I think you are right that it is easy to think more highly of your own motivations than you think of other's motivations for doing essentially the same thing but from another theological stream or political persuasion.

Part of the problem, it seems to me, is guilt by association that is quite prevalent throughout US culture, both inside and outside the church.

So (to use a few recent examples) I heard lots of complaints from cessationists that continuationist have never called out those that are outside of Christian orthodoxy. But most cessationist are not fluent enough in continuationist writing to know whether or not enough has been done. This is similar to many american muslims being frustrated that no one pay attention to their repudiation of violent terrorism, but at the same time being lumped in with violent terrorists.

I do think there is an appropriate place to note inappropriate behavior and/or theology. But most of the time it is more about preaching to the outside choir than it is actually desiring repentance and reconciliation.

Maybe I think too much about the extremes. But there has to be freedom to call for accountability with sex abuse scandals or spiritual abuse. And at the same time freedom to allow for people to believe different things but still be Christian.

Not every point of Christian theology is central to the gospel. This came up with Matt Chandler's The Explicit Gospel. I thought it was a great book that really emphasized the need for preaching the gospel. But when he started defining what the gospel was he started including many thing that he thought were essential, that I think our well outside the necessary bounds of the gospel.

My last point in an already too long comment, is that there is a real sense of bullying that occurs too often. And in attempting to call out bullying behavior, it is pretty easy to become a bully ourselves. Tone matters a lot. And with digital communication it is harder to read tone. And shorter statements out of context are even harder to read tone.

Congrats Dan! This seems like a good fit for your.

It is a book that sounds right up my alley. I would love a copy if I am early enough.

I know it is obnoxious to always recommend books in response to your blog posts. But Gary Thomas's Pure Pleasure is the best book I know of on this. http://bookwi.se/pure-pleasure-why-do-christians-...

I think this is something that we as Christians really need to think more about. We are placed in the world and the world is intended for our pleasure. There is a balance. But that balance is not to have no pleasure.

Actually 3 of the 5. I read Myth of the Garage as well. (It is short.)

I have read two of the five (Through Painted Deserts and Explicit Gospel) and both are worth reading. I have had The Awakening of Hope on my To Read list for a while. Thanks

I have tried to balance this in my own mind as the tension between supporting others in the calls toward extraordinary activities which does not diminish my own call toward ordinary activities (and vice versa.)

The Book God the the Mundane (my review - http://bookwi.se/god-of-the-mundane/ ) I think does a good job of rebalancing this especially in regard to the calling of clergy and laity. On the secular side, Paul Farmer's work as a global health activist as described in the book Mountains Beyond Mountains dealt with this explicitly. Farmer could not life with himself when he was not actively serving the needs of the very poor and sick. But he (and others in his organization) worked hard to balance Farmer's expectations of himself with reasonable expectations of others that worked with him. Just because Farmer could travel tens of thousands of miles a month between his different areas of work and his unending 20 hours days without breaks did not mean that anyone else in his organization could. It would both be wrong of Farmer to hold himself back to the average pace of the others in his organization or for Farmer to try to pull everyone else up to his pace. Different paces have different strengths.

My wife and I have a friendly rivalry about this. She doesn't want to do something if it is not going to change the world (at least in a small way). I am temperamentally ill suited to that type of pressure and say I strive to be radically mediocre. So I want lots of space in my life to be able to change gears and help others and rest when I need to. But that means I can't be a person that is changing the world because I can't put enough effort into it.

Absolutely! I know it is easy to dismiss, but long term evangelism is evangelism. My wife has a friend. We have been praying for her and just being a good friend for years. After five years of asking she came with us to church two time (six weeks apart). Then she started coming to our church without us. She has been back the last six weeks (I think intentionally not going to the service we are going to so it is hers.) Last week she invited her atheist father. And this week her atheist father invited the rest of the family to come for Christmas. All are a long way from really having faith in Christ yet. But sometimes it is about the long term. (Especially when there are issues with the church and/or God, and there are some issues here.)

If you haven't, I highly recommend reading Mark Noll's The Civil War as Theological Crisis. It is a small (but pricey) little book that really blew away some of my preconceptions about what Christians were doing with the theological issues of the Civil War. All kinds of things, especially around hermeneutics, are brought up in the book.

Really made me rethink some of what I had previously learned about how Evangelicals were at the forefront of the emancipation movement. I think my kindle copy is still lendable if you want to read it.

(Totally agree with the thrust of your blog post, although I haven't seen the movie. Just want to throw in the book because it really complicated things for me about Evangelical History.)

And that is what makes you a good pastor, and why parenting is not a side art for the pastor. As a pastor's kid that is friends with many other pastor's kids, think that many pastors have illustrated their problems with discipleship through their own parenting. You are illustrating good discipleship through good parenting.