Gospel precision

Being a five-point Calvinist isn't as easy as it looks. The vast majority of evangelical Christian doctrine and theology these days comes from a more Arminian/Semi-Pelagian point of view. That's not to say that there are scads of rabid Arminians hiding around every corner waiting for an opportunity to defend the Remonstrants. I might even suggest that most who could be classified as Arminians have never even heard the term. You know, kind of like a fish who has never heard of the ocean.

If you are unfamiliar with this debate, this page does a pretty good job of explaining the two sides (monergism vs. synergism, Calvinism vs. Arminianism). This page might be helpful as well.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, Wednesday night at church we had a training session for Awana, the children's ministry we will be rolling out next week. It is a really good program, from what my wife has told me, helping children to memorize scripture by the metric tonne. Amanda and I are both leaders (listeners, actually) with the T&T's and we can't wait to get started next week.

Admittedly, I came into the training session with a little bit of baggage. Awana has historically been very big in Southern Baptist circles, and baptist circles have historically (at least in the last 100 years) been of the Arminian persuasion. In my mind, Awana has always meant little kids walking an aisle during an altar call because their friend just did and it seems like the thing that all the cool kids are doing. You get to the front, you pray the "Sinner's Prayer," and you go home saved! Then, for decades to come, you can look back on that moment as proof that you were, are, and will be heaven-bound.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when the trainer, Rick Hattan, made a point to stress that we, as Awana leaders, need to be very careful to communicate that salvation isn't about praying a prayer at all. He went on to say Continue reading this post »