Is God working in your church?

How do you know (if God is working in your church)?  Maybe your church isn't really growing numerically  or isn't evangelistic enough.  But are those the only measures, or even the most important?

I just finished reading an article about stress on pastors.  One of the major factors in pastoral stress the author mentioned was the strife and discord in churches, much of it directed toward pastors.

I've had the privilege of teaching the same (or similar) Introduction to New Testament courses at various institutions in Illinois and Colorado.  One of the joys of teaching such a class is reading large amounts of the Bible in a short time.  Recurring themes tend to stick out.  One of these themes is that of unity and lack of conflict.

Dr. Robert Alden shared some thoughts on Psalm 133 once in class.  The psalm begins "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!"  David then continues these thoughts by likening unity to the dew from the mountains falling on dry Jerusalem and to the performed oil poured on Aaron.

This theme of unity continues in the New Testament.  Paul tells his readers to be devoted to each other in brotherly love (Romans 12:10).   Hebrews 13:1 exhorts the readers to continue in brotherly love.  Paul prays for a spirit of unity among the Romans (15:5ff).  Paul commands his readers (Ephesians 4:3) "make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."   Paul isn't saying that we should only try to keep the unity if we feel like it or to make a small effort, but rather make every effort.

If you are in a church that acts mostly in unity, where there is little gossip, where people actually listen to each other and care about each other, where decisions are made after thought, prayer, and consideration, and dissenters are seriously listened to, might it be a sign that God is at work?  That people are being shaped by God's word and prayer and the Holy Spirit?

We often think that if God is at work our attendance will increase, and that may be true.  But God is at work in other ways as well, just as powerfully, but perhaps more quietly.

Keeping one's Greek after seminary

Here's a topic I'm interested in, and guilty of as well. When I was at Denver Seminary I taught beginning Koine Greek for two summers to fellow students. While I was at Trinity, I taught it for two years as well. However, since I finished my doctoral work and am teaching in a different field, I have let it slide.

So the book, Keep Your Greek by Constantine Campbell is both a challenge and a resource for keeping or regaining one's Greek skills. Given that seminaries require a great deal of time, effort, study, and money to raise the skills of their students to a certain level, it is worth students putting effort into keeping these skills after they finish their seminary studies.

However, it is not always easy to do so. When I finished seminary (twice) I ended up back in education in a different field, and even when I taught Bible and related subjects, a knowledge of Greek was not really required. So too, I imagine, for many pastors. The demands of their vocation allows them to not use their language skills, and so over several years, their skills deteriorate.

Campbell's book is available both at Zondervan and through Amazon in both paperback and kindle editions. This or a similar book should be required reading for those who are in the final stages of their seminary studies.

The book is fairly short. Each chapter is dedicated to one topic, ending with excerpts from Campbell's blog on the topic. There are ten chapters, plus an introduction, appendix, and a list of resources at the end. The blog mentioned is http://readbetterpreachbetter.wordpress.com/ which has other resources for teaching and preaching. I'll be checking it out as well.

In posts to come, I'll post more about the contents of the book.