BOOKreview
Leaders of Emmanuel Methodist Church (EMC) Bintulu had the privilege of completing this inspiring book “Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom” by Rob Rienow in the year 2020. The book was chosen in line with the General Conference and Annual Conference’s emphasis on family discipleship. Our learning mostly took the form of online zoom learning (given the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia) by assigning respective leaders to lead 3-4 chapters for each session.
Rienow’s book is divided into five sections: i) the sufficiency of Scripture, ii) the lost doctrine of jurisdiction, iii) God’s mission for the local church, iv) God’s mission for the family, and v) uniting church and family in the great commission. The first line under the introduction chapter of this book set the right direction for readers in approaching the book: “The singular passion of this book is the advance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth”. As one of our leaders emphasized, “the book isn’t just about family discipleship, or discipleship for that matter, it is about the kingdom of God”.
The singular passion
Indeed, the singular passion for us in everything we do and everything we are, should be the passion for the advancement of the Gospel of Christ. But then the next question that arises should be: “Are we really making disciples the way God has intended us to?” Rienow rightly points out that churches today are offering more and more programmes, and making fewer and fewer true disciples. In fact, not only are we making fewer disciples, we are losing more and more of our young generation!
Just take a look at some of these western churches today. Many grand and majestic churches (buildings) built by the last generation are now sparsely occupied by only a few Christians. Sanctuaries that can seat thousands are now occupied by a handful of faithful elderly people. Some churches are even sold and transformed into pubs and restaurants! At this side of the world of Christianity, if family discipleship were neglected, what we see today in the decline of Christianity in the west will hit us sooner than we think.
Interestingly, contrary to what most readers would expect, Rienow is proposing for the church to start doing less! It is an eye opener to hear what Rienow has to say regarding the doctrine of jurisdiction. In fact, at the last session of our leaders’ gathering this year, after going through all the chapters of the book, most leaders agree that the chapters on “the lost doctrine of jurisdiction” are the most inspiring.
The example lifted by the author in illustrating the doctrine of jurisdiction is apt: “Imagine there is a terrorist attack and one of my relatives is killed. I am furious and want justice to be done, so I go buy a gun, hunt down the perpetrators, and personally deliver the punishment they deserve” (pg 62). Any good citizen would know that we are not given the jurisdiction to execute punishment even on criminals of the worst kind. God has indeed established four foundational jurisdictions in the world we live in: individual, family, local church and the government.
Rienow puts forward two consequences when we violate such jurisdiction: Firstly, the crisis will not be solved, and secondly, “whenever there is a jurisdictional violation, the institution that is responsible for responding properly to the crisis will be robbed of motivation, time, and resources, making it more difficult for that institution to respond in the future” (pg 67). The formula that Rienow uses in the principles of jurisdiction is:
Good motives + jurisdictional violation = tragic results
The sad truth
In our church context today, the sad truth is that we may have overstepped some of these boundaries of jurisdiction without knowing it. For example, we may have run our Sunday School ministry very successfully and (unknowingly) robbed Christian parents of their motivation to nurture and influence their children spiritually.
Most churches are struggling with only 20% of their members doing 80% of the work. Rienow challenges the readers to think: what if the passive congregation is not the result of the church leaders not doing enough, but doing too much? (pg 77) Rienow rightly points out that many Christians in our churches today are passive because they can be. Missions trips are happening whether or not they are engaged because the leaders will make it happen. Evangelistic events will run whether or not they are engaged because the leaders will make it happen.
Back to youth and children’s ministries, could it be that all our great intentions of reaching out and training them have “usurped the responsibility of parents to be the primary spiritual trainers of their children in the home?” (pg 77). Of course, we didn’t mean for this to happen; but the truth is that we might have unknowingly overstepped the boundaries and thus robbed parents and families of the motivation and resources they needed for family discipleship.
Let me now backtrack a bit to the first section of the book on “the sufficiency of the Scripture”. As Rienow has observed, Christians at large are using the Bible for doctrinal issues but less when it comes to daily church decisions. Rienow argues that not only is the Bible useful for doctrinal issues, it should be useful in a very practical sense. The Bible not only tells us the “why” but also the “how” – specifically on the issue of discipleship (and more specifically family discipleship).
Rienow cited 2 Tim 3:16-17 in expounding the doctrine of the Sufficiency of the Scripture:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work”.
Just to clarify, I guess while the Bible doesn’t teach us about rocket science, it does provide us with everything with regards to our personal discipleship and interpersonal disciple-making (including that of our children). It is in that context that Rienow explores the doctrine of the Sufficiency of the Scripture: not only has God given us His ways but His means as well (pg 33).
A theology of family
Because the Bible is sufficient for our family discipleship, Rienow challenges churches to develop a theology of family that is solely based on the Bible. Indeed, our understanding of God’s Great Commission (in both the Old and New Testaments) has to be informed by the Bible if we truly believe that the Bible is the word of God. Rienow poured out his heart when he confessed that at a younger age as a pastor, he did not understand that God “had given the local church responsibility and authority to nurture, bless, and equip the Christian family for spiritual success” (pg 41). I believe that this is a pastoral recognition that most churches need today.
I am humbled into deep reflection when probed with this sharp question by Rienow: Are your leadership decisions based on what you think will work best, what seems most creative, or what God has specifically said in His Word? (pg 43). The doctrine of sufficiency of the Bible calls us to base our discipleship upon what the Lord of Discipleship has said (in the Bible).
The world may offer attractive formulae for success; but until we are obedient to the one who called us, we cannot say that we have been faithful in our ministry. Rienow offers three paths ahead to have the Word of God as the lamp to our feet and the light to our path: i) Commit to using the Bible rightly, ii) Commit to following the example of the Bereans, and iii) Prepare to stand alone.
Allow me to move on to the third section of the book, “God’s mission for the local church”. The focus of this section is for leaders to “re-examine their ministry in light of the pattern and commands for the local church given in the New Testament” (pg85). Rienow suggests four categories of tasks God has given to the local church: i) Worship God, ii) Preach the Bible, iii) Care for believers, and iv) Equip believers for works of ministry (pg 87).
On preaching, Rienow rightly points out that the first importance in our preaching is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and was raised on the third day. Personally to me, it is an echo of Paul’s writing in 1 Cor 2:2, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
Rienow commends us to preach the message of the Gospel every day. It is us who need the message of truth and grace every day. In SCAC’s Seminar on Family Discipleship earlier this year (March 2020), our invited speaker Rev. Moses Tay also preached a powerful sermon on preaching the gospel to ourselves every day. I am convinced that family discipleship isn’t set apart from discipleship, and never apart from the core of Christianity – the gospel of Christ!
Eph 4:11-12, So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.
As Rienow rightly points out, the verses remind us of the primary role of elders/pastors to equip believers for works of ministry. I especially like the usage of the following diagram in illustrating the order of responsibilities in our discipleship:
God desires us to have a genuine and loving relationship with Him as the first order, for everything else stems from it. God should be our first love. Subsequently a Biblical order of priority will be to our immediate family members. Only then it goes forth to the Church, and then to the world.
Re-prioritize
In my own reflection, I think that sometimes in our attempt to serve in the various ministries, we might have unintentionally violated God’s order of discipleship. Our unwavering commitment to ministries may even take away our time and priorities for our family members. It is the task of the local church to equip every believer so that they can re-prioritize the order of priority in their lives. It is the task of the local church to equip and care for believers so that they themselves will build up the body of Christ.
Under chapter 10 “Shepherding In the Church”, Reinow proclaimed that “one of the ways in which some churches have departed from the New Testament model of church leadership is by creating a false differentiation between those who are called elders and those who are called pastor” (pg 133). Personally, I think that at least on this side of the world, the Methodist churches are using either “elder” or “deacon” to address a pastor of a church. In a way, the issue raised by Rienow may not be so relevant in our context.
I don’t wish to go into the “black hole” of dispute over this issue – I can almost hear the Presbyterians shouting on top of their voices! Honestly, I do not fully agree with Rienow’s claim that “When a church separates the role of elder and pastor, it departs from the New Testament Model” even though as I said earlier on, it is not really an issue in the Methodist Churches in Malaysia.
I am reminded of what the Puritan theologian, Rupertus Meldenius, would say: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity”. I hope that the dispute on how administration of church should be done would not hinder churches at large (coming from different denominational backgrounds) from hearing the gems on family discipleship that one can find in this book.
Also under this chapter, we find Rienow arguing that only men were meant to be elders. On this, now it is the turn of the Methodist churches to scratch our heads in our ordination of women into deaconship and eldership. Rienow cited 1 Tim 2:12 for the basis that women shouldn’t teach the Bible to men in the local church. I depart from Rienow in my exegesis of the passage based on the following reasons:
i) A singular woman and a singular man is mentioned in V12, and in the subsequent verse, Adam and Eve are mentioned together. A woman is forbidden to assume au-thority over her husband (as YoungLiteral Translation affirms) because of creation order.
ii) We have to keep in mind the patriarchal world in which Paul lived wherein the men had much higher authorities over their wives in the society at large. In the Bible, only the word “brothers” is used to address the whole of congregation.
The word “sisters” is added later on in some Bible translations to make it clear that Paul (and other scripture writers) were indeed addressing the whole congregation.
Take, for example, V8 when Paul urged the men to lift up their praying hands, we understandthat the women are not exempted.
This hermeneutical principle is helpful in reading Titus 1:6 and 1 Tim 3:2 as well.
iii) The fact that there were women leaders during both the Old Testament and New Testament times call us to interpret this verse and 1 Cor 14:35 carefully. Again, both
1 Tim 2 and 1 Cor 14 forbid women to teach/speak against the backdrop of marriage.
As Rienow also realized, we may not reach the same conclusions and many volumes have been written on this matter. Again, I share my worry here that this chapter alone may be a stumbling block for many. My prayer is that the kingdom concept of family discipleship will reach the readers at large and that we will be united in the essentials.
Under the fourth section “God’s mission for the family”, Rienow has been helpful in listing down Bible passages from both the Old and New Testament which talk about Family Ministry/Discipleship. Rienow expounds clearly the vision for Family Discipleship through the giving of the first commandment, the great commandment, the Ten Commandments, and many more.
It is easier to appreciate the fifth section of the book once the readers have completed the previous chapters, especially chapters on doctrine of jurisdiction and the sufficiency of the Bible. For example, I can see the application of the doctrine of jurisdiction being laid out as we explore the issue of caring for the poor.
Rienow proposed lines of defence in respond to the issue of poverty in the Church: i) individual work, ii) the Christian family, iii) the local church. Rienow’s statement of the following sentence may be shocking to some readers but I believe that it does carry some weight in it: “It is a jurisdictional violation for the local church to use its monies to provide for a poor widow, or a poor member, if the person in need has believing family members who can help.” (pg 217) Again, one needs to understand the doctrine of jurisdiction before one can appreciate what Rienow is essentially saying.
Chapter 18 of the book “Transforming youth and children’s ministry” is a chapter that would help us with paradigm shifts in the way we perceive youth and children’s ministry. I am with Rienow that God has called parents as the primary discipler of their children. The local church’s jurisdictional responsibility is to train and equip parents. The parents’ jurisdictional responsibility is, in turn, to disciple their children at home. As Rienow put it: “A pastor’s primary impact in the life of a child comes through his impact in the lives of the child’s parents” (pg 230). I would like to add that this should be primarily in the context of Christian families.
Sunday School an outreach field
On Sunday School ministry, Rienow is right that over the decades and the centuries, churches at large had seen “Sunday School as a ministry organized by the local church to help Christian children grow in their faith and help lead lost children to Christ” (pg 237). The fact is that the vision at the birth of Sunday School in the 1800s was totally different from what we understand it to be in the 21st century! Sunday School started more to reach out to children from non-Christian families. It was an outreach field rather than a centre for discipleship.
The image of an orphanage comes to me when I was discussing this chapter with my church leaders. An orphanage exists because healthy or holistic families don’t. Can we imagine an orphanage that takes in children with perfectly fine parents? Sunday School ministry started off with a vision of reaching out to children of non-Christian families. Over time, it has become so “successful” that it now functions as the primary place where Christian families expect the discipleship of their children to take place. It has become an overwhelming orphanage!
I am not against Sunday School ministry. But I do think that churches at large should begin to reflect how we can incorporate family discipleship in our Sunday School ministry, so that every Christian parent would know that the primary place their children are to be discipled is not in the Sunday School where their children spend 1-2 hours weekly; but rather at home where they get to see real faith in action!
In chapter 19, Rienow gives very practical ways on how we can start leading change in our individual churches. I like the emphasis given to start with the Bible. Rienow proposed that only when we have doctrinal unity, based on the Bible alone, are we then prepared to lead with courage and conviction (pg 246). Rienow also shares principles for implementation of family discipleship: i) Unified, ii) Bible-Driven, iii) Parents first, church second.
I appreciate the emphasis given on marriage in this book. I really do. In most scenarios of our children’s discipleship problems, we can trace its roots to our marriage problems. We can only be as good a parent as we are a husband/wife to our spouse. It was God’s idea to “fill the earth with His worship through marriage, family, and multi-generational faithfulness” (pg 276).
Honestly, the section on “God’s pro-life church” under chapter 21 may not be so applicable in the Asian context. It is definitely a struggle in the western world; but for Asian churches, it isn’t really a battle between pro-life or pro-choice. On this side of the world, abortion largely remains illegal, except if the pregnancy poses a danger to the life of the mother.
Chapter 22 “Elevating singles ministry” is a chapter that most of us didn’t expect to read in a book that talks about family discipleship. We are all humbled by the special mention of the need to elevate singles ministry. It is indeed true that there hasn’t been much teaching on singlehood in the church, much less on celebrating the gift of singlehood.
Especially in Asian cultures, singlehood is largely something to be frowned upon. Most parents get super worried if their children hit the age of 30 and remain single. In our culture, singlehood is like a problem to be solved! We need to return to the biblical perspective on singlehood and the gift of singlehood. Rather than segregating singles into a homogenous ministry that robs them of care and connections to the whole body of Christ, we need to (as Rienow put it) love the singles into fellowship of the bigger body of Christ – God’s family!
There are many other gems in this book waiting for the readers to find them. I simply want to appreciate that as Rienow brings us to the last chapter, he intentionally brings us back to where we started – every thought for the gospel!
As I bring my reflection to a close, I want to conclude by saying that the book “Limited Church Unlimited Kingdom” is definitely a book that all churches today must pick up and read – clergy and laymen alike! We need to return to the basis of discipleship– according to God’s terms and not ours. We need to return to the Bible, to reflect and examine our philosophy of doing ministry especially that which concerns our marriage, parenthood, children, and youths. May our faithfulness before God bear the fruit of generational faithfulness in many generations to come!