I found this in my email drafts folder. It was originally intended for the worship team at my home church which I was a part of, and I guess this never got sent. The question is really about whether or not we should dress up to church. I recall I started writing this email because my team leader imposed a strict rule on us worship team members: no jeans! But I wanted to wear jeans, as I do wear my best for God on Sundays and most of the congregation wears jeans to church too — I don’t want them to feel unwelcomed, as if they need to live up to a certain dress-code or unwritten church standard in order to be accepted!

Anyways, I’m in Louisville now… and I’m afraid of wearing jeans to church in fears of being shunned LOL “You’re a seminary student @ Southern?!–and you’re wearing jeans to church–are you crazy?!” Jokes But still, it’s something to think about…
-
Hi team,
Interestingly enough, I just read this article about church dress code from Pastor Mark Driscoll on his website.

Here’s a brief excerpt:

Passion.
The degree of difficulty you are willing to endure to achieve the goal.

Zeal.
The enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance.

I am a highly passionate person. Those who know me well know that I am zealous about glorifying God, especially from an all-consuming response to the all-deserving revelation of God in the substitutionary death of Christ on the Cross.

During job interviews, when the interviewer asks me about the strengths that I can bring to the workplace–I usually give them my 3 P’s: passionate, persistent, and patient. When I have my heart and mind focused on the purpose that is in front of me–I passionately pursue it, no matter what the cost. When obstacles get in my way, I press on again and again in spite of opposition, obstacles, discouragement and endure the difficulties. And if that doesn’t get me towards achieving my purpose, I take a step back to breathe and to pray for faith that God will cause all things to work together according to His purposes. And I patiently await His further instructions.

Voddie Baucham is a prolific blogger! I just realized this after I came across his blog at his ministry’s website. I don’t know why I missed this for so long, but Voddie is quite the solid blogger! He doesn’t blog that regularly, but when he has, it’s been typical Voddie all the way!

(It’s interesting to note that I haven’t seen much permalinks to his blog flying around the Reformed blogsphere; he writes about some very pertinent ministry issues affecting our day & age and I would’ve thought more people would be talking about what he’s written.)

Nevertheless, Dr. Baucham (author, Bible teacher, professor, & pastor) explains in Oct.18 post why he objects to the contemporary Youth Ministry model. Voddie isn’t doing any more youth events as he calls for the abolishment of segregated “youth” ministry, contending that

• there is no clear biblical mandate for the current approach,
• the current approach may actually work against the biblical practice of family discipleship,
• the current approach isn’t working.

I was reading this heartfelt blog post by a close friend on homless / injustice, and what came to mind was the famous Micah 6:8 verse which says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

My heart wrestled with what this verse meant–what does it look like to actually do justice, love kindness and humbly walk with our God? I think the chorus really says it all…

God of Justice (We Must Go) by Tim Hughes

F G C F
God of Justice, Saviour to all
G C F
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
G C F
Chose to serve and not be served

Am7 G/B
Jesus, You have called us
F
Freely we’ve received
G
Now freely we will give

**
C G/B
We must go live to feed the hungry
Am7
Stand beside the broken
F
We must go
C G/B
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Am7
Move us into action
F
We must go

To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in everyway
Walking humbly before You God

You have shown us, what You require
Freely we’ve received
Now freely we will give

Bridge:
F G C
Fill us up and send us out, Fill us up and send us out
F G C
Fill us up and send us out Lord

The spiritual maturity of the people around me at church is at an all-time low.

Ok, now that I’ve got your attention, I don’t mean that really, and please allow me to throw out my ego and put on genuine humility here.  But it just seems that all I seem to have on most days at church is shallow conversations with Christians who should not be so shallow.  I have this bad feeling in my stomach that the girls/women at my church–especially those around my age–have been neglected in terms of discipleship and mentorship.  I don’t want to imply that this is for everybody, but the I see and hear very little serious, solid, deep conversations from the girls (and guys) about their journey of faith and their mission in God’s story.

I say this now, as I am applying to Southern Seminary, because I feel like this area of discipling and mentoring is of utmost importance to the personal, emotional and spiritual growth of all Christians, regardless of age.  However, those in the college/university generation are of even greater priority for discipleship/mentorship because it is the time in their life where the university culture either makes or breaks their faith–and personally, I would hope that it is the former.

I do not expect that there would be many women in our English congregation who are like me, who have a serious interest in Reformed theology and missional ecclesiology–let alone understand what those two things are.  I only expect that there would be a generation of godly women who are devoted to Christ and His beautiful bride that is the church, women who would read, meditate and reflect deeply about God’s Word and their walks with Christ.

In today’s postmodern society where Scriptural perspecuity is questioned all the time, issues about the place of homosexuals and the role of women in the church are at the forefront of conversations between Christians and seekers.  For this very reason that our faith is being attacked on all fronts by feminism, postmodernism, consumerism, paganism and apostasy, it is thus really important that we be there to support the next generation of church leaders–the teens and twenty somethings–women and men.  As their peers who are just a few years older, we do not necessarily have to teach them doctrine, but in our lives we should definitely strive to be salt and light in this dark and depraved world.  We should be helping them develop a biblical worldview so that they can come to an understanding about God’s truth in these issues about their role in the church and at home.

I specifically am specifically talking about women at my church, because I have had a good deal of contact with the younger guys.  I have tried to build and keep friendships with the guys, often starting off guy-style-not-so-deep, and have done my best to be a somebody they can come to when they are in need of answers or support.  For the girls, I do not know personally how the vast majority of them are doing spiritually.  From what is visibly seen and audibly heard, I come back to the same question I have asked on this blog before: where are the godly women?!?  Those humble ladies who are willing to be a witness to younger women, ladies who are committed to suffering for the sake of the Gospel, ladies who yearn to support the leadership of a true man of God, ladies who are devoted to submitting to Christ’s authority in the church and the home.

I am sure I have shared this with my dad in our discussions about seminary: I am very disappointed that there are no women in my church whom I consider suitable to even start a serious relationship.  I say this with some personal resentment, but I say so especially with dire concern for my church’s discipleship ministry.  I don’t suppose that strucutured discipleship or mentorship programs will accomplish a great deal right now, but I think we really need a change in our mindset about the family of God.  All of us, myself especially included, need to step out of our personal comfort zones and take the initiative to be vulnerable enough to share what is on our hearts.

I shared this during a workshop at summer camp, and it is the theme verse for my church’s university fellowship this term:

Marks of the True Christian

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Romans 12:9-13 (ESV)

I do not have any answers about how to improve this dire situation of neglected discipleship and mentorship–except to just do it.  Be a friend to somebody, and listen to what they have to say–like, really listen them!  The first step is forward, into the lives of others… to consider somebody else’s needs before ours; to regard their lives as even more important than our own.  May we pray for each other as we serve and build each other up: for the truth, for the church, for the world, for the glory of God.

Let’s show the world that we are His disciples by loving each other