Eucatastrophe on the Blogroll

Dan Cruver writes a really great blog over at Eucatastrophe so I’ve decided to add him to the blogroll. He was kind enough to add my other blog ‘The Gospel Conversation‘ and so he definitely deserves a shout out – thanks Dan. I must mention that Dan’s a fan of Graeme Goldsworthy and so you budding biblical theologians should have plenty to chew on at his blog. He’s also a fan of Keller, Piper and O’Brien so there’s much overlap in interests with ‘…daylight‘. Go give him a look.

Mission and Books

Since mentioning recently that I’ve been battling to find missioligists who combine great missional insight with sound exegesis I’ve got my hands on three helpful books in this area. It’s going to take me some time to get through them all, but I think the authors involved in these books make up some of the most reliable names in missions:

The Mission of God – Chris Wright

The Face of Urban Mission – Harvie M. Conn and others

Salvation to the Ends of the Earth – Andreas J. Kostenberger & Peter T. O’Brien 

BTW – If you’re in Cape Town this coming week then don’t miss out on hearing Chris Wright speak at the Easter Convention. 

Pastor/Teacher???

I’ve always been taught that ‘pastor’ and ‘teacher’ in Ephesians 4 were one and the same thing in the original language. So we don’t have a five-fold ministry but a four-fold ministry. But listen to the comments of Peter O’Brien in his commentary on Ephesians:

The pastors and teachers are linked here by a single definite article in the Greek, which suggests a close association of functions between two kinds of ministers who operate within the one congregation (cf. 2:20). Although it has often been held that the two groups are identical (i.e. ‘pastors who teach’), it is more likely that the terms describe overlapping functions (cf. 1 Cor. 12:28-29 and Gal 6:6, where ‘teachers’ are a distinct group). All pastors teach (since teaching is an essential part of pastoral ministry), but not all teachers are also pastors. The latter exercise their leadership role by feeding God’s flock with his word. (p. 300)