Racial Reconciliation in Apex: Holy Folly (Part 3)

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

In the previous post, we introduced the concept of the local church as a "theater of reconciliation,"and asked the question, "How do we perform our understanding of Christ's cross?" specifically regarding racial reconciliation in Apex, NC. Because Christ, through his death on the cross, has brought near those who were once far off by His blood. How do we live all this out in our daily lives and local church?

In our final post on this issue next week we'll look at some practical suggestions for reconciliation, but here are a few general categories of response to get us thinking (taken from Vanhoozer's Drama of Doctrine):

1. One concrete way to address this issue is to establish multi-ethnic churches. Vanhoozer writes, "In a world torn by ethnic strife, there is perhaps no more dramatic display of peace won by Jesus Christ than the life of multiracial, multiethnic . . . congregations." The three dimensions of theology also come into play here:
2. Prosaic theology leads to lives of believers "engaging in everyday practices that exhibit and foster social, racial, and ethnic reconciliation, especially in the church."
3. Prophetic theology leads to believers making "financial and cultural sacrifices, not to mention moving out of one's comfort zones," as they live in a theater of reconciliation.
4. Phronetic theology leads to believers dismissing the pragmatism of men's wisdom and living as a community of "holy folly" where the formation of multiethnic communities might seem like nonsense and impractical to outside observers.

How about it? Are you up for being a community of holy folly? For making sacrifices for the sake of Jesus? Are you up for being a minister of reconciliation? In your heart of hearts, are you willing for ABC to be a multiracial, multiethnic local church?

Five Prayers to Pray

Here are the five prayers Dr. Heisler gave for our fellowship to pray concerning our next lead pastor. These come from 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12:

1. Pray for a Pastor who has pure motives.
2. Pray for a Pastor who has a God-centered ministry.
3. Pray for a Pastor who leads with integrity.
4. Pray for a Pastor who has a heart to be: gentle, incarnational, hard-working, above reproach, and edifying.
5. Pray for a Pastor who challenges you to walk worthy of God for the glory of God.

Check out the video of the sermon here if you didn't get a chance to listen yesterday!

Racial Reconciliation in Apex: The Performance (Part 2)

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

“What binds Christians together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together . . . because they have been saved by Jesus Christ. . . . They are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’s sake.” D.A. Carson

In our last post we established from John Piper's Bloodlines that one of the results of Christ's work on the cross, one of the results of his atonement, was reconciling ethnicities. If that is true, and I believe it is, what does that mean for our local church, particularly here in Apex, North Carolina?

I recently had the opportunity to read Kevin Vanhoozer's work on The Drama of Doctrine and I wanted to share a few of his thoughts with you relating to the local church and racial reconciliation.

Vanhoozer writes that the three dimensions of theology (the study of God) are prosaic, prophetic and phronetic (a little more on these dimensions in the next blog post). In context, Vanhoozer refers to the local church as a "theater of reconciliation." We've all been to the theater, right? It's a place where a story is performed in some form. But what exactly does that mean for us, the body of Christ, living our lives in Apex, Cary, Holly Springs and other places. How can our church be a theater of reconciliation? More specifically, how can we demonstrate or perform (in the language of Vanhoozer) "our understanding of Christ's cross" and the doctrine of atonement? What does the performance look like?

One suggestion is that this demonstration in the local church can come in the form of racial reconciliation, "a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus' sake," as Carson writes above.

Emerson and Smith lament the fact that the church, which should be a theater of reconciliation, is actually a theater of "the most segregated hour in America," referring to the 11:00 AM worship service. Think about your local church. Is this an accurate description? While it is true sociologically that in general people tend to group in homogenous units, it is telling that this grouping is sub-Gospel. In other words, it is "less than the truth of the gospel, namely, that we have been made one people "in Christ."

If there is a problem in the local church, which should be a theater of reconciliation, how should we address the issue? We'll take a look at a few possible answers in the next post. Meanwhile, let us know your thoughts!

Handyman Ministry in Shangri-La

Here are some photos of our Handyman Ministry hard at work in Shagri-La today! (If you'd like to get involved in our Handyman Ministry please contact us here!)

Exposing the Dark Work of Abortion

Today is SOHL, but since we were introducing our interim pastor today, Dr. Greg Heisler, we'll be observing SOHL later in February. More info on that coming in the next few weeks.

In the meantime check out this free e-book generously made available by John Piper and Desiring God ministries. It's entitled "Exposing the Dark Work of Abortion" and you definitely want to download and read it!

Racial Reconciliation in Apex: The New Humanity (Part 1)

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

This is the first of a series of posts on the issue of racial reconciliation and how that could take shape in Apex, NC. John Piper recently published a book entitled Bloodlines, which is worth your time to read. In fact, you can download the PDF for absolutely free by clicking here.

I wanted to begin this series by summarizing one of Piper's chapters on race. In his book, he has already established that the mission of Christ was closely tied with the end of ethnocentrism (defined as "feeling that one's own ethnic group should be treated as superior"). He continues by investigating the text of Ephesians 2:11-22 (read the full text here). Piper proposes that Jesus ends ethnocentrism and creates a new people of God who are defined not by race, but by faith in Christ through his death on the cross. A new humanity. He writes, "horizontal reconciliation between alienated peoples happens through vertical reconciliation with God through the blood of Christ."

An amazing idea with astounding implications!

A few thoughts from Bloodlines and Ephesians:

In verses 19-22 we read that the Gentiles are now fellow citizens with the saints and part of the same household of God.

1. In verse 14 Paul tells us that Christ came to die for sinners and by his death on the cross to give Jews and Gentiles one way to God through faith.
2. Then Paul adds in verse 15 that Christ's aim was that he might make one new man. "The church is a single person." Jesus is our common identity. By "our" I mean all believers regardless of ethnicity. We see this thought continued in verse 16.
3. The "mystery of Christ" we read about later in Ephesians 3:4-6 is that Gentiles and Jews are now one person in Christ. 

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:13 that we are "Brought near by the blood of Christ." Piper adds, "Brought near to God and therefore brought near to each other. By the blood. . . . if one design of the cross of Christ is to reconcile alienated ethnic groups to each other by reconciling them to God in Christ, then will we not display and magnify the cross of Christ better by more and deeper and sweeter ethnic diversity and harmony in our corporate and personal lives?"

We'll talk more next week about how these thoughts could be fleshed out practically in our lives. In the meantime, let's examine our hearts in the light of God's Word and strive to bring glory to Jesus in our attitudes and in the habits of our hearts!

Upward Celebration Night

This past Tuesday we had our Upward Celebration night and it was a wonderful time. We wanted to share a few photos with you so you can experience some of the excitement from the night! We'll probably post a few video snippets as well later on. Here you go!