April 25, 2015 By Al Ngu
Since we joined an evangelical charismatic church planting in 1995 till 2011, I have been immersed in the teachings on the very much “I will…” self-driven, asking from God for church planting kind of theology and teaching. Being much in Pentecostal in thinking, of which I loved the worship, it is much to my dismay that our theological understanding is at best shallow, and much simplified for the sake of practical application in daily life, obsoleting the desire and ambition to learn really the eschatology, theology of reformed theology in their best tradition of Martin Lloyd Jones, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Martin Luther, Calvin, and Augustine. The names that I listed have profound understanding of theology that changed my ministry and life forever.
I will address the what? And why? First of all, I have pondered since coming to New York City in 2008, I have learnt much from Tim Keller’s teachings that’s very Christ centered and God centered as opposed to our self-effort theology in much of the evangelical world that I have been accustomed to. Tim Keller’s teaching & full of grace, redemptive narrative of Christ theology that envelops the entire outlook of Christianity, has had a profound influence in my thing, understanding and the inner desire for God. John Piper has also taught me to desire after God. Keller has taught me much, for example, our utmost desire is God himself, and not the blessings, and power from God! Even the ministry that we want to build for God, in the name of Christ, can be very well an idol in our hearts. What does that mean? That means that our delight in our church planting can actually surpass the delight in God himself. I have felt much worn out, and in a sense burnt out in the last 5 years church planting in New York. All the teachings I am getting are “I should …” or Focus on God…or Have faith…Do not wonder…don’t doubt…etc. and the like. It’s a very much man focused, man centered ability, and albeit in the power of the Holy Spirit, but the fundamental theology is flawed. That’s why church planters feel burnt out in the mission field. Even those who succeed in big churches (mostly in Asia) in this pattern of theology, I do not sense the joy of deep satisfaction and desire for God as in a God centered theology church. And you can understand why I am desperate to see this teaching being worked out in my “new” church plant.
For too long theology has been ignored, and seminary training has been scoffed at in the Pentecostal circles, in the name of pragmatism, and hands on. I even heard of words like after the M.Div. degree in Fuller’s the pastor has lost his ability to speak in tongues. I am not against the charismatic gifts like tongues. In fact, I am aiming to combine the reformed theology teaching, which is so refreshing & empowering to me with the charismatic worship, & definitely I believe in prayers for divine healing too. But why do we have to choose between one of the two? Why can’t we have both?
I took on MAR (Master in Religion) with Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, a year ago, and did part time basis and I completed like 6 credit hours. I pretty much scored all A’s across the board. I also completed a 2 years (once a month) course with Redeemer-City-to-City “Incubators” course that I learnt so much that blew me away. In comparison, this blew away all my 6 credit hours in the seminary with very analytical hands on deep thinking by Tim Keller. I feel so much more equipped, and pretty much freed me from the inferior feeling of not having a seminary degree in the mission field esp. in a city like New York planting a church. (Though I am definitely going to complete a M.Div. or MTh after I have gone full time). I discovered for the life of me, that there is so much to learn about contextualization, worship, fears, ambitions, anxieties & hopes of humans in a secular world population. And to be able to have better understanding of who they are, and thus bringing our theology of the cross to meet their needs, and challenge them to see the beauty of the cross, is something that is very invigorating in my soul.
Not to make this a long article, but a quick summary of my thoughts in the regeneration and renewal of my personal faith in my God and also the calling of God upon my life and my wife together to plant the kind of Gospel centered church in New York and multiply in church planting in the days to come in America and the world. I believe strongly that many pastors and church planters in the evangelical/charismatic world do not lack zeal, but they lack the right exposure to the right deep biblical theology that can shape their walk with God (as the #1 importance), only then, secondly, their ministry for God. Not that they can’t learn or have a lower IQ, but they’re just not taught the right theology. Yes, we all can do it.
You might produce temporary positive results, but you’ll never produce lasting transformation with your performance.
Incarnation of Christ
“And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord . . . and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons'” (Luke 2:22-24). Under the law, the regular sacrifice was a lamb, but there was a provision for poor mothers: “If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons” (Leviticus 12:8). This is what Mary brought. Jesus, who had all the riches of the world at his disposal, chose to be incarnate into a family that could not even afford a regular sacrifice. Let us not love riches.–Bethany Jenkins
It is true that Jesus, the owner of the whole universe, chose to be born into this world he created, into a poor manger. The most stunning thing to me is that when the time came for offerings to be made for the dedication of the baby to God, his parents Joseph and Mary were in the category of the poor as they couldn’t afford a lamb offering. I guess, in today’s terms, Jesus would have been raised in the low cost housing of New York, The God of the universe grows up in the low cost housing. Is that incarnation? Is that implication for our lives?
I pray for myself and my church and my christian friends to know the incarnation of Christ.
The real gospel or the false witness
I have heard people preach this way: “The good news is that God is healing and will heal the world of all its hurts; therefore, the work of the gospel is to work for justice and peace in the world.” The danger in this line of thought is that the good news becomes a divine rehabilitation program for the world, rather than an accomplished substitutionary work. “Believing the good news” means joining that program, rather than receiving Christ’s finished work.
In other words, the gospel becomes primarily a salvation by practice instead of a salvation by faith. As J. I. Packer says, “The gospel does bring us solutions to these problems, but it does so by first solving…the deepest of all human problems, the problem of man’s relation with his Maker; … and unless we make it plain that the solution of these former problems depends on the settling of this latter one, we are misrepresenting the message and becoming false witnesses of God. –Tim Keller
What shocked me here is the sentence “good news (gospel) becomes a divine rehabilitation program for the world.”—That is pretty shocking and I feel guilty that to some measure we, evangelicals, charismatics, are guilty. And that’s precisely what diminished the power of the gospel or the word of God in our lives because we misrepresent the gospel. We preach a gospel that’s cheap. We want to stress the divine healing. Or we say “Come to Christ, and you will be blessed with healings, eternal life etc”. This is true, but the emphasis is not reflecting the real gospel. The true gospel is to resolve the deepest of all human problems, the problem of man’s relation with his Maker. Only then through this, we can see solution to all the problems of hurts, brokenness that we face in the world.
Very powerfully stated, we can be misrepresenting the gospel and becoming false witnesses of God.
Praying for 2014 Harvest
This is December 2013, Christmas bell is ringing and 2014 is just round the corner. We are going to believe God for great harvest coming.
As we move into 2014, harvest awaits us but something has to change in our group. 2014 will be a crucial year for us and me.
Can you pray for hope New York church as we are going to start biweekly dinner cum short gospel sharing outreach meetings starting this Sunday? This is new which I learnt from my incubator course. Pretty radical .
Kick off this Christmas meal December 22. After that we will review and plan for biweekly outreach example Chinese New Year and new students intake in jan . Need a lot of prayer because we don’t have enough man power and contacts. Work is difficult and challenging.
Also starting a core team training and planning group weekly with prayers teaching and communion and offerings . Teaching rich gospel centered theology for internal transformation with grace and outreach focused and challenge . (No more Sunday or sat service, no church service until we launch with 40-50 people). Learnt that having service with less than 20 people does not retain Americans . We need to be good and ready to launch .
We are starting our weekly fast and a core group weekly brain storm and sharing and teaching cum prayer that’s closed group.
Thanks for praying and u appreciate that.
In God we trust
Thanksgiving , Advent…Christmas 2013
I am thankful for my wife Doreen who stands with me and serves the Lord together fervently. For our 4 children and seeing God’s grace upon their lives. Praise God Paul has gone into a fine college, Sarah has started working. For our church’s folks that had been great companions in this journey of faith together to build a community that embodies the gospel of Christ and his aroma.
Very thankful for the greater revelation of Christ in my life through the gospel. I am more and more made aware of the profound power and impact that the gospel has on me, the church, and the city. The gospel is not only for our salvation only, but also for sanctification of our lives.
This year 2013 has been spectacular. I started my MA Religion with Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary; enrolled my with Redeemer City-to-City Incubators course (2 years for church planters getting equipped to launch), and seeing some refreshing sovereign work of God in Hope NY Church that is amazing. Though we lost a few folks who left for mission, personal reasons, we start seeing some growth among the local New Yorkers. The words of Christ that says “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” rings loud and clear.
Advent for Christmas is coming. It traditionally starts on Dec 1 till Christmas Eve. I have downloaded a great Advent devotion to prepare oneself before this awesome world changing time called Christmas, the birth of the Son of the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, into this world, 2000 years ago in a humble manger in Bethlehem.
In 4 months’ time we will celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Christ, another momentous day when the world is profoundly changed for ever. Then we will have the Lent period.
I lament that many evangelicals/charismatics have lost track of these very fine godly institutionalized practices to bring soberness, and meditation of our souls on what the Lord Jesus has done for us. Let’s begin the journey!
Here is an excellent Advent.
http://dwynrhh6bluza.cloudfront.net/resources/documents/5544/DG_Advent_eBook-2013.pdf?1384881563
I will make you fisher of men
Luke 54 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
God spoke to me as I was praying about the church. Astonishing word came to me as I just heard this thought went right through me. This is so encouraging as we begin to see signs of new ones coming to our church. May the Lord continue to work in amazing ways. We want to be part of God’s plan and purpose. His ways and not my way. The idea of total turn around only speaks of the glory of God, nothing of what men can do. I believe the Lord God will do great things as we put our faith in Him. Only after wearing out so much trying on our own, we begin to feel the stress and burden that it is such an uphill climb. Only that God breaks in and shows His glory. Praise the Lord He is never too late neither too early.
What does incarnation mean to us?
What does Incarnation mean to us? John 1
There is no way to approach God and see his glory in the old testament. The consequence of seeing God’s glory is death. Moses found that out very quickly. He spoke to God Ex 33: 18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” 19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence….. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” But deep inside Moses, he longed to see God’s glory.
Why couldn’t he see God’s glory? (That means he couldn’t see God’s face). Why? Because the God of the universe is absolutely holy, righteous, glorious, beautiful, but humans are sinful. The center of gravity for man’s life is himself; his accomplishment, his goals, his desire. But God’s center of gravity is His holiness, beauty, righteousness. These two systems clash when they meet. It’s just impossible. It’s like 2 solar systems approach one another, with 2 different centers, they will clash & some will be spun out of the orbit!
The missing chapter of all these is the incarnation of God. When Christ became man, he became like one of us, totally man, and totally God, a theology that’s hard to comprehend. Its like us in the kingdom of God, and in the kingdom of the world. We carry the divine nature, and the fallen nature of mankind too. The one who can redeem us must be a man like us because he has to be like one of us. However, he must be God too, because only the blood of God can redeem us. Not a human, who is sinful. Therefore only the incarnation of God to become a man can truly redeem us and save us. And by that incarnation, we can now behold God’s glory! Hallelujah! Because he tore away the veil. The veil in the temple is torn by his death on the cross. The barrier between man and God is abolished.
You see all of us are running away from God, and at the same time running to God. Running away from God because of our anger and fear. Anger because things do not always works out the way we wanted it to be, and God seems to have his own way. Running to God especially when we need him, when we are humbled. In other words, we can’t live with Him, and at the same time, cannot live without Him!! What a wretched man!
But now, Jesus has made a way so we can see God’s glory in Him. He brings all the forgiveness and restoration and healings in our lives. He is our savior! That’s why we can see God face to face in Jesus without being consumed. Because our sins are taken away in Jesus. The incarnation of Jesus made this possible. That explains why we are always in this tension of running away and to God. That’s why this world is always so full of turbulence and at the same time the beauty of God. The solution is in the incarnation of God to bridge that gap. He is our missing chapter. With Christ in us, that tension is gone, and only in Christ alone.
1 peter 18 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
You have not seen him and you believe in him and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory! That’s seeing the glory of God that eluded Moses. That’s our call today. How can you be filled with that inexpressible joy? Do you feel that as a Christian? Paul said all his sufferings are nothing compared to the incomparable joy! 2 Cor 4: 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.[1]
How can Paul honestly take in all the punches of life like ship wrecked for 3 days, flogged, imprisoned for the gospel etc., and he calls it light and momentary troubles? That’s the biggest joke of the bible! Why? Because he sees the eternal glory that far outweighs them all. He sees the incarnated Christ, the glory of the risen Christ. Can we see that? Don’t think the river is it, no! There is an ocean out there. Don’t mistaken the river as the ocean in our lives, go for the ocean. Rejoice with inexpressible joy with beholding the glory of the living God.
John 1: 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.[2]
We have seen his glory!! CS Lewis calls this as the weight of glory!
http://hopenychurch.org/sermons/2013/7/8/god-became-man-incarnation-john-114-18
Preparing & raising pastors & next generation leaders as theologians
I believe that all pastors should be trained in theological seminaries if they want to plant churches in the big urban cities successfully. A major problem in many churches: Many pastors in churches are not equipped to handle theology because they are never trained theologically (one that digs below the surface), which is a shame. This alone should be a BIG topic of debate and soul searching .There is a cry to be equipped theologically especially if Christians want to plant churches in the big urban cities of the West like New York, London, Paris, Sydney, Shanghai etc. We should respond to that and cultivate & empower a desire and hunger for theology, instead of inhibiting it.Judging from what I’ve read and observed, we can do with more theological training for pastors and church planters. If pastors are made aware of this, many would want to catch up! And we should let them and encourage them! We should let God do a new thing! The best way to equip the pastors, is to ask them to go to seminaries that are reputable and theologically sound. (like Gordon Conwell, Trinity, Westminster) Their churches should support them financially for such courses. They are the heros of our movement! The church planters! They deserve it.We need to heed the call, and raise young generation of theologians, equipped to be pastors (& to assist pastors) of the 21st century urban churches of the world!
My 1st Gordon Conwell MA Class June 2013
I had my 1st session Introduction to Theological studies. Amazingly the professor is a pentecostal. We had great conversations about the Pentecostal theologians…Reformed form about 95-99% of the theologians & thinkers of America today or the world!! Wow! Pentecostal theologians is like the new kid in the block like one pastor quipped to me. Where have we been?? I wonder? So I am glad I enrolled in Gordon Conwell with a good diversity mix.
About 12 students in my class, amazingly I think all are of pentecostal background, how about that for Gordon Conwell. It ranks top 5 in the US among evangelical seminaries ..Trinity, Fullers, Westminster, Gordon Conwell… what a blessings.Reformed charismatics or Reformed Pentecostal is a rare combination. Jonathan Edwards will be one. haha! 🙂I am beginning to to be connected to the theologians & think there is a lot of future. American Academy of Religion is a must for us to join! Check it out!I have to write a paper of 10-15 pages by Aug 30. Theses is “Church’s solution to ___problem/issue in our local community . I am thinking of loneliness, depression, emptiness, ….any ideas, pls throw me one. 🙂Thanks Denis, Kwong Lie & Chai being my referees.Good morning from NYC! Summer is here!! 80F
Good morning from NYC! Summer is here!! 80F in NY! Some updates & prayers!Doreen, Sarah, rachel & I dad a great time in Kingdom Prayer training the last 2 days conducted by:http://www.prayercurrent.com/ from Grace Vancouver Church. William-check it out! They conduct Kingdom Prayer all over the world. It’s a prayer training that focuses on the Kingdom & not personal laundry list. Great stuff! We prayed through the Lord’d Prayer & broke it down into various prayers!! Very scripture based. Speaker John Smed is Presby-Costal!! 🙂 Presybeterian & Pentecostal. Wow! About time!I am also thankful & excited to be admitted the renowned Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary for MA Religion, which is also transferable to MDiv later.MA under Hispanic Ministries which make it affordable for minsters full time or bi-vocational like me.Prayer requests:1) Reaching to grad students Columbia University-Chinese students group; meeting the para church (InterVarsity) leader Monday to have them come to our saturday night service. Big harvest! One PhD student has come to our church now.2) B’s reaching out and inviting King’s College NYC freshmen to come to our church September. (B from Hope LA). Exciting-these are mostly white Christian students from the mid-west. Middle class christians.3) Praying to move again! Yes! Freaked out my kids. But alas, what can I say, the incarnation model is calling. Our focus will be Columbia U on the Upper West side and the young professionals. Move only in September or later. After our son Paul gone to college this end August. Kids are growing fast! Pray for God to open the door & also able to move out of our 2 years lease in Forest Hills.
Al Ngu sermons & devotion 