Hi Charles,

Balance is the goal. I hope we are. The bottom line is making disciples. I am not satisfied with “winning souls”, as heretical as some might think that sounds. I want people to repent and believe and then go on. My favorite verse describing my goal is 3 Jn 4: I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Thanks for the comment.

maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

I sense Don you are balanced in your approach to ministry.

Speaking clearly about false teaching is a must in our churches. Is it high time that Fundamentalists speak with a clear and unified voice against false worship? And I agree. And rather than changing churches, changing names of our churches, we need to clearly have an understanding of biblical, theological of worship and church ministry.

We need to get our methodology corrected, we need to get our worship in order, we need to get our preaching corrected, we need to get our approach to ministry corrected, we need to get our understanding about evangelism and salvation corrected, and we need to understand who God is. Oh I am talking about fundamental churches, which I pastor one.

Hi Kent,

Well, I have reservations about the southern gospel style, although I don’t mind some aspects of it. Obviously, it can get pretty bad, and opinions will differ to some extent. We just had a group in from Crown College last night. We really enjoyed them. Some of their music certainly is somewhat ‘southern gospel’ influenced, but it wasn’t distasteful, IMO. I would not want our musicians to make that a steady part of our repertoire, but an occasional use of it is OK. I still love “Victory in Jesus”, BTW, but it is best sung in a car full of guys coming back from weekend extension ministries. You just can’t get the right acoustics for that in a church building. A broken down jalopy is best… one of my roommates had a mid-70s Olds 442 convertible, it was great for that. My first car, 72 Dodge Charger was pretty good too.

But I am digressing!

My equivocation on the term comes from the fact that “revivalism” seems to mean different things to different people.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

I don’t mind a better term than “revivalism,” but it is a historic term, however. I have given it at least a definition that fits my understanding of it in my revivalism series at Jackhammer, but I’m talking about a southern gospel type of music that is found in revivalism that is fitting with the new measures of contemporary Christian music.

Hi Kent

Thanks for the comment.

First, I think it is important that there be a fundamentalism so that disciples can cooperate together in ministry collectively that they would not be able to accomplish individually. I know that you and I disagree on this point, and I know that the point of disagreement is over ecclesiology. I doubt that we are going to change one another’s mind on that point.

Second, with respect to the Togetherness boys, I do think it is high time that Fundamentalists spoke with a clear and unified voice against their false worship. Unfortunately, the current fundamentalism has been unwilling to do so. Perhaps this crisis might produce a fundamentalism that is willing to speak.

Third, with respect to Revivalism, I think the term is somewhat elastic so it is very difficult to take a stand either for or against. If by it you mean Hylot easy-believism, etc, then it should be rejected out of hand. If, on the other hand, you mean evangelistic unction in preaching, a call for conversion, etc, then I think it should be embraced. Mostly, I think it is a term used as a pejorative by people who have a very biased and distorted view of the last 150 years of church history.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Please don’t be offended by this, but I think it must be answered as a root basis for a discussion about this. Here’s the question: Why does it matter if there is fundamentalism?

I’m going to have fellowship with men and churches of like faith and practice, based upon scripture. I wonder how it helps me to overlook or ignore beliefs and practices that differ from our church. For instance, right now fundamentalism seems to be ignoring false worship in the way of Piper and MacArthur and others who have that. Revivalist fundamentalism would be included in this. How could it honor God not to separate from them?

Watchman, thanks for the comments. Yes, I had forgotten the details of the WCF vs. Sword congference.

I would have to say, however, that these conferences were still broadly non-sectarian.

And, as a Baptist conference, the FBF meetings are sectarian to that extent.

Sectarianism isn’t necessarily all bad, but if your sectarianism becomes very narrowly focused, it will produce the dangers I noted in the article.

As for your comment that “this isn’t about Calvinism”, I agree with you that it is in large measure about Calvinism, but only in a certain way. From my perspective (and I am pretty sure from Danny Sweatt’s perspective as well), it isn’t about Calvinism per se but about triumphalist neo-Calvinism becoming the narrow focus of the young pointy-heads. (Of course, I’ll get slammed for that term as well! I can’t help myself!)

We do have to get back to the real point of contention, that is separation from false teaching, worldliness, and fleshliness. These other issues are not issues of separation, it seems to me. I do include in my three “separations” a distinct differentiation from those who won’t make these priorities. Call it secondary, tertiary, etc. etc., whatever you like, but it is certainly part of the biblical understanding of separation. That’s fundamentalism. I need a cool Latin word for describing it, though. Like the five ‘solas’, we need the three ‘digressios’ maybe…

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Hi Jerry, a quick reply

The term “the five fundamentals” comes from the history of the fundamentalist/modernist controversy. In the fight in the Presbyterian church (going by memory) five essential doctrines were defined as something to fight the increase of liberalism. You can read more about it here. Of course there are more than five fundamentals, but the term is an historical one.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Jonathan,

Excellent! That article deserves wider circulation.

I think I must have let my Sword and Trowel subscription slip by the wayside… I haven’t seen that one yet. I’ll have to check and make sure I am back on the list.

And that makes my point as well: While I am decidedly not a Calvinist, and will argue for my point of view in appropriate contexts, I love God-fearing Calvinists like pastor Masters and others who preach a life-changing gospel. Thank God there are still some who stay by the stuff.

May these others wake up to the direction they are leading our young people before too many lives are destroyed by worldliness.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3