Caleb Levi

Some of you might be inspired by the Theopolitan vision, but find yourselves in churches that are indifferent or hostile. You want the church to sing Psalms, but the pastor and congregation prefer sappy but familiar hymns. You want weekly communion, but the pastor is worried it will become rote. You’re looking for a church where the congregation is vigorously active in the worship, but every church has a praise band that performs before a passive congregation. What should you do? If the church is faithful to the gospel, start by giving thanks for the congregation, pastor, and church you already attend. Thank God for their faithfulness, for their ministries and evangelism, for the truth that is communicated. Thankfulness isn’t complacency. You can give thanks and also criticize and offer suggestions. But without thankfulness, even legitimate criticisms and suggestions will arise from an ungodly, embittered spirit. If you can’t find anything to give thanks for, you shouldn’t be there. If the church has betrayed the gospel, protest. If the protest fails, leave. When you do criticize, do it directly to the church’s leaders. Don’t start talking to other members to form a sub-congregation of complaint, what Pastor Douglas Wilson (@douglaswils) calls a “fellowship of the grievance.” Grievance is a powerful force for forming bonds, but the bonds are demonic. Whatever criticisms or suggestions you offer to the pastor or other leaders, remember that they are your shepherds who are charged by Jesus to keep watch for your soul (Heb 13:17). Remember that you are called to obey them and honor them (Heb. 13:17). You don’t have to agree with them. But you must honor them as Christ’s appointed shepherds. Appeal, don’t demand. Suggest, don’t give orders. And pray that the Lord will lead the leaders into a deeper appreciation of biblical worship. And remember that, however feeble the church seems, it is contributing to the work of building God’s city. However pathetic, it is the city of the living God, heaven sent to earth. - Peter Leithart The Theopolitan Vision

We have to leave room in the life of the church for Acts 15:39 situations. If the apostles could have sharp disagreements with one another over matters of judgment, and go there separate ways without anathematizing one another, we can too. Sometimes thing just don't work out. Some situations in a fallen world cannot be resolved this side of judgment day. Sometimes good people just come to different situations about complex situations. We can go separate ways while still recognizing one another as brothers. Not every disagreement has to end in an excommunication or condemnation. We must keep a sense of proportion.

One of the trickiest things about being a pastor is that there's no universal job description. As an associate pastor, that's easier for me because I have a senior pastor who can assign me tasks. 1/

There has been a lot of discussion recently about pastors and sabbaticals, and I have a couple thoughts. First, why is this even a discussion on the internet? This is a matter for local churches to handle with their elders and leaders. They are the ones who know the gifting of the pastor, the hard work he has put in, and his strengths and weaknesses. They are the ones who must determine what is best for the ministry. Yes, there are many weak and effeminate men who should not be pastors. There are many false teachers in our day. But this question is still a matter of prudence and liberty for a church to decide. Second, much of this discussion simply reflects the same anti authority spirit that is common in some circles today. Strangely enough, it often comes from people who claim to support hierarchy, yet behave in a very egalitarian way. Some men spend their time tearing down the pastorate and tearing down civil magistrates while presenting themselves as authorities, even though no one has actually entrusted them with real authority. They may have a small following on the internet, but they are not building anything lasting. You cannot build something long term on egalitarianism. It does not work because it is not how God designed the world. God has established real authorities, and pastors and elders are among them. Even when some men act dishonorably in those positions, we must not dishonor the office itself. The office should be held in very high esteem. Much of what we are seeing is simply the continued bitterness and anger that social media tends to produce. Christians should aim higher than that.

Accusation and apology have replaced baseball as America's pastime. Sometimes it's a healthy reckoning with the past. Most of the time it's a power-play, an attempt to weaken, manipulate, dominate. Guilty people are easy to control, even if the guilt isn't real. People with strong, clean consciences aren't manipulable, and "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." A simple principle: Don't confess sins you haven't committed. Jesus and the apostles didn't (cf. Acts 24). - Peter Leithart

Churches taking a “break” on the Sunday between two holidays is a symptom that we’ve lost the plot on what rest/sabbath actually mean

To prepare the wicked to receive the pure milk of the word like an infant, the Lord will first have to break their teeth.

look, if you pummeled the people with mainstream media talking points as "gospel issues" from 2015-2022, you prolly need to sit out the "keeping-politics-out-of-the-pulpit" discourse

What kind of churches do we at Theopolis dream of? Churches like these: Churches where “faith without works is dead” is heard as frequently as “justification by faith.” Preachers who teach the whole Bible in all its depth and beauty and who draw on the whole tradition of commentary as they prepare sermons. The word of God is active, a two-edged sword. Pastors who form friendships with, pray with, learn from, and study the Bible with local Catholic and Orthodox priests, as well as other Protestant pastors. Pastors who take the time to cross the street to befriend a pastor from another denomination. For we are one body. Seminaries where theologians are encouraged to follow Scripture wherever it leads, even if we have to admit that our opponents were right all along. Seminaries that pass on the tradition of the whole Church, rather than flatter tribal instincts. Professors who teach other traditions accurately. Churches willing to give up some treasured tribal slogans and symbols for the sake of unity. Churches whose worship centers on the Eucharist, celebrated at least weekly, where all the baptized are welcome. Evangelical Protestants who do not consider it “Catholic” to have a regular Eucharist, a sung liturgy, set prayers and responses, dialogic worship. Churches whose members know Psalms as well as any medieval monk, whose hymns and prayers and praise are infused with the cadences of the Psalter. Be filled with the Spirit. Churches with enemies enough to make imprecatory Psalms meaningful. Break the teeth of the lions. Churches that pray for the specific needs of churches from other denominations in public worship and know the specific needs of other churches. Churches whose musical culture is shaped by the tradition of church music. Churches where infants are baptized and young children participate in the Eucharistic assembly. Do not forbid them. Churches whose pastors have the courage to use the tools of discipline with all love, gentleness, kindness, and patience—but use them, rather than using love and gentleness as excuses for cowardice and lethargy. Churches that honor the discipline of other churches, rather than receiving rebels from neighbor churches. For we are one body. Lutheran pastors who teach obedience (as Luther did!), Anglicans who exercise discipline, jolly Presbyterians with a reputation for levity, Pentecostals attuned to the Christian tradition, Baptists who acknowledge hierarchy, liturgical Bible churches. Cities where all the churches pray and worship and labor together, where the pastors serve the interests of the city, speaking with one voice to civic leaders. Pastoral associations that include representatives of every church—Evangelical, mainline, charismatic, Catholic, Orthodox. Local pastoral associations that discuss theological differences, and do so honestly, vigorously, charitably, striving toward a common confession of the faith. Churches that take the pedophilia scandal, or the upheavals of the Anglican Communion, or the persecution of Orthodox believers as crises among our people—not problems for someone else over there. If one suffers, all the members suffer. Protestants who recognize that they are already members of a Church where some venerate icons, some believe in transubstantiation, some slaughter peaceful Muslim neighbors, some believe in papal infallibility and Mary’s immaculate conception. For we are one body. - Peter Leithart

It is impossible to have a consistent "big God" theology if at the same time you treat culture and politics as a no-fly zone.

@_Michael_Hansen Always thought Titus 3:3 is closest to touching all these areas of nuance.

Listen, all I'm wanting us to do is to treat the Scriptures how the world treats a Taylor Swift album announcement. Excitement, hunting for clues and symbols, thrilled to hear from Him.

The real heart of the disagreement about baptism is whether the New Covenant corresponds to the visible Church or the invisible Church. Paedobaptists say the former Credobaptists the latter.

Why baptize a baby? He can’t understand a thing that’s going on. He’s made no decision, can’t even speak the name of Jesus. We might as well ask: Why talk to him, sing, or caress him when he’s crying? He doesn’t understand any of that either. He’s not given permission for you to kiss him. Two answers. First, he knows more than you realize. When you kiss him, he knows you love him. When you make a funny face, he smiles. When you stick out your tongue, he does too. Second, as you talk to him, he learns to speak back. With infants, the biblical principle holds: They love us because we first love them. Baptizing infants fits the way infants are. In baptism, our heavenly Father speaks to, kisses, names, caresses an infant with water and the Spirit. In baptism, Jesus lays His hand on an infant and says, “This one is mine.” The infant knows more than he’s letting on. God is not distant from him. And God touches so he learns to speak back, love, follow the Lord Jesus whose name he bears.

Pastors, if no courage is required to preach your sermon each Sunday, you’re doing it wrong.

One cost of being a leader: People will lie about you, believe the worst about you, and revile you to others in ways they never would to your face. So if you will be a leader, you must also be a God-fearer, not one who trembles at the whispers of whisperers.

"Forgiveness is a definite act performed by us on the fulfillment of certain conditions. . . . Forgiveness is something actively administered on the repentance of the person who is to be forgiven. We greatly impoverish ourselves and impair the relations that we should sustain to our brethren when we fail to appreciate what is involved in forgiveness." -- John Murray

Chanting Psalm 12 with your church > listening to the blonde in the praise band sing the new hit song from His Radio. FYI, you can't say you're applying Colossians 3:16 with pop music as a spiritual song when you've never sung a full Psalm.

@_Michael_Hansen In my experience, most baptists lack a category for ch. polity and assume a lot with inter-church relationships. Opinions are everywhere. I know you have a specific baptist in mind here. But I know a few who want a Quaker style church whose "pastor" goes to presbytery meetings