shepherding the shepherd
from PreachingToday.com
10,000 Testimonies from the Catacombs
Beginning about 100 AD, 150,000 poor and powerless Christians were interred in the “sleeping spaces” (dormir) of the Roman catacombs. Christian gravediggers (who were held in honor by the Roman Christians second only to pastors) carved well over one hundred miles of tunnels out of the rock beneath Rome. Over 10,000 of those tombs were inscribed with epitaphs and very simple drawings capturing the exultant faith of Christians who had lived under constant threats for their faith. At least 15% of them had been violently martyred.
‘They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds’
There is a motto popular among some activists: “They wanted to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.” Christians can repurpose that slogan. It brings to mind Tertullian’s statement, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
Ordinary Pastors
There they are—our forefathers, our kind of people. Ordinary, plain, common. And no matter how good our education, the secret to gospel ministry has never been something we learned in school.
Ordinary People
I’m often struck by how ordinary church people are. That’s not a put-down. I admire the ingenuity of our disguises.
Foundational Words
We work as subcontractors, you might say, at a construction site. Maybe that would be clearer if someone stretched a chain-link fence around the church property and required everyone arriving on Sundays to wear yellow hard hats.
The Oof of It
Picture a dad stretched out on the living room floor right after dinner, eyes closed, hands behind his head, just relaxing. Then out of nowhere, his 7-year-old runs in and jumps on his stomach. That’s what it feels like when someone in our church attacks us. It’s not just their attacks or sudden departure that hurts, but how unsuspecting and vulnerable we were. The oof of it!