I thought it would be good occasionally to post something on Presbytery, last summer Wade Bradshaw left IPC Liss to return to the US. He now works for Trinty Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville. At the Presbytery last June he gave the following remarks. I've found them really helpful so thought you might want to read them.
Wade Bradshaw’s Departing Remarks:
Given before the English Presbytery of the IPC 6 June 2006
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us …”
As I leave to return to America, these are the weights and entanglements I see for the International Presbyterian Church. I have three to mention this afternoon.
The first is the weight of our pasts. I say it this way, because we in the IPC have several pasts, but I want to mention two prominent ones. First, there is the heritage of L’Abri Fellowship, and secondly, there are the Presbyterian churches that we come from – and the PCA in particular.
Both of these are very strong histories, and both flow from the Protestant Reformation. Each has a great deal to offer us today in our situation, and the two can co-exist together well.
But I have often noticed that dangers we face seem to come in pairs. There is one danger in front of us – this is the danger we are most aware of and most afraid of stumbling over. Very frequently, however, this danger in front of us is not something we are going to stumble into: we are too aware of it, too afraid of it to do that. Instead, as we back away from the danger in front of us, we are likely to fall into a different problem, a danger that was always there and lurking behind us.
We in the IPC are afraid of losing our histories: the heritage of L’Abri and the PCA, and perhaps even of the Reformation. In the past, we may have wrestled with things; but in our current situation, the loss of our heritage is the danger in front of us. Our real danger and the one that we could back into unintentionally, the danger that we should actually fear is our not looking to the new thing God is calling us to be: a seriously connected, international, reformed, missional church in post-Christian Europe. As we back away from the danger of forgetting L’Abri, or the danger to our PCA background and the danger of losing the Reformation, we may actually fall into our real danger of just replaying previous history rather than trusting and obeying God with the opportunities of today.
The second weight that I think I can see among us is what I call the secret story we tell ourselves. This is related to the weight of our pasts.
Presbyterianism is ‘life in committee’ and church-planters can find life in committee maddening. We tell ourselves that “I am the only person who understands … something.” This something with which we finish the sentence can be many things. It might be the heritage of L’Abri, or Presbyterian polity, or what the future of our church-planting denomination ought to be.
Once I identify myself as the only voice for some cause, all kind of bad things begin to happen. Among these, we stop listening to each other carefully. We group each other in our minds into parties, rather than listening to the Holy Spirit. We trust only ourselves in this one issue, but soon we can begin to trust only ourselves on many issues. We begin to try to win in committee rather than to be wise and learning how to lose. This cascade of bad things is of the Flesh, not the Spirit.
The third weight is about personal holiness and devotion. Church-planters are a very independent bunch. We can try to look good to impress one another and to gain status. This is normal behaviour. In reality, however, we may be what Jesus referred to as white-washed tombs: all image for the eyes of people watching, while inwardly there is a loss of devotion to God and dependence upon His power. There can be a loss of a pure heart and mind and body.
I think that we are to grow in our connection to each other, to grow in intimacy, being honest with each other, looking out for each other. We should not fear that the others learn my weaknesses and problems, we should fear that my brothers not know my real struggles. Our connection is not to be only administrative but a common walk in the Holy Spirit.
So, our weights may be:
· Fearing the loss of our past, when we should fear not responding to God’s opportunities today.
· Telling ourselves that ‘only I’ understand something, and then trusting only my opinion.
· Not allowing each other to be sinners – so that we can help each other really grow in holiness.
I have a last fourth point. It is more of an entanglement than a weight.
We have the Scriptures, the Confession, and the Book of Church Order. Be very careful about adding more and more requirements to our unity. The IPC ‘underdid’ it in the past, but we must not forever ‘tinker with the machine’ in hopes of making it perfect. I would counsel you to beware of adding things we must be similar in, because we are to be flexible and highly diverse. Beware the urge to centralise everything . We are to be truly and spiritually connected – this is very difficult to accomplish. And because people tend to ‘manage what they can measure’, we prefer to control everything administratively rather than doing the hard work to bring about the true and spiritual connection. The IPC needs to spend its time reaching postChristian Europe and modelling the Kingdom, rather than perfecting our uniformity in everything. So, my fourth point is then – we are to be connected not controlled; united not uniform.
“… Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Working with the IPC has been a real privilege for me. I have serious doubts that I shall ever again be associated with a better group undertaking a greater need.
Wade Bradshaw
Given before the English Presbytery of the IPC 6 June 2006
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us …”
As I leave to return to America, these are the weights and entanglements I see for the International Presbyterian Church. I have three to mention this afternoon.
The first is the weight of our pasts. I say it this way, because we in the IPC have several pasts, but I want to mention two prominent ones. First, there is the heritage of L’Abri Fellowship, and secondly, there are the Presbyterian churches that we come from – and the PCA in particular.
Both of these are very strong histories, and both flow from the Protestant Reformation. Each has a great deal to offer us today in our situation, and the two can co-exist together well.
But I have often noticed that dangers we face seem to come in pairs. There is one danger in front of us – this is the danger we are most aware of and most afraid of stumbling over. Very frequently, however, this danger in front of us is not something we are going to stumble into: we are too aware of it, too afraid of it to do that. Instead, as we back away from the danger in front of us, we are likely to fall into a different problem, a danger that was always there and lurking behind us.
We in the IPC are afraid of losing our histories: the heritage of L’Abri and the PCA, and perhaps even of the Reformation. In the past, we may have wrestled with things; but in our current situation, the loss of our heritage is the danger in front of us. Our real danger and the one that we could back into unintentionally, the danger that we should actually fear is our not looking to the new thing God is calling us to be: a seriously connected, international, reformed, missional church in post-Christian Europe. As we back away from the danger of forgetting L’Abri, or the danger to our PCA background and the danger of losing the Reformation, we may actually fall into our real danger of just replaying previous history rather than trusting and obeying God with the opportunities of today.
The second weight that I think I can see among us is what I call the secret story we tell ourselves. This is related to the weight of our pasts.
Presbyterianism is ‘life in committee’ and church-planters can find life in committee maddening. We tell ourselves that “I am the only person who understands … something.” This something with which we finish the sentence can be many things. It might be the heritage of L’Abri, or Presbyterian polity, or what the future of our church-planting denomination ought to be.
Once I identify myself as the only voice for some cause, all kind of bad things begin to happen. Among these, we stop listening to each other carefully. We group each other in our minds into parties, rather than listening to the Holy Spirit. We trust only ourselves in this one issue, but soon we can begin to trust only ourselves on many issues. We begin to try to win in committee rather than to be wise and learning how to lose. This cascade of bad things is of the Flesh, not the Spirit.
The third weight is about personal holiness and devotion. Church-planters are a very independent bunch. We can try to look good to impress one another and to gain status. This is normal behaviour. In reality, however, we may be what Jesus referred to as white-washed tombs: all image for the eyes of people watching, while inwardly there is a loss of devotion to God and dependence upon His power. There can be a loss of a pure heart and mind and body.
I think that we are to grow in our connection to each other, to grow in intimacy, being honest with each other, looking out for each other. We should not fear that the others learn my weaknesses and problems, we should fear that my brothers not know my real struggles. Our connection is not to be only administrative but a common walk in the Holy Spirit.
So, our weights may be:
· Fearing the loss of our past, when we should fear not responding to God’s opportunities today.
· Telling ourselves that ‘only I’ understand something, and then trusting only my opinion.
· Not allowing each other to be sinners – so that we can help each other really grow in holiness.
I have a last fourth point. It is more of an entanglement than a weight.
We have the Scriptures, the Confession, and the Book of Church Order. Be very careful about adding more and more requirements to our unity. The IPC ‘underdid’ it in the past, but we must not forever ‘tinker with the machine’ in hopes of making it perfect. I would counsel you to beware of adding things we must be similar in, because we are to be flexible and highly diverse. Beware the urge to centralise everything . We are to be truly and spiritually connected – this is very difficult to accomplish. And because people tend to ‘manage what they can measure’, we prefer to control everything administratively rather than doing the hard work to bring about the true and spiritual connection. The IPC needs to spend its time reaching postChristian Europe and modelling the Kingdom, rather than perfecting our uniformity in everything. So, my fourth point is then – we are to be connected not controlled; united not uniform.
“… Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Working with the IPC has been a real privilege for me. I have serious doubts that I shall ever again be associated with a better group undertaking a greater need.
Wade Bradshaw
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