issue that the group or
church is facing. In that case, a topical study may be more
appropriate.
4. If you are a teacher of any kind in your Corps, read some
books on homiletics, Bible study methods, and hermeneutics
(that's how to interpret the Bible). Check out the book list
on the end of the article.
5. Make the vision of your corps centered on the Word of
God. This means that everything the corps does goes through
the lens of that priority. We need to be asking the
question: How does program “A” relate to God's Word? You may
object here and say, "what about a potluck, how does that
relate to God's Word?" Or "What about a service project; how
does scripture fit into that?" While these programs are made
specifically for fellowship or service, or whatever else you
might think of, if they are viewed through a lens which has
scripture as the priority, then scripture can be worked in
where appropriate. Other times it may not even have to be
included in service projects of some sorts. But perhaps
instead the officer preaches sermons related to serving when
the new project is taken on. The point is that whatever we
do points back to scripture and in turn back to God.
Administration
THQs and DHQs (and Commands) can start this way:
1. They can cast a new vision for the corps in their
regions. If they understand the call to reform ourselves
based on scripture, they can prioritize their efforts into
getting the Bible taught and studied well in the Corps. But
it will start with new vision.
2. They can expand their Bible/Resource/Curriculum (whatever
has to do with the Bible) Departments. Hire graduates from
Christian colleges and from seminaries who have studied in
order to teach the Bible. Expanding these departments will
allow more people from HQs to visit Corps and teach them how
to teach and study the Bible for themselves. Hiring more
staff can get more material on Bible study and teaching
published for further use as well. With more staff in Bible
Departments we can hold more conferences and seminars and
can get the tools into the hands of people on the front
lines in their Corps who are leading Bible studies and other
activities.
3. They can plan events (Conferences, seminars, etc.) with
Scripture in view as the main feature. Checking out guest
speakers thoroughly to make sure that they teach from the
Bible will go a long way towards centering who we are on the
Bible. The conferences that the HQs put on often set the
feel of the territory or division for a large number of
people. If the HQs show the importance of learning the
Bible, that can influence the corps and the soldiers to turn
to the Word of God.
Training College
This is one tough topic. It seems that everyone has an
opinion about training, but there doesn't seem to be a whole
lot of unity (or a whole lot of people going there!).
Obviously, since from training we get our pastors, from
training we get the standard of Biblical knowledge and
teaching in the Salvation Army. While there may be people
here and there that know different aspects of scripture, the
sheer number of officers in the Army, combined with the fact
that they all go through the same Training College that
others in their territory go to, makes for one standard of
education. Most officers in your territory had the same
classes and training. While training does a lot that is
good, I believe there is serious need for improvement.
Officers set the bar for their Corps on Biblical literacy,
comprehension, study, teaching, preaching, and on the value
of the Word. I don't want to be misunderstood for bashing
the Training College, I have a great respect for these
institutions, but I do have my suggestions. It seems that it
would be in the best interest of God's people in our Corps
and in the best interest of making the Bible our strength
instead of our weakness if we raised the bar in training.
Not all of these steps would have to be taken together:
1. Move to a three year program. A Master's of Divinity,
which is the standard degree for senior pastors (al least in
the US), is a three year program. While the training college
accepts people without Bachelor's degrees, moving to an M.
Div. model could still be a strong possibility.
2. Teach the original languages of the Scripture in the
Training College. Learning the original languages allows the
pastor to delve into the nuances and style of the Biblical
writers. Preaching that is exegetical draws the truths out
of a deep study of the meaning of the important words in a
passage. This makes for Biblical and dynamic preaching.
3. This is where I may be lacking in understanding
concerning the way training is run, but it seems that it
would be beneficial to have professors who teach the classes
and the management staff as two distinct groups who work at
the Colleges. Having teachers who only taught classes would
allow them to pour their efforts into one main job instead
of two. It also makes more sense because people usually
specialize in only one field.
4. Hire professors from outside the Army. Hiring professors
from outside the Army would bring in new thoughts and stir
the academics of the Army. To have teaching that is
continually recycled (Officers who train cadets who
eventually teach at the training college etc.) does not add
to an academic atmosphere. By bringing in more staff from
outside the Army we could gain valuable insights into
ministry, scripture, theology, etc.
5. Develop tracks for the cadets that can eventually be
considered a major. With more staff (#4), the professors
could teach a diversity of classes leading to
specializations for the cadets. If a cadet wants to go into
youth work, he can take youth classes; if preaching,
preaching classes; if exegesis, exegesis classes; if
counseling, counseling classes, and the list could go on.
There is so much potential in specialization that I can't
imagine how far we could take it. This has the potential to
draw many more cadets in as well because more people might
fit into officership as they could work in their passion.
This also opens the Army up to stationing officers in
pastoral teams at corps.
6. I don't want to get people riled up on the age issue for
training. So while scripture may not even speak to an age
requirement for a pastor, it does give us some stringent
requirements, and even the idea of an "elder," which in 1
Timothy 3 is someone working in pastoral ministry, has the
idea of someone who is older, or at least respected and
wise. Without imposing an age requirement or a Bachelor's
degree requirement, it would be prudent of the Training
Colleges to test candidates ruthlessly on Bible literacy,
hermeneutics, exegesis, preaching, and homiletics before
they come to training. Obviously training is for teaching
these topics, but currently the system cannot devote enough
time to them (See #1 and #2).
7. Make it the goal that the Training Colleges could be
comparable to a Master's level program. Pastors need to
study to take care and teach God's people. There doesn’t
seem to be a reason why we can't raise the bar, and there
seem to be plenty of reasons to raise the bar. The
responsibility of pastoral ministry is too great to be
negligent with academics. It's time to step it up. With a
renewed orientation around scripture, the Salvation Army in
the West could be on its way to a new reformation.
Think about what could be!
Book List
For help in personal Bible study:
How to Read the Bible for all its Worth, by Gordon D. Fee
and Douglas Stuart
Grasping God's Word, by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays
Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, by William W.
Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard (This might
be a bit of a read, and more technical).
For Preaching:
Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of
Expository Messages, by Haddon W. Robinson
Christ Centered Preaching,: Redeeming the Expository Sermon,
by Bryan Chapell
The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative, by Steven D.
Mathewson
For Research (Words studies):
The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Kittel
and Friedrick*
The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Abridged,
ed. Kittel and Friedrich*
The Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Balz*
A Biblical Theology of the New Testament, ed. Zuck
The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. Harris,
Archer, and Waltke
The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology
and Exegesis, ed. Gemeren*
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology,
ed. Brown*
A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, ed. Zuck
The Tyndale Bible Dictionary, ed. Elwell and Comfort
The Moody Handbook of Theology, by Paul Enns
Systematic Theology, by Grudem
Christian Theology, by Erickson
Hope you can find some of these around. A lot of the
research books can be bought for the computer which lets you
search them very easily.
*These may be a bit technical, but still worth looking at.
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