Right Thinking in a Church Gone Astray by Nathan Busenitz

Author:Nathan Busenitz
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736966764
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

CHAPTER 10

Things That Should Not Be Forgotten

Why Church Leaders Should Care about Church History 1

NATHAN BUSENITZ

It has famously been said that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. While history may not always repeat itself exactly, it is certainly true that history teaches its students valuable lessons that apply to both the present and the future. Sadly, modern evangelicals are not known for being well-grounded in the history of the church, which is to their detriment. This chapter considers ten reasons contemporary Christians, and especially church leaders, should become better acquainted with church history.

I am writing this at the beginning of a new semester.

As another school year dawns, I will make my way to a classroom full of (mostly) first-year seminary students. I can imagine it already.

When I open the door, there will be the inevitable and slightly uncomfortable pause in the hubbub of pre-class conversation. It is the awkward moment every teacher experiences at the start of a new semester—when you enter a room full of unfamiliar faces and everyone stops talking to turn and watch you.

But there is no turning back.

Under the watchful gaze of my students, with first impressions already forming, I will walk to the front of the room and set down my bag on the lecture table. Without looking up, I’ll get out my laptop, turn it on, and make sure it’s connected to the projector. Then I’ll arrange whatever books or notes I’ve brought with me.

Soon, everything will be ready to go. I’ll give a nonchalant glance to the clock on the back wall, which will remind me that it’s time to start. Without further delay, I’ll take a deep breath, smile, and hear the following words come out of my mouth.

“Good afternoon, class. Welcome to Historical Theology.”

There. The ice has been broken. Now we can get to work.

In the hour-and-a-half that follows, I will muster all of my professorial enthusiasm to persuade these students that church history is important. But this is more than a just a blatant attempt to sell them on the class. (I really am trying to do more than just get them excited about homework assignments.) This expansive subject is important to me. Vitally so. And it should be important to them (and you) too.

Despite the misconceptions they arrived with, church history is not trivial, or boring, or irrelevant. It is so much more than just names, dates, timelines, and charts. Some of the students came in thinking, I hate history. Maybe so, but this class is not so much about history. It’s about the church, the bride of Christ, the most precious institution on earth. It’s about what God has been doing in the church for the last 2000 years. And that means it should matter—especially to men who are training to serve in ministry.

Others will probably wonder why they have to take a history class when they are supposed to be studying the Bible. What they don’t realize is that the study of church history, properly framed, actually increases one’s love for the Scriptures.

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