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Your Church Is Too Small- Dr John Armstrong

by Kevin Jesmer 8-5-10
I thank God that I could read a book. I read, “Your Church Is Too Small” by John H. Armstrong. I finally found my happy place where there is few distractions and where I can focus. My happy place is McDonald’s.

The dedication of the book reads, “For the advancement of the missional mandate of Jesus Christ in the third millennium and the renewal of biblical ecumenism through the witness of Holy Scriptures and the wisdom of Christian tradition.

The point of this book is how Christians should be one through their love for Jesus, their love for one another, through mission and holding onto the ancient traditions, which John refers to as Paleo-traditions, or ancient traditions, laid down in the first century church. He searches for the meaning of the church being catholic that is universal. In this book John Armstrong shares his own personal journey towards ecumenalism. At one time he was a pastor and he used to study the truth in order to defend the faith. But in doing so he found himself criticizing others. Especially he was criticizing Catholics. He saw that instead of the truth uniting people, the true was actually dividing people. And so he set out to promote true unity in the church. He travelled around the world to learn about other traditions and ways of worship. He sought for things that unite us rather than divide us.

John is in love with the ancient traditions. He is especially in favor of the Apostles’ Creed. We recite the Nicene Creed every Sunday, This is creed is the most concise and complete expression of the core of our Christian faith.

He warns against secretarianism which is thinking that our way is the right way only. He warns evangelicals that they should not toss aside all traditions and history and should look to the past for ancient wisdom that has served Christians well for the past 2,000 years.

He also warns about the ideas that make us think that our disunity is actually no problem and that our disunity is actually the way that the gospel is being preached.

He stated that we need to come together under the world mission command of Jesus and co-operate together to fulfill Christ’s mandate. We need to do this through dialogue and co-working together, It will require a new paradigm, derived from brave men and women who are leaders of the church. Dr Armstrong bring up the 80/20 rule. In an movement there are 80 followers and 20 percent leaders. If the 20 % will lead then
the 80% will follow. The church needs the 20% and it also needs the 80%. The 20% have to envision a new paradigm for the future of the church. They need to lead the way. In so many ways the doors have been open for a new work of God in the western society to come together in missional unity like never before.

I thought about how we can promote a spirit of co-working. We are doing it by being committed to open mike night at the DeKalb Christian church. It is happening by us doing acts of charity with other Christians at the hospital. It is happening by co-working with Triton and DuPage UBF. It is happening by praying for and participating in the Walker’s Farm Conference. I want to participate in an Easter weekend with the Russian Orthodox Church since I am friends with the priest.

It will require courage to come out of the old paradigms of church structure and functioning. It will take people who see themselves as one of the 20% to set the example, plant the vision and lead.

I want to finish with a prayer, attributed to the famous 16th century explorer, Sir Francis Drake, an avid Christian. It is called, Disturb us Lord!

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.




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