FALL CLASS STARTING! WHO IS WATCHING?

francisschaefferstudies.org is excited to announce it's fall class on The Church Before The Watching World, starting this Sunday, Sept. 2nd at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. As you may have noticed we are still working steadily on the video of our spring class of The Mark Of A Christian, so you may see video being released of both through the end of the year and early into spring. We will also be working on filming of some earlier class material that has not yet been recorded that we will start releasing before the end of the year in honor of the Francis Schaeffer Centennial! So be on the lookout for that.

The Church Before The Watching World continues to expand on the concepts we explored in our spring class, but in greater depth and a broader subject base. Schaeffer had numerous works on the subject of the church, starting with his third work Death In The City. Yet in 1970-71 he published three significant works on the church: The Church At The End Of The Twentieth Century, The Mark Of A Christian, and The Church Before The Watching World. It is telling that in 1971 he also published his landmark work on spirituality, True Spirituality. There is no doubt that the connection between True Spirituality and Schaeffer's Ecclesiology is significant.

Schaeffer published his final work, The Great Evangelical Disaster, in 1984. What subject did he choose? His last message was to the church. Therein he indicates a dissatisfaction that the Biblical principles he had spent his entire life teaching had still gone largely unheeded by the church. With this study we seek to go back and look at what he was trying to communicate earlier on. 

As with all of our classes, the desire is to encourage others to read Schaeffer's works for themselves and provide a means for others to pass the works of Schaeffer on to the next generation. Please keep us in your prayers as we further expand this mission.     

THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN CLASS

FOLLOW ALONG ON THE YOUTUBE PLAY LIST >>

You may know that we began filming a class called The Works Of Francis & Edith Schaeffer and are also working on filming video of our first study project on Schaeffer's True Spirituality. Yet, sometimes taking the path of least resistance produces unforeseen results. Most recently we were asked to teach The Mark Of A Christian, and having just purchased some new video equipment, we realized that we would be able to post the video from this class more quickly than our earlier filmed classes which were filmed in standard definition, due to decreased amount of editing that would be required.

While this is unforeseen, it seems rather providential since The Mark Of A Christian is my favorite work. Yet it is also significant in another way, in that this work is perhaps the key to understanding the basis of Francis & Edith Schaeffer's works. So we are excited to release this lecture series, which we hope will aid people in understanding Schaeffer and encourage people to read him for themselves. Likewise, we hope that churches and ministries will use these videos to educate Christians on the much needed balance of truth and love as Schaeffer taught it.

Careful thought has been given to the accuracy of my personal commentary, and it should be understood that I have tried to stay as true to what Schaeffer was trying to communicate as possible. I of course am human and very prone to error and mistakes, so it is hoped that others will see this as my take on Schaeffer's work and feel free to give me feedback and correction where needed.

THE CLASS LOGO

The logo depicts Schaeffer's concept of "flaming truth" utilizing a compass cross pointing "true north." Truth here is inseparable with love as depicted by the "the burning heart," which... is how Schaeffer described both the theology of the Reformation (which was waning during the era of the birth of Liberalism) and the heart we should have in evangelism to speak with "concern and truth content." 

Together, they represent the Mark Of A Christian - The proper emphasis and balance of truth and love. Here are the two quotes that we drew upon:

FLAMING TRUTH
"It must be understood that the new humanism and the new theology have no concept of true truth — absolute truth. Relativism has triumphed in the church as well as in the university and in society. The true Christian, however, is called upon not only to teach truth, but to practice truth in the midst of such relativism. And if we are ever to practice truth, it certainly must be in a day such as ours." ~ Francis Schaeffer

"Christ is the Lord of our whole life, and the Christian life should produce not only truth — flaming truth — but also beauty." ~ Francis Schaeffer

THE BURNING HEART
"I believe the reason they capitulated was that their theology was already less than it should have been. By the middle of the eighteenth century in the German universities, the theology of the Reformation, having “the burning heart,” was coming to an end. What remained of orthodox theology had largely become only repetitive. Such a theology, of course, can never stand for long. " ~ Francis Schaeffer

I do not do it just as a duty. I do not have a hard heart but a burning heart. The burning heart is quite proper. Jesus taught His disciples, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10). "  ~ Francis Schaeffer

~Providence!
Dan Guinn

NEWS: HONORED BY REEPICHEEP!

 ~ HONORABLE MENTION BY THE HUMBLE SWORDSMAN REEPICHEEP

- A great blog and always an interesting read!
Check it out.

http://reepicheep-ajf.blogspot.com/2011/01/check-new-francis-schaeffer-site.html

(See also a mention here: http://thegraze.org/sunday-school/)



This was Dan's response to the above post:
(slight edits for clarification have been made for clarification)

Thanks for posting this Tony. I always love hearing how Schaeffer has influenced other people's life. We are definitely a recipient of that important influence in Tony's life, and I can say that I have benefited much from it myself, sitting under solid Biblical teaching.

When L'Abri started Schaeffer kept telling his family and those involved with the work, "We have this challenge, if the Lord calls us to it, of being a very small work always. But if He were to make it significant, and a bigger work, to be prepared to accept that, in the same spirit, of just doing God's will as he leads it." This sort of quote is what makes me passionate about Schaeffer, as it was never about him and it was always about Christ. I deeply want to see the team at franscischaefferstudies.org follow this example. What we are doing could be big, and there is this sense of that, but it could remain just another web site. Our goal is really to just do what naturally leads from a truly changed heart. To use all of our gifts, with all of our might to display your love for God and others. Making a web site is really the least we could do!

Phil, gave me a verse the other day that hits home and we will be using often: The Apostle Pauls says, "Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us." Phil 3:17. As Phil told me, "This is really all that we are doing," and I could not agree more! 

I really enjoyed Woody's comment. It's important to note that Schaeffer was so in tune with the gift that God gave him that he was "prophet-like," He definitely had his thumb on the pulse of the culture of his day and where it was headed. His works still speak into where we are today and this is why it is so important.

Jack (JZAAK) McGregor at L'Abri MN, shared with Jason, that he is excited to see some people of the next generation taking interest in the philosophical/theological content of Schaeffer, because their experience has been that there are many who are merely embracing the romantic notions of L'Abri. This is where Schaeffer's predictions from his work The New Super-Spirituality come to light. We must realize that much of the current church are constantly focused on romantic ideas of faith. In this mode of thinking Jesus becomes only a feel-good, lovey-buddy god. While it seems innocent, it is actually a symptom of what happens when Christianity has lost it's theological truth-content. So we again find, in this mode of thinking that we have no answers (or limited) for a watching world, and moreover only limited answers for ourselves as Christians. This is not the Christianity of the Bible (Note, I am not saying that any of these people are not Christians, they are our brothers and sisters, I am just saying there is much more to our faith than just a romantic view of religion). So you can see, this is what we are up against. FSS is really about impacting that mode of thinking, with all our might we need to uphold those who are rightly teaching the need to understand our faith and world and provide Biblical answers as well as teach them again to a Church that is often ignorant of it's need and hungry for it.

Thanks everyone! Your prayers are appreciated. We are hopeful to provide more and more ways for interactivity with the site, so keep checking back.
Dan Guinn
franscischaefferstudies.org