Lecture
- Matthew 5:17-27
- Connection between the old/new
- Jesus roots himself in the Law (old)
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Reinterprets the Law, “But I tell you…”
Jesus has authority over the Law. What the Law cannot do, fulfilled in Jesus (Rom 8).
Not legalistic but a greater relevance interpretation to the culture and context.
- Outward focus of the Law contrast with the inward focus of the change
- Matthew 9:15-16
- Doing the right thing at the wrong time
- New and old cannot intersect (cloth & wine)
- New birth, to be part of a New Covenant. You must be born again.
Discussion Questions
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Regarding Matthew’s thesis,
Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom (13:52)
- What specific old and new dynamics in the church cause tension between the older and younger generations?
- Protectionism - beauty
- Letting go - prodigal son
- Won Kim - Novel or new must tie to the truth
- Dennis Chi - good tension between emotion and God-centeredness
- Jonathan Lee - living between the old and new tension
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How can the shepherds be more loving to the sheep, and the sheep to the shepherds?
- Sabbatical - important for ministry
- Dexter Kilpatrick - We bleed while we lead
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Approximately 85 percent of churches in America have less than 200 people.
Sixty percent of churches are under 100 people.
The average size congregation in the U.S. is 89 people, according to The Barna Group. Staffs are small, and needs are great.
In many situations, the pastor needs to be a Bible teacher, accountant, attorney, strategist, visionary, computer tech, counselor, public speaker, worship director, prayer warrior, evangelist, mentor, leadership trainer and fundraiser, Who can be all of that?
- 90% of pastors said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be like before they entered the ministry.
- 70% say they have a lower self-image now than when they first started.
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Who are the insiders of the church and who are the outsiders? Since Jesus reversed the insiders and outsiders, what changes must we make in Christian circles?
After discussing these issues, we will move into Jewish and Gentile, progressing themes, and how that relates to multicultural and intercultural issues. That will lead us to the great commission that focuses on discipleship, but includes the important participles of going, teaching, baptizing and culminates with marginal people sent to the margins and women playing a vital role.
Finally, we need to wrap our head around this idea that Bruner mentions in his commentary on the great commission, stating that a church that is not a mission church is not the church of Jesus Christ. What does that mean and how does that challenge or change the church.
Quotes for Discussion
Regarding the discussion questions I recently sent on Jesus’ theme of new and old treasures in the kingdom (Matthew’s 13:52), consider also specific quotes about the contemporary church. Choose and prepare to discuss any of the three that you would like to discuss on in the zoom session on Saturday.
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Conflict swept under the rug, younger generation not attracted to the church:
In the churches, both pastoral leadership and congregants show difficulty in adapting to a rapidly changing world, ongoing triggers of chronic conflict swept under the rug, intergenerational differences in styles of leadership and worship, and aging congregations. As a result, younger generations are not attracted to the church, except for only a few congregations that are thriving.
- Church left the young generation?
- Dexter Kilpatrick - Matthew to Acts
- Not able to contextualize and more importantly synthesize intercultural and intergenerational dynamics coherently and missionally (directionally)
- Dennis Chi - generational contexts
- Paul Hertig - Presbyterian ordained minister - word and sacrament (sodality and modality)
- Jesus was relational
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Re-envisioning, Adapting, Shifting:
Pastors in general are burnt out and overwhelmed with a lack of vision/inspiration from leadership and a lack of buy-in and the desire to serve from the congregation. People have less trust in the church, in each other, and in the systems that have once felt secure, and our world feels more unstable.
Pastoral ministry then requires patience in helping people work through all that they’ve gone through to re-establish trust with God as well as with other people.
Pastoral ministry also requires a re-envisioning of what church is supposed to look like. This requires adapting and seeking and searching to figure out what God is doing in shifting what the church is. That on top of pastoral issues is a lot to juggle.
- How to shift?
- Won Kim - finding place of vulnerability. New margin - living on edge of their psyche
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Post-Covid Pain and Polarization:
Currently, pastors are burnt out from serving during Covid when their whole model of ministry may have changed. They have lost parishioners, who may have not returned after Covid. They may have lost parishioners who are unhappy with the way the pastor handled political or racial issues. They are not only required to preach good sermons on Sunday (competing with all the online sermons out there); they are also ministering to people who may be experiencing hurt, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and the effects of various kinds of trauma. It is also difficult to build community when people are polarized.
These quotes are from Asian Women.