13 Favorite Quotes from “The Church as a Culture of Care”
Last week, I finished reading Dale Johnson’s book The Church as a Culture of Care. I was blessed and encouraged by his call to return soul care to the body life of the church. So, I thought I’d share some of my favorite sentences and paragraphs. I gave them thematic titles for easier reading.
Scripture Is the Clearest Diagnostic Lens for Understanding Our Problems
If we believe in the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word, we are convinced that the Christian worldview provides the true foundation and clearest lens for us to understand the problems of the human soul.… The Bible explains our human experiences better than any human wisdom. (p. 5)
The Church Is the Perfect Imperfect Place for Soul Care
Scripture paints a picture of the world as full of consistently desperate and broken people, who are in constant need of and dependent upon God’s care. The New Testament traces for us how the early church cared for those whose lives were overcome with grief, lust, anger, selfish ambition, and a host of other problems…. From its inception, the church has been a constant, although never perfect, haven for the downcast and hurting…. Often we in the church have ostracized sinners and added to the burdens of sufferers. And yet, God has called the church and equipped her with sufficient resources to care for the sinner and sufferer alike. (pp. 7-8)
Scripture Is the First Place to Look for Help
The Bible is not the only place where Christians should seek information, but it must be the first place we go to understand the data we observe and the last place we go to make sense of it in God’s world. Otherwise, the data we observe will be ordered in earthly terms and constructs which will cloud our understanding of people and their problems in God’s world and ultimately send us in the wrong direction to find solutions. (pp. 10-11)
A Culture of One-Another Soul Care Must Be Cultivated Intentionally
The culture that grows within a church does not happen accidentally. Culture is a fostered entity among a fellowship of believers. And once culture is established, it’s hard to change. Trying to change the culture of a church can be a significant and difficult task for even the most seasoned elders and leaders. (p. 20)
[The] church is how Jesus shepherds our souls as we hear the counsel of God, through his Word and by the Holy Spirit. In the church, Jesus himself mends, encourages, comforts, heals, and restores us. He is our Shepherd. He guides us gently as we are conformed to his image. It is in him we return to health, back to normal, for the glory of God and the good of our hearts. (p. 35)
Biblical Soul Care Keeps the Soul and Body Together
[The] Bible teaches that every human is body and soul, material and immaterial. We have soulish problems, and we have physical ailments. However, there is not a radical division between the soul and the body. Instead, the Bible teaches us that we are embodied souls. The two worlds, physical and spiritual, are both present in our human nature and are virtually inseparable, except by death. Christians should refrain from reducing problems to spiritual-only issues, but neither should we make the same mistake with physical maladies. If we do, we err in our understanding of biblical anthropology. When we redefine our human problems into “psychological-only” or “biological-only” categories, we validate secular thinking and become susceptible to their humanly devised but empty solutions. (pp. 23-24)
Every-Member Soul Care Begins with Responsible Pastoral Care
Pastors are called and responsible to care for the souls of God’s flock. They are to do this through prayer and ministry of the Word so that sinners will be reconciled to God and saints will be matured and helped. They are to do this with joy because they will give an account go God for this most important work. (p. 27)
Christlike Soul Care Is Supernatural Work
We are dependent upon God for everything, so we should not be surprised that Christlike care is supernatural…. Saying that Christlike care is supernatural does not mean that there is nothing we can do in the process of care. It simply means that we are fully dependent upon the work of god to enlighten, convict, change, comfort, and keep an individual. (p. 31)
The Modern View of Discipleship Is Deficient
[In many churches today], no longer is discipleship viewed as an intentional relationship that promotes the growth and sanctification of another individual by teaching them to obey all that Christ commands (Matthew 28:18-20). Now, discipleship is viewed as solely an intellectual education. Discipleship certainly is educational; Paul tells the Philippians, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9). But just because education is happening does not mean that discipleship is occurring. Modern educational theory operates on the assumption that as long as pupils are learning and their intellect expanding, they are growing. However, the simple passing along of information does not create a disciple. Discipleship is a whole-life pursuit, not simply an intellectual one. Discipleship incorporates both hearing and doing from a devoted heart. (p. 63)
Christ, as Shepherd, Is Our Best Model
When we hear Jesus described as the shepherd of his people, we aren’t meant to think of a Hallmark card picture of Jesus with flowing hair surrounded by little lambs. Instead, we are to see Jesus’s role as shepherd as the God-intended complement to his strength and leadership. Jesus, as shepherd, provides the perfect disposition for his position as head of the church. The rule and authority of Jesus is always tethered to love and gentleness. For us who believe he is our Lord and Chief Shepherd. Jesus is not either head or shepherd, but both head and shepherd. That means we are to obey his commands and to believe that he cares deeply for us in both obedience and disobedience. (p. 86)
The Church Body Must Keep Truth and Love Working in Tandem
When each part of the body is growing to be like Jesus, we are equipped to speak the truth of God to each other in love (Ephesians 4:15-16). We do not simply speak truth. For truth not clothed in love bears a brutish blow to the heart and is heard by the hearer as condemnation. Nor do we simply speak in love. Love untethered to truth is no anchor for the soul. The recipe is truth in love in order to build each other up into Christ, making us strong to stand against the wiles of the evil one so that we love the broken and wounded as Christ so loved us when we were broken and wounded. (p. 133)
Formal Counseling Is Not the Only–or Even the Most Important–Approach to Soul Care
Formal counseling is not ministry that should be offered as one option among many-like choosing your own dish from a restaurant menu. Having a formal counseling ministry, as good as that may be, does not create a culture of care, Quite the opposite is true. Formal counseling ministries, if not guarded intentionally by the church, can be viewed as the only place where care is given in the church. (p. 148)
When a church only offers formal counseling, without developing a culture for one-another soul care, it unintentionally works against every-member care. The counselors…
…are often willing to give care to others who are in need but can easily neglect to seek care when we ourselves are in need. Unintentionally, we create a barrier between the truly needy and ourselves—the ones who seem to have it all together. The church then creates an atmosphere which communicates that some people are above needing care. The result is that believers remain at arm’s length from each other, hesitant to be transparent when in need. The point is that we all need help; we all need constant care and oversight of our souls. The culture in the church must reflect the heart of our own neediness and dependence upon Christ. This is what the desperate find so attractive in a church family…. The only way we can erase the stigmas associated with our human frailty is to build a culture of care—a church where the DNA is centered around the ministry of the Word in the functions prescribed by the Word in the power of the Spirit. (pp. 154-155)
If you desire your church to grow in developing a culture of one-another soul care in your church, I encourage you to read The Church as a Culture of Care. If you are a pastor or elder, consider reading through it, one chapter at a time, and discussing it together.
*NOTE: If you are attending the ACBC annual conference in Fort Worth, Texas this week, stop by the New Growth Press tables and pick up a copy.
