Thursday, January 31, 2008

Trying Too Hard to Be Cool

Carl Trueman (a professor at Westminster Seminary in Philadephia) has written a good (and funny) essay with a warning for pastors who try too hard to be 'hip'.... Here's just an excerpt:

"...the gospel just is not cool. I don’t think I need to argue this one further, but just in case: Steve McQueen was cool; Bruce Springsteen, if the new album is anything to go by, is still cool; but being a helpless lawbreaker dependent solely upon God’s grace in Christ for salvation has never been cool and never will be. And if the gospel is not cool, then being a minister is not cool; so why try to pretend otherwise?

"This brings me to my main point: priorities. The priority of the minister is not to be hip or cool. It is not even to `connect with the kids.’ It is to immerse himself in the word, to know the gospel inside out, and to communicate that gospel with care, clarity, love, and force."

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