Letter from a Minister about Patriotism in Corporate Worship

Note about the Guest Blog: B21 has produced in full a letter sent from the Music Minister at Clifton Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky to thousands of other church muscians on why this minster’s congregation has chosen not to emphasize patriotism in their corporate worship. B21 believes there is much wisdom in this minister’s words and we hope that this letter will be helpful for us and our readers as we all consider patriotism in corporate worship.

Guest Blogger: Chip Stam, the author of the letter, is also the Director for the Institute of Worship at Southern Seminary.

 

[This went out to several thousand church musicians. This version is current as of April 5, 2007.]

 

Dear Pastors and Church Musicians:

 

I want to comment on Memorial Day and July 4th and how they overlap with the life of church music and faithful Christian worship.

 

I am a very patriotic American. I cry when the planes fly over the football stadium and when we sing “America the Beautiful.” I pay my taxes with enthusiasm and, to my knowledge, have never missed an opportunity to vote in state and national elections. I would guess that the vast majority of the U. S. citizens in our congregation are also extremely patriotic.

 

HOWEVER, as a local congregation, we choose NOT to use these national celebrations as an emphasis in our worship services. Here are our reasons:

 

1.             It is just too easy to confuse what it means to follow Christ with what it means to be a loyal U.S. citizen. Especially when hard-hitting emotional presentations are made with flags and uniforms and pledges, it is too easy to get mixed up about where our allegiance should be. However, we ARE quick to pray for our country and for our leaders and we are quick to thank God for the freedom of worship that we enjoy. We are also faithful to pray for believers in other countries who do not enjoy the freedom to worship Christ openly.

 

2.             We have many internationals in our congregations, many of whom are experiencing American culture for the first time, and some of whom are considering the Christian faith for the first time. We do not want to have the bold gospel of the Cross somehow confused in their minds with Uncle Sam and a particular form of government or foreign policy.

 

3.             When a mood of patriotic celebration is present, it seems to be about two clicks away from partisan politics. While we strongly encourage citizens to vote, we are amazingly silent concerning how exactly Christians should vote. If anything, we want believers who are committed to different views on social programs and public policies to be ONE IN CHRIST. There are some fine Scriptures that support this position.

 

FINAL COMMENT:

I realize that there are many Christ-centered churches that pull out all the stops (and flags) for these civic celebrations. My intent here is to share with colleagues in ministry how we have worked through some of these issues in a way that seems consonant with our understanding of the Lord’s will for our congregation. May God’s richest blessings be on you and your congregations—and on our country.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Carl Stam

Director, Institute for Christian Worship

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

 

Minister of Music & Worship

Clifton Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky

 

B21’s Nathan Akin to do a Webinar for NC State Convention

B21’s Nathan Akin will lead a webinar for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina on the topic, “Raising Up Future Elders and Church Planters: How to be Intentional about 2 Timothy 2:2.” Nathan will take a look at how local churches should be intentional about multiplying leaders and will draw on the internship he went through at Open Door Baptist Church.

 

From the State Convention Registration Website: Nathan Akin will take a look at the Biblical call for pastors to raise up men who will be future leaders in their church and in churches that they will plant. We will specifically look at being intentional about training these men. Nathan will reflect upon the training that he went through as a good model to establish in other churches. Every church should be seeking to multiply its leaders and therefore seeking to multiply itself through planting, but this has to be intentional or it will never happen.

 

When: Thursday March 31 @ 11am – 12pm

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE

Cost: Free

 

B21 Panel – SBC 2011

Baptist21 is excited to announce that we will once again host a panel at this year’s Southern Baptist Convention to be held in Phoenix, AZ.

Topic: A discussion on issues in the SBC, particularly “Mission”

When: During the Tuesday Lunch break of the SBC (June 14th)

Participants:

• John Piper
• David Platt
• Albert Mohler
• Danny Akin
• Kevin Ezell
• Bryant Wright

There are still many details to be determined, such as: location, cost, etc… stay tuned for more information in the days ahead

Rob Bell Controversy

Some have asked for resources on what is going on with Rob Bell’s new book, “Love Wins.” Here are the resources that we have found to be most helpful. In addition, today at 2:30pm The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary will be live-streaming a discussion of the book with Albert Mohler, Russell Moore, Denny Burk, and Justin Taylor

Resources on Rob Bell’s New Book:

• Here is a Video of Bell explaining the book
• An interview on MSNBC with Rob Bell is a must-see: MSNBC’s Martin Bashirs Takes on Rob Bell
• Dr. Moore of Southern Seminary raises concerns that go even beyond Bell’s view of Hell over at his blog in a piece entitled, “The Blood-Drained Gospel of Rob Bell”
• The most extensive review of the book we have discovered is Kevin DeYoung’s. It is available here, along with Justin Taylor’s “cliff notes” of it: Rob Bell’s Love Wins A Response
• Dr. Mohler, president of Southern Seminary, writes an fascinating piece entitled, “We Have Seen All this Before: Rob Bell and the (Re)Emergence of Liberal Theology“

 

Saved From… To… For… (part 2)

Check out Part one of Saved From… To.. For..

Part 2 of Saved From… To… For…

• We are saved from the Wrath of God. A.W. Tozer once wrote, “All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about him” (A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy). Sin is rebellion, treason at the highest measure against the perfect and holy God that has created all things for his glory. Ephesians 2:3 says that by nature, all people are children of wrath. Indeed, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). One of the most vivid Old Testament images we have of God’s wrath is a “cup” (Ps. 75:8; Is. 51:17; Jer. 25:15). This backdrop highlights the beauty of the cross of Christ all the more. Christ drained the cup of wrath on the cross so that we would not taste one drop of it. Growing up, I knew I had done some bad things and I didn’t want to go to hell. I had no understanding that it was God who would inflict this punishment because of my rebellion against him. A deep reflection upon this brings about much gratitude and humility. As many have proclaimed, “How can one be arrogant when he stands beside the cross?”

• We are saved to the people of God. As a youngster, I sang “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God,” yet I never understood what it meant to be adopted as God’s son. I didn’t understand what it cost Christ to purchase his bride and the cost he requires from her. Or where accountability, equipping the saints and raising up leaders from within the local body are the biblical standard and model. Or that God has gifted me and others in unique ways that, “when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Eph. 4:16) until “we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood” (Eph. 4:13). When one tastes this, it is a foretaste of what’s to come. Church is not a calendar event and a good business network. This is a family who loves and serves one another. A family who fights for one another: killing sin and exhorting one another daily so that our hearts do not become “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). As Bruce Milne states, “True Christian fellowship has a vein of steel in it” (Bruce Milne, We Belong Together, 37). God has always been about a people, from the cultural mandate in Gen. 1:28 to Revelation. And in the end, we see a mighty throng, consisting of people from every tribe, tongue and nation worshipping Christ together. Whenever I share the Gospel with people now, I almost always hear one brother saying, “if you haven’t said anything about the Church, the people of God, have you really shared the Gospel?”

• We are saved for the mission of God. We are saved from the awful wrath of God. We are saved to the people of God. But lest we forget that this world is not our home and become mighty comfortable in our holy huddles, we are saved for the mission of God. 1 Peter 2:9-10 states “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Since the beginning, God’s plan is for a people to dwell with him. This is how the biblical narrative concludes: life forever with God dwelling among his people in the good land! Nothing can thwart this plan. But that time has not come yet. Until it does, we’ve been given the incredible privilege of living 1 Peter 2:9. And we have the reminder of verse 10 just in case we lose sight of who does the redeeming or motivation for the task at hand. Growing up, witnessing was inviting people to church. Again, this is not a bad thing in most situations, but it simply doesn’t come close to bringing the Scriptures alive regarding the mission of God. Christians ought to be about this: making disciples of all the nations. He saved us to display and proclaim the worth of Christ above all things!

This post is by no means comprehensive. However, over the past couple of years, God has deepened my love for the Gospel through him teaching me on the points above. It is my prayer that through a better understanding of biblical salvation, perhaps we can minimize statistics such as “twice baptized.” I also pray that a better understanding will drive a never-ending gratitude for the Gospel and fuel a quicker obedience to the commands of Christ. Finally, I pray that God would be glorified in our words and deeds as we live lives worthy of the Gospel and go to all the peoples of the earth and herald the good news about Jesus. May we never neglect so great a salvation.