Resilient Ministry commenced as a five-year research project conducted by Bob Burns, Tasha D. Chapman, and Donald C. Guthrie, colleagues at Covenant Theological Seminary. Collectively they evaluated the stresses and challenges of ministry, which resulted in a book revealing how pastors may thrive in their vocation. The authors disclosed five key themes promoting lasting ministry: spiritual formation, self-care, emotional and cultural intelligence, marriage, and leadership development. Each theme contains these thoughts:

1. Spiritual formation: As clergy juggled numerous balls in life, they easily neglected their spiritual health. To stay grounded, the authors encouraged the development of disciplines such as Sabbath rest, prayer, worship, and personal reflection.
2. Self-care: Intentional care of the body, mind, and spirit revealed the range of issues a minister must cultivate creating healthy boundaries and vital routines for daily living. Understanding personal limits and rhythms remained key to survival in the ministry.
3. Emotional and cultural intelligence: An internal awareness of a pastor’s inner thoughts and people dynamics surrounding the ministry continue as a lifetime learning project. The growing diversity of the American society required a pastor to nurture a discernment and respect of varied opinions.
4. Marriage: The examination of the issues of abandonment and unmet needs for a spouse were essential. The concept of family systems insightfully exposed the issues inherent within domestic conflicts. In addition, the authors’ discussion of practical tips concerning contentious situations at home and ministry can produce strength in one’s personal and professional efforts.
5. Leadership development: The authors shared intriguing concepts of ‘poetic’ and ‘plumbing’ leadership. Though the plumbing side contained common sense ideas, the poetic element remained intuitive with a deep learning curve throughout a career in ministry.

In short, Resilient Ministry includes more than a psychological analysis regarding ministry. The authors frequently reiterated that family is of uppermost importance and the “on-the-job” nature of ministry must deal with the unique situation it places upon the spouse and children. Responsible self-care with the family creates better performance in the church and pulpit. Personally, as a pastor for twenty-eight years, I understand the pitfalls of pastoral ministry and watched ministers erode under criticism, and lack of preventative care. Resilient Ministry serves as a clarion reminder of the pressures in ministry but also offers hope and practical acumen concerning “how-to” stay strong and finish in the Lord’s service.

Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Cletus L. Hull, III

Publisher’s page: http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=4103

“I have written this book,” writes Dr. Roberts, “to help those who want to bring the healing mercy of Jesus into the despairing and confusing world of the traumatized” (p.23). More specifically Dr. Roberts addresses the trauma caused by abuse and what can be done to facilitate recovery from the wounds caused by abuse. The abuse most often discussed is sexual abuse which appears to be her specialty.

Roberts gives considerable space to discussing the dynamics of “dissociative identity disorder” more recently identified as a condition affecting memories and inner conflict affecting personality. She relies on research done by Dr. Dan Allender, author of The Wounded Heart. This reviewer is well aware of the resource and Allender’s other book The Healing Path. Roberts chose well. Allender is also on the board of the American Association of Christian Counselors, an association with which this reviewer is a charter member.

Roberts writes for pastors and Christian laity in ministry. She advises her readers to not make any diagnosis of the traumatized but to assure them of the healing that comes through prayer and comforting care. The author uses the word “fractured” and “fragmented” in place of “split” personality. They are also not “hopeless.” Anyone who has experienced childhood abuse “has some defense system in place” (p.29).

For this reviewer, by way of critique, this is what makes Help for the Fractured Soul both unique and helpful for student, pastor and christian worker. It steers the reader away from a psychological or therapeutic model. She also avoids reliance upon prominent theorists, whether secular or Christian, as “no one shoe fits” all situations. She keeps to a course that is strictly biblical and theological. The author also cautions that “the greater the denial, the stronger the walls of defense, the more divided the house, then the greater chance that those seeking help have not experienced freedom” (p.55).

Also to her credit, Dr. Roberts keeps theory and explanations to a minimum and offers insight by citing individual situations and giving only first names rather than disclosing the full identities of those with whom she ministers. Another attractive element in the book is that the author admits her own limitations. “I never agree to minister inner-healing with those who are trapped in substance abuse”(p.63). She makes referrals and works alongside professionals more capable than herself in areas outside of her own concentration (pp. 65-66). She acknowledges that pain and trauma can be trapped in the physical body as well as hidden in the mind (p.94). “Inner healing,” she explains, “is wholistic, it has an effect on the mind, body, and spirit” (p. 93). Some causes require long-term ministry from several months to “a few years.”

Another feature of Help for the Fractured Soul worth one’s attention is her discussion on the importance of physical health, forgiveness and mental health. She distinguishes forgiveness from exoneration of the abuser and explains the effect that unforgiveness has upon the victim’s emotional, physical, and mental health. She depends upon insights from Larry Crabb (p. 102) and also Daniel Goleman’s work on emotional intelligence (p. 103).

Chasing conspiracy theories is not going to solve any problems. True restoration begins when God’s people repent and walk in righteousness.

A recent conspiracy theory has garnered much national attention. It involves “Jade Helm 15,” an Armed Services training exercise employing the elite units of the Armed Forces in counter-terrorist warfare. About 1,200 servicemen will run exercises throughout the South West states including California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. It is somewhat larger in area than the normal exercise of this sort, but the planners wanted to focus on problems of long range intrusion and evacuation of troops in sparsely populated desert terrain. That was certainly prudent in view of the ISIS situation in Syria, Iraq, and in West Africa.

War exercises have been held since the 1940’s, when the Army began mobilizing for World War II. General Eisenhower (then a Colonel) was a staff office in the “Battle of Louisiana” back in 1940 when that state was “invaded” by two American Armies. The Louisiana residents warmly welcomed the roughly 400,000 soldiers, who were often graciously billeted in private homes without cost. It was the last big exercise before the real war, and important lessons were learned, including the need for independent armored divisions.

But back to the present. The surprising and disheartening aspect of Jade Helm 15 is the reaction of many sincere Christians who see this exercise through the eyes of a far right conspiracy theory. They are informed, or rather misinformed, by right-wing anti-Obama web sites, and talk radio commentators such as Alex Jones.

The public briefing about Jade Helm in Bastrop, Texas, by the Army information officer, Lt. Col. Mark Lastoria, turned nasty. The conspiracy theory believers called the officer a liar, and that he was hiding the “true intent” of the exercise.[2] The conspiracy theory believers credit the soldiers participating as true patriots but, “They are merely following orders. What are under question are those who are pulling the strings at the top of Jade Helm 15 back in Washington.”[3]

But possibly the worst element of this conspiracy theory incident is that it has been given partial credence by the current governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. He ordered the Texas National Guard to “monitor” the various Armed Forces units that are taking part in the exercise.[4]

The elements of this conspiracy theory, like most others, are illogical and ludicrous. This irrationality is occulted in the believer’s mind by the accumulated distrust, disdain and fear of the Obama administration. This pattern of suspended logical thinking is one of the marks of a true conspiracy theory.

Let me take more time than I should to deconstruct this particular conspiracy theory.

• A majority of Texans disapprove of the Obama Administration. Using “back of the envelope” figures, that comes to at least 10,000,000 Texans who seriously dislike or distrust Obama. That is a whole lot of “opposition” to disarm and herd into various Wal-Marts. Especially given that Texans are among the most heavily armed segment of the American population, with untold numbers of hand-guns, assault rifles, 50 caliber sniper rifles, etc., in their possession. Our Special Forces and Seals and other anti-terrorist units contain some of the best soldiers in the world, but 1,200 against 10,000,000 is not possible except in action hero comic books.
• Most officers and enlisted personnel of our Armed Forces are of a center, or right-wing political opinion. Left leaning youth generally have distrust or contempt for our Armed Forces. Thus, few left-wing persons join our Armed forces, either at the officer or enlisted level. The demographics of the Armed Forces makes any campaign against right-wing civilians in Texas, or any other part of America that is “opposed to Obama” impossible.
• Officers and non-commissioned officers of all branches are educated, as part of their training, to disobey “illegal orders.” I remember instructions on this in my training during the Vietnam War. We had a film showing an imaginary incident in which an officer instructed a sergeant to force prisoners to march in front of his platoon to set off mines in a suspected minefield. That is against the Geneva Convention and the order by the officer was an illegal order. Our class was shown how to disobey such an order. The Armed forces still do that type of instruction. No American officer or soldier would obey the “mother and father” of all illegal orders—to arrest the “Obama opposition” even if such an insane order were given. Next time your son or cousin comes home for leave ask him if he would obey an order to arrest and possibly shoot the “Obama opposition.” This conspiracy theory is a slander to the American Armed Forces.

Even before this current Jade Helm conspiracy theory started doing its rounds, there were other web-based conspiracy theories about a government takeover on the web and talk-radio. One was that the Federal Government agents were disarming the American population by buying up all small arms ammunition. Again, Wal-Mart got into the myth, with the claim that Wal-Mart was completely sold out of small arms ammunition. Actually, many Wal-Marts, which are known for their low pricing on ammo, routinely sell out of stock and then restock within a day or two.

Roger E. Olson blogs: “And Now … What Conservative Churches Must Do.”

Churches that believe marriage should only be between a man and a woman now must decide what to do–in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Will they simply go along with the government and recognize legislative and judicial rulings as valid for them or will they resist? And what would it say about them if they simply bow to the high court’s ruling and begin accepting gay unions as legitimate marriages? If not, will they begin to recognize the inconsistency between resisting in this case and bowing to court rulings about dissolution of marriages in the past and present? …

Numerous responses from First Things: “After Obergefell: A First Things Symposium”
What Now? Your Church and Same Sex Marriage (short video) from American Family Studios.

John Piper, “So-Called Same-Sex Marriage: Lamenting the New Calamity.”

Jesus died so that heterosexual and homosexual sinners might be saved. Jesus created sexuality, and has a clear will for how it is to be experienced in holiness and joy.
…
For those who have forsaken God’s path of sexual fulfillment, and walked into homosexual intercourse or heterosexual extramarital fornication or adultery, Jesus offers astonishing mercy. …

Cathy Lynn Grossman, “Clue to gay marriage ruling was threaded in Obamacare opinion” Faith & Reason (Religion News Service).

I highly recommend the broad, deep coverage of this topic from Christianity Today: Same-Sex Marriage.

Same-sex marriage has highlighted high-profile relationships between theology, church, state, and society. In June 2015 the Supreme Court issued its Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which ruled that states must allow same-sex couples to marry. A Pew Forum poll before the decision found that most Americans (57%) thought same-sex marriage should be legal, but less than a third of evangelicals agreed. Many are now asking questions about the difference between civil and religious marriage, the place of religious dissent on same-sex marriage, and pastoral care.

The Supreme Court of the United States in October 2010.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Have you read an article that others should read? Please add a comment recommending below.

Dale M. Coulter, “Pentecostalism and the Question of Culture” First Things (November 13, 2014).

Andrew Wilson, “God Always Heals: Good news for our bodies—in this life and the next” Christianity Today (November 25, 2014).

The pastor of a large charismatic church in England and the father of children with debilitating diseases speaks about healing that is no mere theory. William De Arteaga writes: “A good article for a home group or Bible study to tackle the issue of healing.”

Peter Berger, “Is Atheism a Specifically Western Phenomenon?” The American Interest (November 26, 2014).

The lead-in to the article reads: “We know atheism in its Jewish or Christian context, as a rejection of the Biblical God. What would atheism mean in a Muslim, or Hindu, or Buddhist context?” William De Arteaga writes: “This is a very useful article in understanding atheism. It is by an ex-Catholic and centers of the classical problem of evil vs. a good God. Note that the author never experienced healing nor the gifts of the Spirit in his years as a Catholic. I believe demonstrating the power of the gospel is the key to evangelizing atheists.”

Craig S. Keener, “Rumors of Miracles” Good News (December 30, 2014).

Craig S. Keener writes: “The United Methodist renewal magazine, Good News recently published an article that they titled, ‘Rumors of miracles.’ Other articles in the same issue, such as Wendy Deichmann’s excellent ‘Lessons from Mozambique,’ are also well-worth reading.”

Bob Caldwell, “You Are Already a Theologian (You Just Need to Be a Better One)” Enrichment Journal (Winter 2015).

Traci Humphrey and Phillip Humphrey, “A Theology of Play: Encountering the Other Through Online Gaming” Presented at the 44^th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies.

Roger E. Olson, “Remembering an All-But-Forgotten, Extremely Influential Theologian: Christoph Blumhardt” Patheos (March 29, 2015).

Darrin Rodgers, “Prominent Novelist Sven Lidman Shocked Sweden by 1921 Conversion to Pentecostalism” Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (March 16, 2015).

Leah Payne

Andy Butcher, “Leah Payne: Sent to Higher Education” Foursquare.org (March 24, 2015).

The subtitle of the article says: “Foursquare pastor’s wife, Leah Payne, brings the worlds of faith and academia together as [she] serves her church and teaches theology at George Fox Evangelical Seminary.”

“The Church Needs to Stop Pandering to Trends: Rachel Held Evans discusses what millennials are really looking for in a church experience” Relevant (April 14, 2015).

Eddie Kaufholz interviews Rachel Held Evans about her new book, Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving and Finding the Church. PneumaReview.com writer Monte Lee Rice selected this quote: “I think when you look at the people who Jesus surrounded Himself with, that’s what our churches are supposed to look like. They’re supposed to be filled with super uncool people. Folks from the margins of society, and folks who are misfits and oddballs and sick and hungry and homeless, outcasts, the people who are typically despised by the religious.”  

 

The book being discussed is: Church Refugees: Sociologists Reveal Why People Are DONE With Church But Not Their Faith by Josh Packard and Ashleigh Hope.
 

Roger Olson’s challenge to Western Christianity about the power of God is a bold and biblical one. Questioning the status quo of our current version of traditional Christianity, he rightly believes that it has, “absorbed the worldview of modernity by relegating the supernatural, miracles, scientifically unexplainable interventions of God, to the past (‘Bible times’) and elsewhere (‘the mission fields’).”^[1]

Roger Olson

Several years ago, Olson sounded a similar alarm: “It seems to me that belief in ‘the supernatural’ is an essential part of traditional, classical Christianity (and I mean that normatively and not only historically). That is to say, denying the reality of the supernatural is tantamount to giving up Christianity. However, of course, many people who believe they are Christians deny the supernatural.”^[2] Olson began a recent article with the same alarm: “My claim is that most contemporary American evangelical Christians only pay lip service to the supernatural whereas the Bible is saturated with it.”

The perplexity of this is shared by many who consider themselves Pentecostals and Charismatics. It is a strange thing indeed for one who claims to be a Jesus-follower to simultaneously deny that the same power we see Jesus and His followers exercising in our day is now obsolete two thousand years later. Ironic is not a powerful enough word to describe a mindset which claims to abide by the worldview of the Bible while concurrently embracing an anti-supernatural, Enlightenment sentiment regarding the existence of the miraculous today.

Thankfully, while this may be common among various versions and flavors of Christianity, it does not seem to be so common among the vast majority of Americans. According to A survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion five years ago (2010), nearly 80% of Americans believe in miracles.^[3] Three years later (2013), that number was down to 72% per the Harris Poll.^[4] Five years later (2015), the Today Show’s recent survey among 1,500 people revealed that 76% of those polled believed that prayer could heal, revealing a sustained depth of belief in the miraculous and our connection to it.^[5] This touches on the bullseye of Olson’s post.

Many Pentecostals and Charismatics today would have a theological splinter in their soul if at least the idea of miraculous healing, if not the offer to pray for it, didn’t follow a person’s verbalization of their pain, suffering, or illness. Yet strangely, Olson’s experience reveals that too many of those who claim to follow Jesus, “avoid asking God to heal them…avoid any mention of demons or demonic possession and strictly shun exorcism as primitive and superstitious…look down on churches that anoint the sick with oil and pray for their physical healing…suspect they are ‘cultic’ and probably encourage ill people not to seek medical treatment…make fun of evangelists who claim to have prayed for God to re-route hurricanes but never ourselves pray for God to save people from natural disasters…have gradually adopted the idea that ‘Prayer doesn’t change things; it changes me’ and…regard petitionary prayer as something for children.” How horrific. That was my own behavior prior to 2004, and is an accurate description of the treatment I’ve received from others in the camp I left.

I share a similar story of healing along with Olson. I’ve had pretty severe allergies during the Spring ever since I can remember. Last year I felt filled with the faith to just go and ask a friend to lay hands on me and ask God to heal me. My friend did. So did God. I did not suffer with allergies for the remainder of the season last year, and have not suffered one day this year. And to my surprise, a lifelong allergy to milk has also been healed and I have enjoyed ice cream multiple times now with seemingly no effects. While I have not been to a doctor to verify this, my assumption is that if I no longer have the allergic reactions I used to have all my life, then something happened to me. And I also assume that if I can trace it all back to that single point in time when someone prayed for me, then the connection is legitimate. I asked. I had faith that God would do it. My friend believed. Two of us agreed on a matter touching the kingdom. And God granted it. No problems immediately thereafter.

I felt a strange sensation last week, however, when talking to my dad about this. He asked me how I was holding up this Spring so far. I began to describe for him that I no longer seemed to struggle, and suddenly acquiesced. The force and joy with which I would have normally talked about it suddenly began to subside. That surprised me. My father is a cessationist to this day, and pastored as such for thirty years in the Southern Baptist Convention. Knowing his position seemed to create in me a bizarre sense of obligation toward his viewpoint. Thankfully I caught myself, reassured myself that there’s nothing wrong proclaiming the goodness of God even to a convinced cessationist, and finished the story by stating what happened to me in a matter-of-fact sort of way. My dad’s response was just what I had expected: “Hmmm. Okay, son. That’s great.” But with a tone of voice which seemed to belie his true feelings on the matter.

In the end, I share Olson’s suspicion that, “our contemporary evangelical avoidance of the supernatural in the physical realm of reality has little to do with intellectual questions and issues.” I also believe that, “it has more to do with wanting our religion to be respectable; above all we don’t want to be viewed by the world around us as fanatics. The abuses of the supernatural seen on cable television cause us to drop it entirely.”^[6] I think that’s the bizarre sense of obligation I felt when speaking with my dad. It was that feeling of “respectability,” yet obviously one based purely on culture instead of on the kingdom.

What is also just as obvious is that the abuse of a thing should never dictate the avoidance of that thing altogether. Yet strangely, this too, is a standard practice of cultural respectability. As Olson frames it, “the cure for abuse is not disuse but proper use.”^[7] I believe that Christians should labor diligently to not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but instead should continually place themselves in a place to be transformed by the renewing of their mind (Romans 12:1-2). The Enlightenment has poisoned our minds with the toxins of respectability and the genetic fallacy.^[8] The truth of Scriptures, contained especially in the life and ministry of Jesus and the early church as our lifestyle and pattern for the kingdom, provide the source material for this transformative renewal of our minds. This, along with an openness to miraculous experiences and participation in the power of God, will ultimately inoculate us from our cultural anti-supernaturalism and return the people of God to a place of effectiveness in the mission Jesus has called us to until His return.

Reviewed by Rob Wilkerson

Read the full article: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2015/04/embarrased-by-the-supernatural/

Notes

^[1] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2012/12/what-does-supernatural-mean-can-a-person-be-christian-and-not- believe-in-it/

^[2] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2015/04/embarrased-by-the-supernatural/

^[3] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124007551

^[4] http://secularpolicyinstitute.net/survey/americans-belief-in-god-miracles-and-heaven-declines/

^[5] http://www.today.com/news/there-afterlife-does-prayer-work-todays-survey-faith-spirituality-t14176

^[6] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2015/04/embarrased-by-the-supernatural/

^[7] ibid.

^[8] http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/genetic/

Don’t miss my interview with Josh Packard this Tuesday night. Thanks Pneuma Review for asking me to review the book which led to an interview with Josh. The book is: Church Refugees: Sociologists reveal why people are DONE with church but not their faith by Josh Packard and Ashleigh Hope.

Watch the recorded Interview now

My family and I were in the Atlanta area for a family reunion, and although the plans were somewhat last minute, it was a pleasant way of showing a small measure of appreciation for PneumaReview.com writers. Thank you for the many contributions you all make to this publishing ministry.

God continues to give dreams and visions to his people.

Introduction

This chapter is from Dreams & Visions: Divine Interventions in Human Experience by John P. Lathrop.

The Bible has been around for a very long time; it has stood the test of time and been widely distributed. The Bible is available in many different English translations and has been translated into numerous foreign languages as well. It is probably both the most loved and most hated book of all time. Its detractors claim that it is full of errors and contradictions, or that it is irrelevant. On the other hand, devout Christians believe that it is the Word of God. The doctrinal statements of many Christian denominations contain a statement to the effect that the Bible is the only reliable guide for faith and practice.

I believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that it was given to instruct and guide us. However, it must be admitted that it is not always an easy book to understand. There are a number of reasons for this. First, there is the matter of time. The Bible was written over the course of many centuries, in times that are very distant from our own.¹ This distance can create difficulties for us as we seek to understand what the biblical text is saying. Second, the biblical books of both testaments are set in cultures that are very different from our Western 21^st-century culture. The cultures of the Bible sometimes have different thoughts than ours.² As a result, some of the cultural practices and understandings are foreign to us. Third, there are some things in the Bible that just are difficult to understand. For example, the apostle Peter said that some of the things the apostle Paul wrote about in his letters were difficult to understand (2 Pet. 3:15-16). If one inspired writer thinks that another inspired writer is difficult to understand, then you can be sure that it is true! Fourth, we should expect to find the Bible difficult to understand at times, because the Bible comes from a God whose ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isa. 55:9). We are finite beings trying to understand an infinite God; the creation trying to understand the Creator. Lastly, there are some things in the Bible that we do not understand because we have not had any personal experience with them. People in the Bible experienced them, but many of us have not, especially those of us in the West.

Writing about the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit, Gordon Fee says that some people conclude that this dimension of the Holy Spirit’s work does not exist today because they are exegeting their own experience, rather than the biblical text.³ They use their own experience as a grid in interpreting the Bible, and their experience becomes the norm of what God does and does not do today.⁴ This is certainly not the way that we are supposed to interpret the Bible, but the sad truth is that we can all be guilty of this from time to time. This is a potential problem, and all believers should be on their guard in an effort to keep from falling into this error. When Christians fall into this trap, they violate the evangelical tenet that the Bible is our only rule for faith and practice. In his book Gift & Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today, Craig Keener says that he has rarely witnessed miracles like those of Elijah, Elisha, or like the ones that we find in the gospels or the book of Acts; thus, based on his experience, he might conclude that such miracles do not happen today.⁵ However, he goes on to say that it is his desire to see what the Scripture teaches and to attempt to bring his experience, and that of the church, more in line with the biblical norm.⁶ This should be our desire as well.