Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Charles E. Jefferson's Influence
Pastor Robbie Stofel on how Charles E. Jefferson influenced Vintage Faith: The church is changing. No one is denying the impact of postmodernism. There’s a revolution taking place. Some call it a “post-seeker-sensitive” approach to ministry; others call it “vintage Christianity.” It’s a raw form of first century worship of Christ. Worship that has been missing in “seeker-sensitive” churches. It’s a return to the simple faith once delivered to the saints and from this crucible of longing for authenticity, emerges the vintage faith.
In 1910, beginning the period known as “high modernism,” Charles E. Jefferson, pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City, gave the Yale Lectures on Preaching. In past lectures, the art of preaching had been the focus, but now modernism threatened the church. Jefferson said in the first lecture that men were turning their back on entering the ministry because modernity deemed the church “anemic and likely to collapse.” It was fast becoming an age of doubt and modern theology and standing against the grain, Jefferson focused his lecture series on building of the church. Fed up with pulpit bullies and the talk of the church being a dead institution, Jefferson delivered tantalizing lectures on the vintage church. He titled one lecture, “The Church Building Idea in the New Testament.” He said in this lecture, “What a transformation there will be in public worship, what a revolution in many a disciple’s life, and what a reformation in the conduct of many congregations, when once the idea is firmly grasped that all the followers of Jesus, both in the pulpit and in the pew, have the heaven-appointed mission to build the church.”
Jefferson’s great success as a preacher was due to his high regard for the church. He often stated, “I would rather be the pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle than hold any other position on earth.” He believed in the mission of the local church. He longed to empower it. He rallied all of his energy around making the church a body of believers on a mission.
I first learned about Jefferson in Warren Wiersbe’s Walking with the Giants, and I soon purchased a copy of Building the Church. Now I have most of Jefferson’s books in my library, and I often turn to them for encouragement and sage advice. Never have I been disappointed. It’s like panning for gold. Nuggets abound. He was the master of applying the Bible to practical issues of life.
Jefferson’s Yale Lectures are a blueprint to revolutionize the church, bringing it back to its mission in the world. Wiersbe writes in Walking with the Giants, “The Building of the Church is easily one of the finest books to come out of the Yale Lectures series, and its message is greatly needed today.” I agree with Wiersbe. This is why I wanted to update this book. The church needs Jefferson. We need a blueprint for building the Emerging Church, and he offers one. (To read more go to our website: www.vintagefaithchurch.com
In 1910, beginning the period known as “high modernism,” Charles E. Jefferson, pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City, gave the Yale Lectures on Preaching. In past lectures, the art of preaching had been the focus, but now modernism threatened the church. Jefferson said in the first lecture that men were turning their back on entering the ministry because modernity deemed the church “anemic and likely to collapse.” It was fast becoming an age of doubt and modern theology and standing against the grain, Jefferson focused his lecture series on building of the church. Fed up with pulpit bullies and the talk of the church being a dead institution, Jefferson delivered tantalizing lectures on the vintage church. He titled one lecture, “The Church Building Idea in the New Testament.” He said in this lecture, “What a transformation there will be in public worship, what a revolution in many a disciple’s life, and what a reformation in the conduct of many congregations, when once the idea is firmly grasped that all the followers of Jesus, both in the pulpit and in the pew, have the heaven-appointed mission to build the church.”
Jefferson’s great success as a preacher was due to his high regard for the church. He often stated, “I would rather be the pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle than hold any other position on earth.” He believed in the mission of the local church. He longed to empower it. He rallied all of his energy around making the church a body of believers on a mission.
I first learned about Jefferson in Warren Wiersbe’s Walking with the Giants, and I soon purchased a copy of Building the Church. Now I have most of Jefferson’s books in my library, and I often turn to them for encouragement and sage advice. Never have I been disappointed. It’s like panning for gold. Nuggets abound. He was the master of applying the Bible to practical issues of life.
Jefferson’s Yale Lectures are a blueprint to revolutionize the church, bringing it back to its mission in the world. Wiersbe writes in Walking with the Giants, “The Building of the Church is easily one of the finest books to come out of the Yale Lectures series, and its message is greatly needed today.” I agree with Wiersbe. This is why I wanted to update this book. The church needs Jefferson. We need a blueprint for building the Emerging Church, and he offers one. (To read more go to our website: www.vintagefaithchurch.com