Jonathan Leeman serves as director of communications for 9Marks. He writes or edits most 9Marks communications, including website content, 9News, marketing material, and so on. Jonathan originally worked in journalism. Since his call to ministry, he has earned a master of divinity from Southern Seminary and has worked as an interim pastor. He is also working on his Ph.D. in ecclesiology. He lives with his wife and daughter in Cheverly, MD.

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What do the statistics about the number of "Christians" mean?

by Jonathan Leeman

In response to our July/August 2009 eJournal, which gave high marks to Patrick Johnstone's Operation World, one reader raised some interesting questions:

I read with interest the comments in the 9Marks eJournal, July/August 2009, Volume 6, Issue 4, regarding Patrick Johnstone's Operation World (OW).  While some aspects of OW are helpful, it is wanting in other ways.  Specifically, Johnstone's use of the term "adherent" is problematic.  About eight years ago, while serving with the Western Europe regional leadership team of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, I did some research on the Basque region of Spain and France. Our church planting team in that area could locate few evangelical churches in the area, all of which were rather small.  No churches conducted services in any of the Basque dialects.  I had lived in Spain for five years and could confirm what the other missionaries said.  Yet, OW reported at the time that about 97% of the Basque people were Christians.  Of those, most were Roman Catholic.  In reality, most European Catholics don't practice any religion, let alone show any evidence of having a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  The Catholic church claims them as "adherents" because they live in the region or were baptized as infants.  Whether or not those people claim the church or its teachings as their own is another matter.  The reality is that, sadly, probably about 97% of the Basque people are lost.

Operation World is hardly the only resource that relies on various kinds of (dubious?) statistics in reporting the number of "Christians" in a region. (Personally, I find OW very helpful for knowing what to pray for a country, but I tend to look at the stats not so much to tell many how many Christians there are, but something about a country's cultural history.) I mentioned in the editor's note that I share a little of this reader's curiosity about all the academics saying Christianity is moving south and east, globally speaking. Maybe it is, but I'm still not sure what to make of the stats their studies reply upon. Any thoughts, anyone?

Posted on July 10, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

Found: a church history book written 100 years from now!

by Jonathan Leeman

You won't believe it, but I found a page torn out of a church history book written one hundred years from now--in the year 2109. It comments on the present multi-campus "church" phenomenon. Here's what the page reads:

...the principle difference being caused by developments in technology. In the first millennium of the church’s existence, a heterodox bishop could corrupt the churches within his ambit in decades, maybe years. Even then his influence over other congregations was indirect, occurring through its leaders. In the twenty-first century, however, the bishops of so-called multi-campus churches could exert greater influence over entire congregations instantaneously via video-feed. No longer did the multi-campus pastor have to persuade the leaders of other congregations over years. He could project his own face before numerous assemblies week after week, and do untold damage in seconds.

 

Few anticipated how quickly these pragmatic, seemingly inconsequential shifts of polity would corrupt the churches throughout an entire nation. Ninety-six percent of evangelical Christians in America belonged to approximately one hundred multi-campus “churches” by 2030—the franchises swallowing up the mom-and-pop shops. Some of these franchises were originally orthodox. Yet many of them were not, which meant that the wolves now had a mechanism for multiplying their influence exponentially. Furthermore, the orthodox bishops were often replaced within a generation or two by less orthodox successors, in a way that unorthodox bishops are seldom, if ever, replaced by faithful men, simply by virtue of the kinds of trees the unorthodox pastor plants. The cumulative trajectory was downward, then, away from orthodoxy.

 

Gone were the days of the “ordinary pastor,” the man whose skills were not extraordinary, but sufficient to guide a ship with a hundred eternal souls safely through stormy waters to the distant shores. His sermons weren’t made for television. His music wasn’t good enough for the recording studio. Therefore, churches, feeling themselves entitled to professional excellence in all things, politely dismissed him, tore down the old buildings, built high-tech stadiums, and gave the league all-stars seven-year, multi-million dollar contracts.

 

Unawares, the leaders of the orthodoxy were all too happy to heed the siren call of pragmatism, believing the new mediums simply enlarged the reach of their orthodox pulpits. They failed to see how the medium would affect their message. Their congregations—plural—could no longer know them, and they could no longer know their congregations. Life and doctrine became separated, thus distorting the doctrine. Not only that, bigness was no longer the exception, but the norm, meaning that everyone became oblivious to the dangers peculiar to size.

 

A century which began with several bright stars—a proliferation of good literature, biblical preachers of the first order, even what some called a Reformed Revolution—ended darkly. Indeed, some of the century's best preachers, driven by the very desire to propagate the good message in their day, helped to undermine that message for the next generation by following the strategies of the marketplace. No one expected the devil to once more usher in the corruptions of the ancient Roman church through such a peripheral matter like church polity, even though he had done it before. (He always does his best work in the places where people forget to look.) Only now he did in decades what earlier he had taken centuries to accomplish. By the middle of the twenty-first century, the devastation was…

Posted on July 6, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

Conrad Mbewe on poor churchmanship among missionaries

by Jonathan Leeman

The new 9Marks eJournal on missions was just released. Click here for the table of contents. One of my favorite articles was Conrad Mbewe's "How American Christians Can Help Christians in Zambia."

Here's his challenging third suggestion for how Western Christians can help:

3) DEMONSTRATE BIBLICAL CHURCHMANSHIP

Western Christians entering Zambia as missionaries are generally very good examples to us with respect to their personal and domestic lives. In these two areas, we see a very clear difference between them and their non-Christian counterparts from the Western world.

However, where we see no difference is in their commitment to the local church. Their church attendance is scanty to say the least. They do not join a local church. We do not know where they give their tithes and offerings. They are not involved in any local church ministries (except to preach when they are asked to do so), and so on.

As a result, our young professional Christians believe that this is enlightened Christianity. They also end up having a very loose relationship with the church. I really think that this has been the Achilles' heel of the work of Western missionaries in Zambia today. They are not good examples of biblical churchmanship!

We need to find a way in which Western missionaries can maintain relationships with their sending churches and at the same time exhibit biblical accountability to local churches where they labor, so that they can be good examples in this area to those whom they win to Christ.

Posted on July 1, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

Quality control for guest preachers

by Jonathan Leeman

A pastor friend wrote with the following question:

My question is about guarding the pulpit. We are moving away from the purpose driven model (under previous leadership) towards a more 9 marks model. There are many preachers who want to preach in our pulpit and have been given the floor before. What steps do you take to make sure your congregations are faithfully cared for/protected? The congregation remembers some speakers fondly and don't fully understand when I don't invite everyone they suggest.  Is it fair for me to ask for the sermon ahead of time or at least an indepth outline? Am I being too rigid? Just this week I had someone ridicule me saying that no one would ever come to speak with that kind of stipulation and that he would pray for me because my church would never grow like this. I want to be faithful, and I dont want to be ridiculous or legalistic. Would love to hear your thoughts.

What do you guys do about "quality control" for guest preachers?

Posted on June 17, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

British conspiratists!

by Jonathan Leeman

For British readers: looks like a good conference with Simon Gathercole, Dirk Jongkind, and Peter Williams responding to conspiracy theories on the New Testament.

Posted on June 1, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

Schmucker on church discipline on Moody Radio

by Jonathan Leeman

Check it out. It takes about 6 minutes.

Posted on May 13, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

Random thought for the day re. inspiration of Scripture

by Jonathan Leeman

Consider the astounding theological consonance between the book of Job and the book of Romans (written in very different times, places, and languages) in response to one of the most intractable philosophical and theological problems of all, the problem of evil.

• Job 42:3-5 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. ⁴ "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.'  (also 40:1-5).

Romans 9:20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"

Does this not affirm your confidence in the strange and remarkable inspiration of Scripture, that two very different authors would say the same thing? Have you also discovered that, the more you study the Word, the more you see such astounding harmony?!

Posted on May 8, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

How Pastors Can Get Involved w/Access Partners (3 of 3)

by Jonathan Leeman

  What can pastors do to involve their churches with Access Partners (AP introduced here and here)? 

 

A unique advantage of Access Partners’ Business as Missions approach is that you can involve non-seminarian “I’ve never done full-time ministry” members of your church in missions—using their professional skills to build platforms!

 

So SEND:

Access Partners needs solid Christian business people on the field.

• Short term—Pro bono Consultants. Form a stateside business consulting team that can use their expertise to help church planters in the 10/40 window. For more information, email consultants@access1040.com.
• Long term—Business Directors. Encourage solid Christian business people from your local church to join a church planting team in the 10/40 window as a Business Director: www.access1040.com/businessdirectors.

 

And PRAY

Sign up for monthly e-newsletters with stories and prayer requests: www.access1040.com.

 

And GIVE

To learn more about how your church could partner in the gospel financially, email giving@access1040.com.

Posted on May 6, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

Pastors, check out Access Partners (2 of 3): Church-planting Impact

by Jonathan Leeman

9Marks supports the work of Access Partners because of its unique emphasis on biblical indigenous church planting. Access Partners offers its Business as Missions services solely to those who make healthy church planting their utmost priority in the field.

The other reason we like Access Partners is because of its strategic focus on the least reached region of the world, Central Asia—where only 0.016% of the population is Christian. This is a region where conversion leads to persecution and even martyrdom for followers of Christ. Governments are highly restrictive against Westerners living in-country, so the work of Access Partners has proved crucial to church planting there.

As pastors, you would be encouraged to hear the many stories of God’s work in Central Asia amidst such a seemingly dark spiritual environment. Take, for example, a young lady who heard the gospel for the first time last year. Access Partners provided her with a Bible during a trip in 2007, and over the past year church planters continued to share the gospel with her. Last year she became a Christian and was baptized.

Another church planting team supported by Access Partners have seen amazing fruit among locals in their region. They trained local Muslim background believers to bring the gospel to others in their community, and this past year alone these believers have seen over 100 people make professions of faith in Christ.

Through these examples and more, Access Partners is continually amazed at what God is doing among the nations. To learn more about God’s hand in Central Asia, visit www.access1040.com. Also, my next blog post will give you some specific ideas for how you, as a pastor, could uniquely impact the work of Access Partners.

Posted on May 3, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

eJournal on Multi-site churches out!

by Jonathan Leeman

Find it here.

Posted on May 1, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

Pastors, check out Access Partners (1 of 3)

by Jonathan Leeman

I’d like to take my next three posts to introduce 9Marks readers—pastors especially—to an organization you need to know about: Access Partners.

 

The name says it all: they partner with missionaries for the sake of helping them get access to countries closed to the gospel, particularly those in the 10/40 window.

 

As Paul wrote, “But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” The problem is, the worldviews, cultures, and governments are hostile to Christianity in many nations today, rendering those nations effectively “closed” to the good news.

 

Missionaries have found that business is one of the few avenues by which closed governments will allow Christians to live within their borders. To serve this need, two members of Capitol Hill Baptist Church created an organization in 2005 called Access Partners.  Access Partners comes alongside church planters to do business for the sake of access into restrictive nations. They build businesses to enable church planting among people least reached by the gospel.

 

I will post additional information on how you, as a pastor, could become more involved in the work of Access Partners.  For now, take a look at their introductory video.

 

“Capitol Hill Baptist Church supports Access Partners because they uniquely provide us with an important service. Their knowledgeable and experienced staff enables us to establish new churches in some of the most difficult places in the world.”

- Mark Dever, Senior Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church

“I love the mission of Access Partners. Their zeal for the gospel is matched by their expertise and skill. They’ve given us a practical way to leverage the resources and gifts in our local church to help spread the gospel in closed countries.”

- Joshua Harris, Senior Pastor, Covenant Life Church

Posted on April 29, 2009 in Evangelism | Link to this Post | Comments

Re. Becoming All Things...

by Jonathan Leeman

Mike,

To follow up on your point, Mark yesterday told the pastors here in Montreal (through a French translator) that the things which makes the church RELEVANT in any context are the very things that EVERY church in every TIME and PLACE has shared for the last two thousand years, i.e. the Word and the gospel. It's what makes all true Christian churches the same that is MOST important in our ministry. It's amazing, then, how much time we spend talking about other stuff. 

Posted on April 24, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

9Marks on Facebook

by Jonathan Leeman

Hey, friends. 9Marks now has a Facebook fan page. Check it out here.

Posted on April 17, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

A sense for the bitterness of sin

by Jonathan Leeman

My friend Matt Merker and I were walking to lunch a couple hours ago and were thinking about the Jonathan Edwards' distinction between the knowledge of honey and the taste of honey, which he uses to help us understand the sweetness of knowing Christ.

But we were thinking about the opposite fact: why is it that we have so little sense for the bitterness of sin?

So we came up with seventeen ideas for how to grow in a godly sense for the bitterness of sin--that we might despise, fight, and flee sin:

1. Spend more time trying to taste what is sweet--Christ. I.e. worship.
2. Fight sin (as you fight it, you'll discover how strong and horrible it is).
3. Pray: ask God to increase your sense of its bitterness; ask God for more brokenness.
4. Meditate on the outcome of sin and particular sins.
5. Avail yourself of the public teaching of the word.
6. Avail yourself of the testimonies of other Christians concerning the ruinous nature of sin in their lives.
7. Help other fight sin--own and feel their struggles with them.
8. Spend more time with non-Christians and consider their hopes and hurts.
9. Read the daily news.
10. Have at least a passing awareness of your own culture and how the fall has manifested itself in your context (through media, legislation, etc.)
11. Confess your own sins daily.
12. For pastors: Plan and execute corporate prayers of confession.
13. For pastors: Make sure at least some of Sunday's music is of the minor key variety, i.e. confesses and grieves sin. For example: Ah, Holy Jesus.
14. Spend time caring for the poor, needy, and victims of injustice.
15. Spend time reading and meditating on the Old Testament--both individual passages as well as the storyline of the whole thing.
16. Watch this video.
17. Meditate often on what this video, like a shadow, points toward.

That, anyhow, is what we came up with over the first 20 minutes of lunch. Do you have anything to add?

Posted on April 9, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

preaching as monologue or dialogue?

by Jonathan Leeman

I was watching Greg Gilbert preach recently, and it struck me what a strange thing preaching is. There a man stands in front of a group of people and tells them what God thinks. He announces. He heralds. He proclaims. He warns. He encourages. He invites. He pleads. He urges and calls. In all of this, he doesn't claim to speak for himself. He claims to speak for God. To speak God's Word.

The preacher knows that God's word isn't just true; he knows it's effectual. It doesn't just announce, it accomplishes. As Isaiah put it, it "accomplishes" what God desires; it "achieves" God's purpose (Is. 55:11). God's Word both “calls things that are not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17), and then it “sustains all things” (Heb. 1:3).

Michael Horton has summarized what all this means very well: God’s Word does not merely impart information, it actually creates life. It’s not only descriptive, it’s effective. It not only sets forth, it brings forth. God speaking is God acting. To this emphasis on Word as proposition we must add Word as powerful and effectual, because God’s Word is carried along by God’s Spirit in order to perform exactly what he intends for it. All creation “was formed at God’s command” (Heb. 11:3; Ps. 33:6), and we become new creations by that same command (2 Cor. 4:6; Rom. 10:17). We have been “born again…through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). That’s why, speaking to the churches, the apostles refer to the Word “planted in you, which can save you” (James 1:21); the Word that “abides in you” (1 John 2:14); and the Word which should “dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16). (see Horton's People and Place, 39-42).

But I'm a postmodern. So I don't want to just sit and listen. I want to speak. I want to have a conversation. My generation is different than every generation that has preceded me, and so none of this applies to me and ministry today, right? 

Posted on March 25, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

2 preaching tips for promoting kingdom mindedness

by Jonathan Leeman

For years now, I have listened to Mark Dever pepper his sermons with great stories from church history--from martyrs like old Polycarp or young Eulalia, from great missionaries and pastors like Judson or Sibbes, from hymn writes, and so forth. The stories are typically inspiring in the moment, but, frankly, I've never really done such stories in my own preaching because, well, Mark is the history guy, and I'm not.

Yet my wife was recently explaining to me how Mark's sermons always seem to leave her longing for eternity; they leave her kingdom minded. There are a number of reasons why this is true. But it struck me that one practical thing he does which yields this effect is his use of church history. Reflecting on the lives of great saints doesn't simply teach us about having faith or courage now--"stand strong like Luther!" It helps us to see that our Christianity is not all about right now, my moral progress, and how I feel about myself and God. It is about those things, in one way, but those things are set within the larger story of God faithfully leading his people for ages for the purposes of his glory. Our personal discipleship and trials all a part of that grand plan. 

Fosdick described preaching as personal counseling on a group basis. Which makes sense: his liberalism jettisoned the eternal and grand story perspective. Preaching became mostly therapuetic and  moralistic. Ironically, I think my preaching can be a conservative, even gospel-centered version of the therapeutic--it can become about helping people to feel better about themselves in the gospel. Now, that is good. There is a place for that. But that needs to be set within the larger framework of what God is doing through the gospel in all of history. 

All that to say, here are two tips on promoting eternal and kingdom mindedness in our preaching:

1) Tell stories from church history. Help people to see God's faithful work over time and in different ages. Christianity is not all about learning to live the Christian life as an American (or South African or Brazilian) in the 21st century. Rather, it's about being an alien wherever he places us, and we're going to find being an alien sort of looks similar no matter where he places us in time and space. Not only that, Christianity is about God's plan of bringing glory to himself through all of his people. Hearing about Polycarp and Eulalia help me to realize I have a kind of partnership with them. We belong to the same team. We're fighting for the same ends.

2) Tell stories about Christians in other countries today. Also pray publicly for Christians in other countries today.  This will have the same effect as the last point.

Posted on March 25, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

New eJournal online

by Jonathan Leeman

In case you didn't receive it in your inbox, the new 9Marks eJournal is now online:  Young Pastors - Where Do You Begin?

Posted on March 14, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

Authenticity is not caring about authenticity

by Jonathan Leeman

James Gilmore wrote a book (with Joseph Pine II) called Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want. It was published by Harvard Business School Press (2007). Leadership Journal published a brief interview with Gilmore. Here's a couple of excellent quotes:

• "As a business guy, I'm always cautious about taking any business thinking and applying it to the church...To me, the church should not aim to be 'real' as an end. The church is there to proclaim truth. Trying to be hip and cool and real does a disservice to the church. We're not called to be successful. We're called to be obedient, even if they don't come."
• "If somebody doesn't find you objectionable, I wonder if you're preaching the full counsel of God."
• "If you truly see people, that comes off as real. If you love, you will automatically come off as real. You don't need to strive to be real."
• "Real is telling people about their sin and their need for repentance and their need for a Savior."
• "Read my book to understand the culture that you're preaching to, not as an operating model for your church.

Well, said. Thanks to Leadership for printing the interview ("Keeping It Real," Spring 08)!

Posted on March 9, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

A snapshot of warfare against sin

by Jonathan Leeman

I recently asked a friend over email how he was doing battling the flesh. Here is his example-setting reply:

"Yesterday, I was talking to a few people in my office, and one of the women mentioned that she has a belly button ring; then she pulled up her shirt to show it to everyone present. Not good. I could feel my desires immediately pull me.

"I went back to my desk and repented. I repented and pleaded with God for help again this morning during my QT, and then some more on my way into work. Once I got to work, I sat in the car for an additional 15 minutes fighting it.

"I thought about what would happen if my lustful thoughts played themselves out to the extreme, in terms of the consequences that would follow. I thought about having to tell people at church, and the elders of the church, and [wife's name], and one day [children's names]. I thought about how awful I would feel for sinning against God in this way and for hurting [wife's name] so terribly. It made me sick to my stomach.

"Then I thought about the joy I have in a loving relationship with my wife, and how excited I am to praise God in sharing with others whenever things are going well.

"I meditated on Eph. 2:1-10 in light of this struggle, thinking about who I was and who I am now.

"I meditated on Jesus on the cross crying out to his father, asking why he has forsaken him. Answer: My adulterous heart.

"Given the close proximity I have with this individual, it feels like my only hope is for a change in circumstances (which is unlikely any time in the near future). So I thought about how the empty tomb proves that thought to be a lie.

"I hate sin. I hate my fallen nature. I hate Satan.

"I love the Gospel. I love the the thought of heaven. I love Jesus.

"Please pray that I would continue to battle."

Would that we all fight like this.

Posted on March 9, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments

Worldliness--chapter 6 and appendices

by Jonathan Leeman

Jeff Purswell wrote chapter 6: "How to Love the World." Wow. He crams a lot of great stuff into a few pages.

OVERVIEW: The chapter considers how Christians should love the good world that God created as a gift for us. Until this final chapter, the book has focused on the dangers of worldliness (a la 1 John 2:15). Yet Purswell also observes that Paul ultimately presents Christians with another perspective on creation:

• As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches [don't be worldly!], but on God, who richly provides us with everything we enjoy [creation is a good gift!] (1 Tim. 6:7)
• For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer (1 Tim. 4:4-5).

I. The chapter starts with a biblical theology of creation, moving from creation, to fall, to redemption, to consumation.

II. Then he gives us three tasks: (i) enjoy the world, since it's God's witness and God's gift; (ii) engage the world, as part of the cultural mandate through our work, home, education, leisure and sleep; (iii) evangelize the world, both as individuals and as churches, both in word and deed, since only the redeemed can live as God intended--for his glory.

III. Finally, he sums it up in the cross, which interprets and defines all of life.

Purswell doesn't exactly use the language, but he essentially provides a gospel-centered theology of creation and work, a theology of general and special revelation, and a consideration of the church's work in word and deed (giving proper priority to the word). It's excellent!

GREAT QUOTES

• "Of all people, it is the Christian who should appreciate aesthetics, discerning with renewed powers of perception the handiwork of God in creation" (153).
• Drawing on Martin Luther's idea that a person's vocation is a "mask of God," he writes, "The farmer doesn't just sow and reap; God provides through him. The lawyer doesn't just try a case; God executes justice through him. The trucker doesn't just drive a route--God distributes products through him" (158).
• "We must never forget what is at the core of God's redemptive activity: the salvation of people who bear his image and were created to know and glorify him. No other endeavor transcends this evangelistic priority. Our deeds may adorn the gospel message, but they must not be confused with the gospel message" (168).
• And check out this one: "Churches that display such a [kingdom] life, however imperfectly, are God's most potent instruments in his cosmic program to reclaim and restore his creation" (166).

BEST OF ALL...

...is how Purswell shows how everything culminates in the work and victory of the cross, through which Paul reinterprets his past, present, and future. He shows how (i) the cross tells me who I am; (ii) the cross interprets the world I inhabit; (iii) the cross transforms my view of people; (iv) the cross gives purpose to my life.

APPENDICES

Pastors, you'll find two very useful appendices at the end of this all around excellent book:

1. "Modesty Heart Check," which provides women with a list of questions to ask their heart's about their attire.
2. "Considering Modesty on Your Wedding Day," which is a short document Covenant Life Church passes out to couples planning their weddings.

Posted on March 6, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments