(This article was written in about 1981 while I was still a member of mainline Churches of Christ—soon after I first encountered the discipling type churches.)
Churches of Christ are receiving adverse publicity in the mass media of our nation. Shocking! Recently, I listened to a couple of taped messages by a brother in California who is highly disturbed by this publicity. He was quite upset about the congregations who were the focal point of the controversy, and unquestionably viewed them as heretics. Although he dealt with a number of areas in which he believed them to be in error, it seemed to me that the unfavorable attention in the media was the catapult that launched him into orbit! Reproach has been brought upon the name of the church!
Certainly no one of us wants to see negative publicity about God’s people, but there is more involved than what we may want. My comments in this article relate directly to the publicity issue itself, and not to the controversial issues that spawned it. I am neither defending nor disapproving any movement among us in this particular article, but rather addressing the issue of adverse publicity. Frankly, I marvel that those who claim to know the Bible have jumped to the conclusion that highly negative remarks by newspapers, radio, and television prove that certain brethren have become heretical! If they have, the publicity surely cannot be taken as proof of it. Some other criterion will have to be used—for example, the Bible.
Well, what about the church and the world’s evaluation of us? In Acts 2:47, we find that our early brethren were “having favor with all the people.” Favorable publicity. But for how long? By the time one reads up to Acts 7, he finds folks with blood pressures going off the top of the sphygmomanometer. They were screaming, gnashing their teeth, and throwing rocks at a Christian. Adverse publicity. Stephen must have been bringing reproach on the church!
Paul and Barnabas were well received at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:14¬43). Favorable publicity. For how long? In this instance, only one week (vs. 44ff). Then came adverse publicity. Paul seemed to have a penchant for creating this sort of negative reaction. They became so angry at Lystra that they stoned him (Acts 14:19), although earlier he had been received as a god! In Acts 16, he and Silas were thrown in jail. I wonder what the headlines in the Philippi Morning News reported about Christianity? The Athenians mocked him as a babbler, according to Acts 17. He managed to get the great city of Ephesus in such a turmoil that a large multitude screamed their lungs out for two hours. Now how in the world could Paul hope to build a church in a city when such adverse publicity had occurred?
The book of Acts has a good deal more to say on the subject and the reader would do well to study it with this emphasis in mind. By the time Paul arrived in Rome, the Jewish leaders said that they knew little about Christianity, but they were sure of one thing—it was a sect everywhere spoken against (Acts 28:22)! Our brother Paul must have really been something, or all of the criticism directed toward him by those in and out of the church surely would not have occurred. After all, where there’s smoke, there’s fire!
It is a matter of historical record that the world in which the early church grew was set against them. The mass media of that day claimed that Christians were immoral (practicing holy kisses), cannibalistic (eating flesh and drinking blood—the Lord’s supper), and atheistic (did not believe in the gods). How did that church grow with such adverse publicity? Sure¬ly their joy buses must have been nearly empty.
At one time in America, we were the sect everywhere spoken against. Now, however, we have finally achieved a degree of respectability. Thus we are shocked by adverse publicity, and assume that it proves we are departing from the Bible. Have we so soon forgotten what Jesus taught on the issue? “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household (Matthew 10:25)!” “And, ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake (Mark 13:13)” “If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you (John 15:19).” “Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).”
Whether some of our brethren are using unscriptural methods, or scriptural methods in an unscriptural manner is a different issue than the publicity issue. Adverse publicity may be directed at evil works or good works, as the Bible amply demonstrates. Biblical Christianity will stir up Satan and his ministers, if Christ’s teaching on the subject is trustworthy. Unbiblical works will often stir up controversy also. The presence of controversy itself proves nothing. The traditions held sacred by many of us likewise proves nothing. The Bible is the only guide to whether or not a work is good or evil.
In conclusion, we do confidently affirm that a lack of adverse publicity demonstrates all too well that we are doing little to disturb Satan. If we were wreaking the kind of havoc against his kindgom that the early church did, we could not stay away from adverse publicity any more than they. Let us not come unglued when the world doesn’t like us—it never has.
—Gordon Ferguson (1981)
A concept is a general idea that encompasses a set of specifics. Another way of describing it is to say it involves getting the big picture of a topic by looking at many of its individual parts. Describing concepts often produces a set of terminologies that are used to simplify and clarify those concepts. This is a normal part of our communication process that all of us use every day. The terminologies thus employed are accommodative – matching a concept to our cultural setting. It is quite natural to develop accommodative terms to describe biblical concepts. For example, we use terms like “total commitment,” “discipleship,” “quiet time,” “sold out,” and “fired up” to express these concepts in the vernacular of our day. None of these exact terms can be found in the Bible, but they represent true biblical ideas. At least some of our conceptual terminology has developed in our attempt to correct previous terminology that has either been incorrect or misunderstood.
The phrase, “cooperation with God” is a phrase that I believe can be helpful in correcting a misunderstanding that has come about through an unbalanced emphasis in teaching. Obedience and obey are biblical terms, and we should therefore never quit using them. However, if not explained well in the big picture of man’s faith response to God, their usage can lead to a man-oriented, performance mindset in Christians. As a movement, we have not explained them clearly enough, nor used them in a balanced way, which has left many of us with a wrong view of our obedience. That in turn has left many of us with a consistent sense of either guilt or self-righteousness about our performance, and has not led us to the correct understanding, appreciation and response to God’s grace in our lives.
The way we have taught people to become Christians says a lot about our misplaced emphases in the past. In the “First Principles” study series, the word grace is used once – in refuting a false doctrine: “baptism is the outward sign of an inward grace.” Also, there is no mention of the love of God. The word love appears twice: (1) We must love Christ and (2) we must love one another. In God’s “first principles,” the Book of Acts, the word grace is used 11 times. In Jesus’ “first principles” statement of Matthew 22:37-40, he said that love for God and our neighbor were the greatest commands of the Old Testament (and by implication, I think, the whole Bible). In both our study series and our follow up series here in the Phoenix Valley Church, these emphases are solidly reflected. Our desire was to focus on God much more than on man, to use this God-focus to prompt our faith responses to him. In the introduction to the study series, the question “Why are we replacing the old study series?” was answered this way: “Primarily because the old series was too focused on man’s performance and not nearly enough on God’s grace as our primary motivation for serving him. Although thousands of people became Christians through the use of the old series, for which we are thankful, the new series will provide a much better motivational foundation to help keep people on a better track once they become Christians.”
Thinking about cooperating with God helps me put my obedience in the right perspective. My initial salvation, my continuing forgiveness of sins, my overcoming entrenched sinful tendencies in my life, my living a life that consistently reflects the Christ in me, and my perseverance are all beyond my ability as a sinful human being. As Jesus succinctly put it: “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Paul said it this way: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Romans 7:18). In our own power, we are pretty helpless; in God’s power, we are able to do amazing things.
Here is the real kicker – if you see your obedience as falling under your own power to perform, you will be well acquainted with failure and frustration; if you see your obedience as falling under God’s power to do in us and through us and with us that which we could never do on our own, you will be happy and blessed. It’s all perspective, isn’t it? The concept of cooperating with God helps me keep the right perspective in the matter of obedience. God is the One with the power – all power, by the way. In my response to him – my heartfelt, trusting obedience – I am simply trying my best to cooperate with him in order to allow him to do his thing in my life. I hope that is helpful to you; it surely is to me.
My hope is in God, not in myself. I have failed and sinned far too many times to trust in my power. But that same failure and sin has caused me to look up at him and to him more and more. The old adage, “God helps those who help themselves” appealed to me as a young man. As an older man, I would change the wording to “God help those who help themselves!” It is not a matter of whether we obey God’s teachings or not; it is a matter of how we view him and ourselves as we obey. Obedience is presupposed biblically for anyone who intends to please and follow God. But our trust as we obey is the fundamental issue. Are we trying to trust ourselves, or do we trust God and his grace in our lives?
Paul described this difference very well in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. [10] For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Once I would have used this equation to describe how we obtain salvation: “faith (man’s part) plus grace (God’s part) equals salvation. This leaves the impression that man’s part and God’s part are on equal or nearly equal ground. Nothing could be further from the truth. Man’s part is simply accepting the real deal, that which actually forgives and saves. Our obedience is God’s plan for us to show our trust in his power and grace rather than in our own power. So, it is not “faith plus grace” that equals salvation; it is “faith trusting grace” that turns the key to our hearts and to his. Our good works, according to Ephesians 2:10, are a result of his work in our lives. Said another way, this passage says that we don’t work in order to be saved; we work because we are saved. We cooperate with him and he works in and through us to the point that we can say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
—Gordon Ferguson (March 2005)
I began my teaching and preaching career well over 40 years ago, and have served on the staff of a number of churches in a number of states. Since mid-2008, I have been off the staff of a local church on a full-time basis, although I did function on the staff of the Greater Houston Church in Houston, Texas on almost a full-time basis during all of 2011 and nearly half of 2012. In November of 2012, we moved to the Los Angeles area and I assumed the role of Director of the Pacific School of Ministry in January of 2013 as a part-time staff member. I accepted that role with a verbal agreement that serving in this role would be for a two year term, to be reviewed at the end of that period. Near the end of that time, it became obvious that two years was the right time to move on, which we now have done. As of mid-December, 2014, we are living in the Dallas, Texas area, where I am also a part-time staff member, teaching in various settings the church leaders deem to be most helpful. In the 2014 Newsletter section, I describe our time in LA in some detail, and am thankful for having served there, even for a brief term. What’s not to love about Southern California (besides the traffic!)?
Going back to the beginning of my work in the capacity of a full-time teacher, I was blessed to be the Director of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Academy from its inception in early 2008. From that point through 2012, I taught most of the courses in our eleven course curriculum for the Ministry Track students and in our eight course curriculum for the Shepherding Track students. After completing these curricula, I also taught several continuing education courses. We have conducted several graduation services for quite a number of students who have completed their respective curriculum in one of the two training track programs. In early 2012, Rolan Monje succeeded me as the Director of the program, and started teaching some courses himself. (See the article “Rolan Monje Named New Director of APLA” in the Articles Section.) From this point forward, Rolan will be bringing in other teachers, as well as teaching his own courses. I am most grateful for the opportunity of having worked with all of the brothers who helped design the program, and for having the privilege of teaching the students alongside Rolan. All of the young men and women who participated are as my own children, in my heart of hearts.
I also have enjoyed the blessing of working in a similar capacity with the Ukraine Institute of Ministry, although I will be making fewer trips to Kiev in the future for several reasons. For one thing, after a teaching trip in 2013, we are almost through the curricula for the two training tracks (Ministry and Shepherding). For another thing, the current political uncertainty makes it impossible to predict whether the opportunity to continue teaching as an American will even exist. Time (and God) will tell! Please join me in praying for the Ukraine. We have several churches in the country and the one in Kiev numbers over 2,000 disciples. They are a wonderful group of God’s children and will always reside deeply in my heart, even if I am not afforded the opportunity to teach them on any regular basis again. In the 2014 Newsletter, I describe the one trip I was able to make in late 2014 – another special trip, as all trips to the Ukraine have been.
My other teaching will continue to be done primarily through producing written and recorded (audio and video) materials. In the past several years, Toney Mulhollan of Illumination Publishers International, has helped develop and publish a number of my teaching materials in both audio and video formats. Adding these to my available books and booklets, my repertoire of teaching material has increased fairly rapidly. You will note a link on this web page that will take you to my materials on the IPI website. In 2012, I finished a comprehensive book on the topic of church leadership entitled “Dynamic Leadership” with a subtitle of “Principles, Roles and Relationships for a Life-Changing Church.” In 2013, a Spanish translation of this book was finished and first made available at the Latin American Conference held in June in Panama City.
Two of my books, “Dynamic Leadership” and “Romans: the Heart Set Free” were translated into Russian during 2012 and 2013. We have Max and Elena Nikitina, Family Group leaders in the Moscow church to thank for this work. Thus far, they have paid for all of the translation costs themselves, so it is obviously a labor of love. Since they attend the Shepherding Track of the Kiev program, I have been able to develop a personal relationship with them. They are a delightful young couple. As the Dynamic Leadership book was in the process of being translated, Elena shared a heart-warming and heart-rending story of German Utyonov, who spent his last days translating the book. He had been reached out to by Finn disciples and baptized in 1991. He fell away several years later, but then got restored in 2009. German was a professional interpreter, having translated from English and Finnish into Russian. He had three children, and was struggling with cancer during his last few years. He was already bedridden when he agreed to translate the book. He was inspired by his work, hoping to finish the translation before he passed away. He said, “The book is so important for us.” When his friends asked him how he was doing, he answered, “I am happy, because I am in Christ!” Although he was getting ready to meet God, he did his best to finish translating the book. It was his last endeavor before he went home with Jesus at the age of 47.
A new edition of my practical exposition on Acts is also now available, entitled “World Changers.” A ministry training school outside our movement of churches has just ordered this book for one of their classes. Under the Articles tab, you will find a fairly lengthy Appendix from the book about the establishment and nature of the Kingdom. It has some rather unique material in it that not all have considered and with which all may not agree – but it is in-depth and interesting! A new edition of “The Power of Discipling” was printed in the last part of 2010 and very recently, a smaller format of “Love One Another.” I have many ideas for books that likely won’t come to fruition until my public teaching role slows down, but I do plan to write several books in the next couple of years, hopefully at least two in 2015. One of these will take me into a new writing genre, a book of weird humor (the only kind I have). One particular humor author has influenced me more than any other, by a wide margin, and I think my approach will be similar to his. I doubt I will enjoy nearly the same amount of success that Patrick McManus has enjoyed, but it will be fun to delve into another type of writing. I may start out with a web site that is fee based to begin publishing the humor material an article at a time, or I may just publish it in book form first. This project is obviously just in the planning stage now, but the approach will soon need to be settled upon.
The international part of my work has decreased in 2013 and 2014 by design, allowing me to focus on my role in Los Angeles. God has blessed me to be able to travel all over the world for many years now, and it has been the ministry highlight of my life. To all of those who have heard my teaching or participated in it through my printed and audio/video materials, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity to hopefully influence you to know God’s Word better and to love him more. Why he chose to bless me with these opportunities and with the multitudes of friends I have made in the process, I cannot explain. But I can explain that I am supremely grateful to him and to those with whom my path has crossed. Please keep me, my family and my ministry in your prayers. Thank you for doing that, for without doubt, God’s use of me has been the result of many prayers! God bless!
—Gordon Ferguson (February 2015)
No person is ever satisfied totally with the way he or she is as a human being. Actually, that is a good thing since none of us is exactly like Jesus yet! But many people are not simply unsatisfied in their quest for growth; they are very dissatisfied with who they are as a person. Therefore, the question logically comes: “How did I get this way?” While an answer to this question is a legitimate pursuit, a better one must follow, namely, “How can I change?”
We get the way we are in two basic ways. One, we are born with certain qualities, or certainly tendencies in many areas of both capability and character. While inheritance is not the total issue, nor the final word in who we become, it unquestionably plays a fairly major role. Two, we are molded by our environment, particularly our closest relationships in that environment. Within these two general areas, many possible combinations of inheritance and environment work together to make us who we are at a given point.
Our basic tendencies which are inborn can be positive or negative. Our outside influences can also be positive or negative. In between the two extremes, neutral tendencies and influence are possible, but the extremes are the most important to understanding why we are as we are.
If I am born with a “bent” toward a given quality or ability, my “discipling” (atmosphere, influences) can alter it in a major way. Suppose I have a bent toward mathematics. A strong atmosphere for mathematics by parents and/or teachers can produce a highly skillful mathematician. On the other hand, a negative atmosphere toward math can stifle the bent almost entirely, while a neutral atmosphere would allow it to go in either direction.
The same principle holds true in a character tendency. If I have an inborn tendency for being an unselfish servant, my discipling can affect it significantly. Parents who are themselves unselfish and who actively direct their child toward serving will undoubtedly end up with an unselfish child. On the other side of the coin, selfish parents who train their child in selfishness (consciously or unconsciously) can stifle the positive natural bent in the child’s character. A more neutral environment can produce either general direction (“Allow” is a better word for this influence than “produce.”)
Now let’s apply the principle to negative abilities or character qualities. A person without aptitude for math will never develop math abilities in a negative atmosphere for math. Conversely, a very positive atmosphere for math can significantly alter the person’s ability to do well in the subject. The earlier the emphasis and the more intense the positives are applied, the more the skill can be developed. For example, the person with little or no aptitude for learning new languages has already learned one foreign language quite well–his mother tongue! At any age, a person with high aptitude can learn a new language. At a very young age, with proper training, a person with a low language aptitude can learn a new language. But the older this person gets, the more difficult to offset the lack of aptitude and lack of early training.
Now, let’s apply the principle to a much more sensitive area–that of character qualities. Suppose that I am born with strong tendencies toward selfishness. A selfish environment will strengthen the tendency in a major way. Clearly, two negatives do not a make a positive! However, a positive atmosphere of discipling (parents’ example plus their training of the child) can significantly alter the natural tendency toward selfishness. Again, the earlier and the more intensely the training is applied, the more significantly the change.
When negative tendencies are met with negative atmosphere, the depth of negative character traits goes farther than when positive tendencies are met with negative atmosphere. Changes later in life are possible in either case, but the will be quicker in the latter, and probably more complete. Once growth occurs for a person in either case, a positive atmosphere will likely sustain the changes. A neutral atmosphere will likely sustain the status quo for the positive/negative combination, but probably will not for the negative/negative type person. A return to the negative atmosphere may offset the growth for the positive/negative background person and it will almost certainly destroy all progress for the negative/negative background person.
Thankfully, a person’s own convictions and resolve push virtually any negative atmosphere into the neutral zone. The goal must be to change the atmosphere and the character, and to keep it changed. Success in changes will never be permanent by accident–it takes planning and perseverance. A neutral influence is never an acceptable goal. Satan is strong, sin is real, and we cannot approach righteousness without a serious commitment to it.
The question remains: “How can I change?” Whether we started with negative or positive tendencies, the wrong training took us in the wrong direction. Depending on the degree of negativity in either tendency or environment, the changes may be easier or harder to effect and maintain, but the changes are possible. “All things are possible with God!”
The actual path to change is fairly simple (but not easy). In the case of a child with positive tendencies, he needs mostly direction in which to channel and develop the tendencies. In the case of a child with negative tendencies, he needs a balance of correction and direction. His natural direction must be continually corrected and changed into the right direction. When this approach is applied frequently and consistently, the changes will occur at some point.
Therefore, an older person who missed the early training has to once again become a child (Matthew 18:1-2), and accept the needed correction and direction from God through His Word and through his people. Lasting character changes without God’s principles and God’s plan of discipleship are an impossibility!
The conclusion of the matter is all of us need to develop an accurate view of our weaknesses, develop long-range and short-range plans for change, and put the plans into effect daily. Disciplers are needed to help us see our weaknesses accurately, to formulate practical plans on a weekly basis, and to then help us with the follow-through on a daily basis. If we have deep convictions about our weaknesses, deep desires to change, a plan to help us change behavior, and a strong prayer life to allow God to change our hearts, we will change both character and actions. We will become more and more like Jesus.
At this juncture, our two basic questions have been answered, at least in a general way. Now, one last question remains: “Will you change?” No matter how you got this way, you can change with the help of God. The only issue now is how badly do you want it. Let’s go after it!
—Gordon Ferguson (July 1994)
It is the purpose of this column on the web site to provide biblical answers to questions that are difficult, and for that reason, perhaps debatable. But since they are asked at times by those with questioning minds, they deserve to be addressed. While my intent is not to be controversial in this column, neither is it to avoid challenging topics. When different answers are given by brothers who are well-grounded biblically, that should tell us two things: one, not all biblical subjects are made totally clear in Scripture; and two, since that is the case, we had best avoid dogmatism on such subjects. Some topics are clarified quite well in the Bible, others have little or nothing mentioned about them (thus remaining a mystery), while still others have only enough mentioned about them to allow us to reach tentative conclusions. It is the questions falling into that third category that this column will most often address.
Since these questions may require some detail in answering them, new questions and answers will be added at a rate that my present teaching schedule allows. My original plan was to add a question of this type once or twice per month, but I have been unable to accomplish this due to a very packed schedule (and due to raising my gift of procrastination to an art form level!). However, feel free to send in questions that you would like to see answered. They may or may not find their way into this column, but they will be given due consideration. May you enjoy the reading and be prompted to dig into Scripture more deeply for yourself!
