{"id":472,"date":"2008-06-25T14:42:33","date_gmt":"2008-06-25T14:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html"},"modified":"2008-06-25T14:42:33","modified_gmt":"2008-06-25T14:42:33","slug":"introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html","title":{"rendered":"Introduction to A Growing Church: A Bible Study in Ephesians 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I had the opportunity speak at the Presbyterians for Renewal<\/a> (PFR) breakfast associated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly in San Jose, California. This was a special privilege because I have such high regard for PFR and its ministries. But it was also a challenging opportunity because many signs at are our General Assembly are foreboding. It seems quite possible that this Assembly will vote to unravel many of our denomination’s long-term commitments, especially to holiness within heterosexual marriage. This isn’t certain, but it may very well happen, and that will be a sad day. It will also create a major mess for evangelicals in the PCUSA, some of whom will be in a new fight for the truth, and others of whom will decide that they’ve had enough of this denomination. I’ll be in the keep-on-fighting crowd, but I sure understand why people get tired of this sort of thing and want to focus, not on interdenominational battles, but rather on the mission of Christ. (Photo: San Jose, California, with the convention center in the foreground, the location of the General Assembly.)
\nI should add, however, that just because a General Assembly votes to recognize gay ordination or same-sex marriage, this doesn’t make it legal. Such matters still have to be approved by the whole church through its governing bodies [presbyteries], and the presbyteries have a history of upholding biblical truth in the wake of non-biblical General Assembly actions.
\nMy message to the PFR breakfast, was, on the one hand, a word of encouragement related to the General Assembly. Many at the breakfast were voting members of the Assembly, and may be called upon to speak up for biblical truth in the next few days. (They need our prayers!) On the other hand, my message was meant to challenge us with respect to our larger mission. Nothing that happens at the General Assembly will change our basic calling as Christians, though it might complicate the ways we Presbyterians act out that calling.
\nIn my next few posts I will share with you the text of my message at the PFR breakfast. I did not read this text verbatim, but spoke using my manuscript as notes, so what I said was not exactly the same as what I’m printing. But the main themes and most details are the same.
\nIf you’re not a Presbyterian, or not a member of the PCUSA, at any rate, you may wonder if this series on The Growing Church will be helpful to you. A few of the details won’t fit, of course. But I believe the main points in this series talk, which are not my own, but come from Ephesians 4, will speak to you no matter your denominational affiliation. We all need to grapple afresh with the challenging and inspiring insights found in the fourth chapter of one of my favorite books of the Bible.
\nTomorrow I’ll begin putting my sections of my address, which will probably require about four posts to complete.
\nIn the meanwhile, I’d ask for your prayers for this General Assembly and for the PCUSA as a whole. We may be in for a rocky road ahead, which is not to say the past thirty years have been smooth ones. I must confess that I’m worried about the health and future of my denomination. But, just to be clear, I am not worried about the health and future of the church of Jesus Christ. Though the church might take a battering, in the end, the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. Thanks be to God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I had the opportunity speak at the Presbyterians for Renewal (PFR) breakfast associated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly in San Jose, California. This was a special privilege because I have such high regard for PFR and its ministries. But it was also a challenging opportunity because many signs at are our General…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-growing-church"],"yoast_head":"\nIntroduction to A Growing Church: A Bible Study in Ephesians 4 - Mark D. Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Introduction to A Growing Church: A Bible Study in Ephesians 4 - Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today I had the opportunity speak at the Presbyterians for Renewal (PFR) breakfast associated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly in San Jose, California. This was a special privilege because I have such high regard for PFR and its ministries. But it was also a challenging opportunity because many signs at are our General…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-06-25T14:42:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/san-jose-california-5.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Introduction to A Growing Church: A Bible Study in Ephesians 4 - Mark D. Roberts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Introduction to A Growing Church: A Bible Study in Ephesians 4 - Mark D. Roberts","og_description":"Today I had the opportunity speak at the Presbyterians for Renewal (PFR) breakfast associated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly in San Jose, California. This was a special privilege because I have such high regard for PFR and its ministries. But it was also a challenging opportunity because many signs at are our General…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html","og_site_name":"Mark D. Roberts","article_published_time":"2008-06-25T14:42:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/san-jose-california-5.jpg"}],"author":"Mark D. Roberts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html","name":"Introduction to A Growing Church: A Bible Study in Ephesians 4 - Mark D. Roberts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/san-jose-california-5.jpg","datePublished":"2008-06-25T14:42:33+00:00","dateModified":"2008-06-25T14:42:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/san-jose-california-5.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/san-jose-california-5.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/06\/introduction-to-a-growing-church-a-bible-study-in-ephesians-4.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Introduction to A Growing Church: A Bible Study in Ephesians 4"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/","name":"Mark D. Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}