9 Marks - Challenges to the Gospel

 

Have you checked out 9marks.org lately? They have posted a series of articles and resources on the Challenges to the Gospel.

CHALLENGES TO THE GOSPEL
The Therapeutic Gospel
By David Powlison

Brian McLaren and the Gospel of Here & Now
By Greg Gilbert

Satanism, Starbucks, and Other Gospel Challenges
A 9Marks Interview with David Wells

EXPLAINING THE “GOSPEL” TO NON-CHRISTIANS?
A Pastors’ and Theologians’ Forum on Explaining the Gospel
You can get the PDF version of July/August 9News which includes the text of the articles.

Are these challenges relevant in the Asian American context or is there a different application for us? Read some the articles and feel free to give some feedback.

Korean American Leadership Luncheon at PCA General Assembly (2)

Here are some pictures from the Korean American Leadership Forum Luncheon at the PCA General Assembly. There were 29 people at the luncheon. Here are some people that I know of who were in attendance: Phil Ryken (our speaker), Rev. & Mrs. Henry Koh (coordinator of MNA’s Korean Ministries), Rev. & Mrs. Frank Barker (one of the founders of the PCA. The PCA began at his church, Briarwood PC), Jack Ewing (an Elder who is a supporter of Korean Ministries), James Han and Daniel Chong (Redeemer PC in California), Hank Hahm and Caleb Lee (Christ Central PC in Virginia), Min Chung and Joe Tek Yun (Covenant Fellowship Church in Illinois), Duke Kwon (GraceDC PC in Washington, DC), Daniel Oh (Army Chaplain, a major), Phil Chul Won Jeon (Army Chaplain in Oklahoma), Johan Baik (Navy Chaplain in Japan), Joshua Cho (Saehan PC in Georgia), Dong Woo Kim (Cornerstone PC in Pennsylvania), Paul Lee (QPEM, in Queens, New York), Peter Park (Living Stone CC in California), and a few 1st generation Korean pastors that were there in support. If you are part of the PCA I hope you will plan on attending next year’s General Assembly in Dallas (June 10-13, 200 and join us for the Korean American Leadership Luncheon.

Phil Ryken gave an address on “How the Devil wants to run your church?” It was about how to define strength and success in ministry. Dr. Ryken wrote an article on this topic for By Faith Magazine and he contextualized it for the Korean American context. The audio for this talk and the discussion afterwards is here.

Quoting EM Bounds, Ryken says,

Bounds begins by asking this question: What is the truest measure of a church’s strength? His answer is, “True strength lies in the vital godliness of the people. The aggregate personal holiness of the members of each church is the only true measure of strength. Any other test offends God, dishonors Christ, grieves the Holy Spirit, and degrades religion.” To put it another way, the strength of any church is the work of the Spirit in conforming its members to the life of Christ. However, Satan’s strategy is to lure us into thinking that our strength lies elsewhere—not in the inward things of the Spirit, but in things that are external and superficial. “One of the schemes of Satan,” Bounds writes, “is to establish a wrong estimate of church strength.” A church is considered strong, he goes on to say, “when its membership is large, when it has social position, financial resources; when ability, learning, and eloquence fill the pulpit, and when the pews are filled by fashion, intelligence, money and influence.”

Here is a picture with some friends after the luncheon.

Korean American Leadership Luncheon at PCA General Assembly

I’m in Memphis Tennessee at the PCA General Assembly. We just concluded the Assembly. This afternoon there was a Luncheon for Korean American Pastors (English-speaking) sponsored by Mission to North America - Korean Ministries. Dr. Phil Ryken gave the address on “How the Devil wants to run your church”. You can listen to the audio here. The audio is not good quality but the address is really good.