Paul Stewart

Books for Singles

We are in a sermon series right now at Gateway entitled Marriage, Sex & Singleness. Christianity presents a revolutionary view on each of these topics. It is a view that was as controversial then as it is now. CS Lewis wrote that the Christian teaching on sex has always been the most unpopular of all the Christian virtues. 

There is no getting away from it: the old Christian rule is, “Either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence.” Now this is so difficult and so contrary to our instincts, that obviously either Christianity is wrong or our sexual instinct, as it now is, has gone wrong. - CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

Of course he argues the latter but today the Christian ethic of abstinence outside of marriage is considered at best laughably unrealistic, and at worst pathological and abnormal. In fact, the primary reason Christians do not have the conviction to challenge our present-day culture on these issues is that a growing number of Christians now doubt the entire Christian teaching on human sexuality. They feel it is wrong to condemn any consensual sexual behavior.

The challenge for Christians in the 21st century is not to use the same old arguments to try to persuade our culture, yet neither should Christians blindly or reflexively adjust theology just to accommodate the sexual revolution of our day.

The church needs to, first of all, reexamine the biblical teaching to see if modification or rediscovery is in order. And then, maybe even more importantly, wrestle with how we remain faithful to this most unpopular Christian virtue in the midst of the sexually saturated, individualistic, and consumer-driven culture we find ourselves in.

Additionally the church must do a much better job of understanding, resourcing, and supporting those who whether by choice or by circumstance, for a season or for life, find themselves called to singleness. Here are a few books that would be a great place to start (HT: Anna Broadway)

Sexuality and Holy Longing: Embracing Intimacy in a Broken World
Lisa Graham McMinn (Jossey-Bass)

McMinn provides a helpful framework for single-Christian sexuality that reckons equally with the reality of embodiment, the Bible, and our cultural moment. She's especially insightful on subtler dynamics, such as the ways women compete for men's attention.

How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk: The Foolproof Way to Follow Your Heart without Losing Your Mind
John Van Epp (McGraw-Hill)

Singleness often means keeping one eye open for romantic prospects. But the American church has provided much conflicting and confusing advice on the search for love. Counselor and Christian Van Epp has the best advice I've read on finding a partner.

Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life under Christ's Control
Elisabeth Elliot (Revell)

Some books on singleness and chastity downplay the strength of desire one may face, but Elliot grapples candidly and boldly with both her sexual and romantic longings and the God she loves. Rightfully a classic.

Hinds' Feet on High Places
Hannah Hurnard (Wilder Publications)

Though not a traditional "singleness" book, anyone struggling through a protracted and unwanted romantic dry spell may draw strength from this memorable allgory about the painful but worthwhile journey of following Jesus. This encouraged me to trust him more deeply.

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Additionally, Washed and Waiting by Wesley Hill is a must read to understand a homosexual Christian's understanding of this issue.

Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality
Wesley Hill 

Part memoir, part pastoral-theological reflection, this book wrestles with many areas of struggle that many gay Christians face: What is God's will for sexuality? If the historic Christian tradition is right and same-sex behavior is ruled out, how should gay Christians deal with their resulting loneliness? Author Wesley Hill is not advocating that it is possible for every gay Christian to become straight, nor is he saying that God affirms homosexuality. Instead, Hill comes alongside other gay Christians and says, 'You are not alone. Here is my experience; it's like yours. And God is with us. We can share in God's grace.'

Not Yet: Lent 2013

Tomorrow Christians around the world will enter into the season of Lent - the forty days (minus Sundays) leading up to Easter. It climaxes with Jesus being placed in the dark tomb and rising again to launch God’s worldwide project of making the world the right. 

Lent is a season of preparation and anticipation. It is a time to reflect on the brokeness of our world and a time to repent for the brokenness in our lives. It is also a time to look ahead to the day when all things will be made new.

At Gateway we are starting a new sermon series wrestling with this "already-but-not-yet" nature of the Kingdom of God. Specifically we will be exploring the concept of spiritual warfare.

Our world is engaged in a cosmic war. A struggle between things both seen and unseen. But while Scripture clearly articulates war between good and evil, it also clearly articulates God’s sovereignty. The battle that is currently raging is not everlasting. In fact, the victory has already been won in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. But the demise of evil has not yet been fully realized.

Christians have been called and empowered to engage in this battle. To wage spiritual warfare against evil through prayer, evangelism, and social action.

In order to help people make the most of this season we have created a Lenten Experience Guide. This guide will provide daily invitations to read, pray, meditate, and engage in a particular activity to help you let go of your normal routine and truly engage this season with your heart. For more information visit thegatewaychurch.com/lent

The Power of Habit

On Sunday we began a new series at Gateway based on some of the research in the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. The book insists, I think correctly, that while most of the choices we make each day feel like the products of well-considered decision making, they are not. They are based on habits.

The choices you made already this morning - the decision to start the day with coffee or orange juice; with a jog or a prayer or the morning newspaper; to brush your teeth, take a shower, or use deodorant; the route you took to work this morning; whether or not you listened to music in the car; or wore your seat belt - all of these were most likely not conscious choices - but based on habits.

Habits are the choices that all of us deliberately make at some point, and then stop thinking about but continue doing, often every day. 

Habits (especially bad habits) emerge without permission. Studies show that most families usually don’t intend to eat fast food on a regular basis, but after a few busy days and hungry mouths to feed a once conscious decision becomes the routine.

You bite your nails when you are nervous.
buy a new pair of shoes when you need a pick-me-up.
turn on the TV when you walk in the door.
have a drink to relax.
smoke a cigarette to calm your nerves.

Before long we stop thinking about these choices. They become the routine of our lives. And these patterns are very hard to change.

Habits aren’t destiny.
Life doesn’t always have to be this way.
These patterns can change.
You can change.

But a habit can not be eradicated, it must be replaced. Unless you deliberately fight a habit - unless you find new routines - the pattern will unfold automatically.

This is why the apostle Paul tells us "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans 12v2

Our habits, patterns, and routines have been formed in a world away from God and the key to renewing our minds, our hearts, our relationships and our world is by cooperating with the Holy Spirit in developing new habits to bring our lives into harmony with the kingdom of God.

It is your habits - the choices you make either consciously or subconsciously every day - that determine the outcome of your life.

Who you become.
The impact you have.
The mark you leave on this world.
Will be determined by the habits of your life.

It is the habits of your life that determine whether you will be person who flourishes or a person who languishes.

You can follow along with the series by tuning into the Gateway podcast or by joining us on Sunday mornings. 

Gateway 2.0

Our church recently turned three years old - which isn't real significant in the vast scheme of two thousand years of church history - but a milestone for us none-the-less. For most of our short history we met in the historic Temple for Performing Arts, a beautifully restored Masonic Temple in the heart of our city. It was a tremendously unique place to gather and proved to be a wonderful space to start a church. 

But recently God has been doing a new thing. A strategic partnership with Central Campus - a regional academy of the Des Moines Public Schools - has blossomed into a beautiful relationship. We've had the opportunity to serve teachers, encourage administrators, get to know students and parents. This month our church moved into the auditorium at Central and we could not be more pleased.

Of course the two buildings could not be more different. Both are located downtown and have an historic, urban feel but the Temple is more intimate and ornate and Cental is spacious and simple. In order to really embrace the move I felt we needed a new look. To accomplish this, I worked with the creative geniuses at oneonecreatives.com. They helped us design everything from the ground up - new colors and fonts, bulletins and offering envelopes, directional signs and banners, the weekly e-newsletter and website - everything was given a new look, while staying true to our established brand.

The end result is nothing short of remarkable. I can not say enough about the talent, the creativity, the passion and the dedication of Bobby and Allie and the staff at OneOneCreatives. If you are in need of some graphic design, definitely check them out!

Everything You Need to Know about our Big Move

Our own Jeremy Harder provides a guided tour of Gateway's new meeting space at Central Campus. 

The Big Move

Yesterday we made a big announcement that The Gateway Church will be moving locations this fall. 

Since its inception, the dream of Gateway has been to create a life-giving church centered in and committed to the city of Des Moines. We began meeting in a living room in March, 2009. We were a small, ragtag community asking God to stir us in word and deed with his love for Des Moines. We started by loving our city in whatever simple, strange, street-level ways his Spirit would lead us to imagine.

When the church grew, we asked that Jesus would position us in the heart of the city, where the call to love Des Moines would be a daily opportunity. The Lord answered our prayers and for nearly three years, we’ve existed in the Temple for Performing Arts. Meanwhile, we have never stopped praying ‘Lead us to the heart of the city, Lord’ and I believe he has spoken once again. 

On September 30, The Gateway Church will begin meeting Sundays at 10am in the auditorium at Central Campus on 1800 Grand Avenue. Central Campus is a regional academy of the Des Moines Public Schools providing unique learning opportunities to students around our city.  

We envision this new facility will help us to even more effectively exhibit, proclaim, and live out the gospel in the heart of Des Moines by providing a number of key benefits:

• Location - we will remain a church centered in and committed to Des Moines
• Affordability - more resources available for ministry
• Space - room to grow into who we want to be and where we want to go as a church 
• Availability - more opportunities for ministry throughout the week
• Relationship - opportunities to build upon existing partnership with Central Campus
• Safety - safe and secure space to disciple and reach out to children and students
• Values - mission of the school aligns well with the values of our church

We believe that worshipping in this unique school rooted in the center of Des Moines will give our community the chance to be even more present within our city in the love, service, and proclamation of Christ. 

We expect that even as God is moving us physically, He will also be moving among us in new and unexpected ways. With this new facility we are free to dream in new ways. Artists will have the freedom to reimagine our Sunday worship space. Youth leaders will have the chance to reach out to students. There will be more opportunities to offer classes for our community, after school sports leagues, and much more.

Our prayer is that through the power of the Holy Spirit we will move forward with remarkable boldness and a deep sense of unity to make an even greater impact on our city this Fall.

The Power of Pentecost

This season at Gateway we’ve been in a series through the book of Acts entitled Pentecost. Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the twelve apostles and other followers of Jesus described in the Acts 2. 

Pentecost is the birthday of the Church and the book of Acts is the story of the transfer of the Holy Spirit from Jesus to the disciples.

When Jesus was preparing to ascend to heaven he doesn’t give his followers a bulleted list of instructions. Instead, he tells them that he will be with them and through the power of his Spirit they will continue to do and teach the things that He began to do and teach.

Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to continue his movement of reconciliation, healing and restoration on earth. What Jesus began, his successors will now continue. 

Which we know, as a matter of historical record, is exactly what happened. This group of disparate individuals, from a variety of economic and social and racial backgrounds came together (Acts 2v44) and - despite having virtually no political, cultural or economic power - turned the Roman empire upside down. 

How?

Jesus says, you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit in order to receive the power necessary to be my witnesses (Acts 1v8). So is the Spirit’s job to give us power? No. At least not primarily. 

We know from John 16 that the primary role of the Holy Spirit is to illuminate the work of Jesus Christ. And Paul says in Romans 1v17 ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation.’

In other words, the truth of Jesus Christ does not bring power. It does not result in power. It does not lead to power. It is the power. 

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is when you experience the truth of the gospel to such a degree that you’re whole heart and mind and body are filled with it. 

You don’t just know the gospel, you experience it. The Holy Spirit makes Jesus real, not just an abstraction. His words are real to you. His love envelops you. His truth - who he says you are, what he says matters - is so much more important to you than anything else anyone has told you.

God’s grace and love and power are so real that you begin to act on the basis of them. And when the Holy Spirit does that for a whole group of people it changes everything.

Tim Keller tells a story about a major revival that occurred in Northern Ireland back in 1859. One of the things that happened was that the majority of the prostitutes got converted. A Newspaper reporter found out about this and began to investigate. He sat down with one of the prostitutes and said, “Why are all of you coming to church?”

She said, for one thing business completely dropped off during the revival. But secondly, for the first time in our lives people on the street are treating us with kindness and with respect. 

Do you realize what is going on there?

These prostitutes were being exploited. The irreligious people were giving those girls business, so they were exploiting them. But the religious people were treating them with contempt and spitting on them - just to make themselves feel superior - so they were exploiting them too! 

There are a lot of people in our country that are saying what our society needs to today is a return to traditional values. But do you think if you had just made the religious people stronger, more religious, more conservative that would have gotten those girls out of their bondage?

NO! Truth without power means more spitting.

What changed those girls lives was not that people got more religious, but that they received the power of the gospel. The Holy Spirit made Jesus real to them.  

The irreligious people didn’t have God’s truth (law) that is why they went to them. But the religious people didn’t have God’s love, that is why they felt superior to them. But when they all became sinners, saved by grace - when they experienced the truth and the power of the gospel - it changed the world.

The Sustantivo (Partnership) Trailer

In March a team of eleven people from Gateway traveled to Anemona, El Salvador to begin an unlikely partnership between two churches. The team worked with ENLACE to help this impoverished community build tilapia fish tanks and home gardens to help improve nutrition and the local economy, but from the very beginning the team was just as focused on building relationships and connecting with the local church and community.

The stories coming out of this trip have been nothing short of remarkable and it just so happens that the people on the team are some amazing storytellers! We are currently producing a 20 - 30 minute short-film documenting our work - you can view the trailer below. We plan on showing the full-length film on Sunday, June 3rd during our worship services.

We believe this trip is only the beginning of a long-term partnership between Gateway, ENLACE and Palabra de Poder and the kingdom of God advancing in Des Moines, El Salvador and around the world.

Eggs, Eggs Everywhere!

This Spring, in an effort to bring the downtown community together and share the good news of Easter we are putting on the second annual Eggs Eggs Everywhere! event! A unique Easter Egg Hunt located in the heart of our city and open to everyone in the neighborhood. We'll hide over 12,000 candy & prize-filled eggs throughout Western Gateway Park!

Beyond the hunt, family activities will include:

• Kids’ Art Station
• 6 Giant inflatables for jumping play
• Face Painting Station
• Free Family Photos
• Free coffee for the adults

At Gateway our vision is to become a part of the fabric of the city of Des Moines; to join God in the renewal of the city. We can do that through ministry to the homeless, the widow and the orphan, the refugee and the outcasts... and we can do that by organizing a massive, free Easter Egg Hunt in the heart of our city! 

If you are in Des Moines over Easter please join us! Find out more at http://eggseggseverywhere.com

Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done

This week I am writing a series of posts on the Lord's Prayer from a message I preached at Gateway last weekend. You can listen to my message here.

When we pray for God's Kingdom to come we are aligning our hearts and lives around his just and righteous rule and reign in the universe and his authority in our lives. When the Old Testament prophets spoke about this they described God's rule in seven primary ways:

Deliverance
Righteousness & Justice
Peace
Joy
God’s Manifest Presence
Healing
Return from Exile

Jesus is saying, "I want you to pray for the rule and the reign of God to break out into the world around you. In your neighborhoods. In your homes. In your relationships. In all your situations!" And when it does you will see people being set free from that which is enslaving them. You will see righteousness and justice being established. You will see the ceasing of conflict and the restoration of peace. You will see a sense of great joy in life. There will be a sense of God’s manifest presence. You will see healing - souls, emotions, physical bodies. And there will be sense that the people of God have come home. They have finally found their place as God’s people in the world.

These are the things that we are to be praying for and seeking in our world. These are the things that we are to be calling down into our situations

In other words, prayer is not only about conversing with God, prayer is about collaborating with His actions in the world.

The apostle Paul said we are “God’s fellow workers” We are co-laborers with Christ. So when we see poverty and disease, the lack of justice, hostility and hatred we are to bring these things to God and ask that all of these situations would be transformed. That the rule and reign of God would break in.

Prayer is seeking to weave the Kingdom of God into a fallen world.