Matthew Dickerson is no stranger in our region, and he has just come out with a new book: Disciple Making in a Culture of Power, Comfort, and Fear. He has been a featured speaker and a featured musician before at Annual Gatherings.  He has published 15 books including biography, Christian apologetics, books about C.S.Lewis and story, and books about Christianity and ecology.

We had the opportunity to ask Matthew a few questions about his connection to our region as well as about his new book.

You are no stranger to ABC-VNH over the years. Tell us a little about your connection to our Region.
My wife Deborah and I moved to Vermont 31 years ago, and soon got involved with an ABC church in Middlebury. We have raised all three of our sons in the church, and they’ve all been baptized by our pastor, and at present the two who still live close to us are actively involved in the church. In addition to serving in a wide variety of ministries, capacities, positions in our local church, I have been a featured speaker at one of the ABC-VNH annual conventions, and a musician at another. I have also given concerts at several churches in the region. For several years I helped run a conference on Christianity and the Arts at Gove Hill (before the region had to sell that property). Deborah is now serving as a trustee in the region. So, while I didn’t grow up in a Baptist church, I’ve now spent more than half my life with a deep connection to ABC-VNH.

You have written about a variety of things, both fiction and non-fiction. What drew you to write Disciple Making in a Culture of Power, Comfort, and Fear?
I’ve published more than a dozen books, but while for years I have sensed God’s college to be a communicator—a writer and speaker—this is the first book that I had a very clear sense of calling that I was supposed to write about a very particular topic. In fact, I had been working on a novel at the time, and also on some non-fiction writing about trout, fishing, and river ecology, and I didn’t particularly want to write this book. But the sense of calling was particularly strong, and it didn’t go away or become less compelling after I tried to ignore it for a couple months. So I put down my other projects and started on it.

I think one other thing that probably helped push me to write the book—or to accept the calling to write it—was the death of Eugene Peterson. Peterson had been something of a spiritual mentor to me over the previous eight years through a personal relationship that began with a group of writers of Christian faith that I am a part of (called the Chrysostom Society.) So I was both inspired by the example he had set of disciple making, and also feeling a sense of loss and a need to continue the important work he had invested in. Readers of my book will note that I quote Peterson several times.

How did the process of writing this book change how you view discipleship making?
I think the Biblical teaching is that all believers are called to be makers of disciples, but how we do that can look very different from person to person and even from time to time in the life of one individual. We go through phases in our lives where God may be moving us from one emphasis of ministry to another. Some of the avenues in which I had invested in disciple making were no longer as open to me, and I was in a bit of an in-between time, so writing the book nudged me toward a more intentional seeking of where God would have me invest next.

I’m not sure it changed my fundamental view of the Biblical call to disciple making as much as reinvigorated me or renewed my commitment, and also helped me reflect more carefully on the foundations of disciple making (which I address in the book). It also helped me to think through the great need, in our culture (so dominated by fear and by an unholy striving for power and by an addiction to comfort) for a renewed commitment in the church to deeper faith, which in terms needs deeper discipleship—to use the phrase of Eugene Peterson: a long obedience in the same direction.

I also think that writing this book helped me think through some new connections, and maybe especially the connection between discipleship and spiritual transformation, and the idea that our transformation is both something that the Holy Spirit does within us (that we cannot do to ourselves) and yet something that we must participate in. The New Testament language of spiritual transformation, especially in the writings of Paul, uses both the active and passive voice; transformation is something God does in our lives, but something we must be involved in, or open to. That is also true of the work of making disciples.



Here is a description of Dickerson's new book:
Speaking in and to a culture that worships power and comfort while cultivating fear as a manipulative tool, Matthew Dickerson offers a transformative alternative: authentic discipleship and disciple making. What does it mean to live as disciples of Christ, what would it look like to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, and how can we be open to that transformation? How can a follower of Christ live as salt and light in the midst of a power-hungry fear-mongering society? And how can we both teach and model that disciple life as we obey Christ’s command to make disciples? In the tradition of spiritual theology and formation, Disciple Making in a Culture of Power, Comfort, and Fear draws deeply from Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy—viewed as a reflection on Jesus’ great disciple-making commission—as well as on Dickerson’s own experiences in disciple-making ministry on college campuses and his local church. Dickerson’s writing is deeply informed by Scriptures, by the works of such important Christian thinkers, theologians, and writers as Eugene Peterson, John Stott, and Richard Foster, and also by the literature of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien whose works he has been teaching and writing about for more than thirty years.

Rev. Dale Edwards had a chance to read this book, and he writes this:
“Matt Dickerson’s work brings to the forefront that disciples must be truly formed by Christ to be disciple-makers. Matt’s cultural analysis, precise exegesis, while plumbing the writings of Christian saints, coupled with his own journey, unfolds a depth of timeless orthodoxy. Matt Dickerson leads us from cultural conformity, and the solely cognitive, to the soul forming work of Word, words, and Spirit. From this well, disciples and disciple-makers are born. I cannot help recommend this work to all who desire to reach higher and deeper.”

Buy the book here! 

​As we head into the fall, we’re feeling the effects of an increasingly polarized world. The rise of an “us versus them” mentality seems to be ever-present - even in the church. So, how are we to navigate the complexities and difficulties of this reality?

Author Dick Staub wrote, “When we are faithfully following Jesus we will be too Christian for our pagan friends and too pagan for our Christian friends.” When we follow Jesus faithfully we will find that this is the reality of the overlapped life.

As Christians, we’re called to live with our feet firmly planted in two different worlds: heaven and also earth. Jesus called his followers to pray the Lord’s prayer. That powerful line - your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven - is the overlapping world Jesus wants us to embrace. This heaven-overlapping-with-earth reality is what it means to faithfully follow Jesus - and invite others to follow him, too. But how are we to do that when the polarization seems to grow more intense with each passing week?

In this webinar, J.R. Briggs will:

• Explore the ways in which Jesus lived faithfully in a both/and reality in a divisive world

• See the ways in which the Christian life is found within a healthy kingdom tension

• Discover specific practices which can help us be faithfully overlapping people of God

• Unpack how we must embrace wisdom, courage, and compassion in the days ahead

Join us for this free webinar on this crucial topic for you and your church.

Sept, 1, 2020 // 1:00 PM EST

This update was written by Rev. Vivan Martindale, who serves on the Board of Directors:

Good morning friends and colleagues in the ABC-VNH Region,

A few weeks ago International Ministries (American Baptist Foreign Mission Society) held its first-ever ZOOM World Mission Conference.  It was a great disappointment to have to cancel the in-person conference scheduled for Greenlake Conference center.  However, we did not want a virus to completely stymie the joy, inspiration and relationships so often found at the conference.

Our home staff and missionaries around the globe put their heads and hearts together and designed five 30 minute events for a digital conference. Usually there would be 200-400 persons attending a conference at Green Lake. This year more than 1100 people tuned in from 29 different countries!!  What a great 'real-time' gathering.

That phenomenal experience is not lost!  Fortunately, if you were not one of the 1100, you can still soak in the experience by using the link below.  There are 5 thirty minute videos of the live and prerecorded experiences presented from all around the globe.  They are great for your own information, sharing with your congregation or using in your own small group digital gatherings. There will be a few individuals missing from these recordings for safety and security reasons as their information and identity are not shared on the World Wide Web.

Since I continue to serve as a member of the International Ministries, Board of Directors, please feel free to contact me if you need more information or have any questions.  And please feel free to share this link with others.

https://www.internationalministries.org/world-mission-conference/

Let your hearts be warmed and inspired by the work God in Christ is doing through the Holy Spirit and our Global Servants.

​His servant and yours,

Vivan
Rev. Vivan H. Martindale
American Baptist Clergy, Ret.
9 Burgundy Dr.
Hampton NH 03842

Mobile:  603-765-4255
Email:  churchguy433@gmail.com  

​The Northern Baptist Education Society for generations has been supporting students as they become prepared for the ministry, and now we have the opportunity to help educated pastors serving local churches. We are trying out a new program to reduce the financial barriers facing recent graduates coming to serve in local churches in Northern New England by creating a Loan Repayment Assistance Program. We seek a creative solution that will work against prevailing trends to encourage educated pastors to come serve our local churches in our regions.

Here are some guidelines for this program. To qualify, applicants would:

• Be graduates of an ATS seminary
• Have educational debt (undergraduate and graduate)
• Be serving an American Baptist Church as a pastor in Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont or New Hampshire with 150 members or less
• Be listed in the directory of the Region that the applicant is serving

If you have any questions about the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, please reach out to Roger Spinney (rspin6477@aol.com). If you would like an application for the program again reach out to Roger Spinney. The deadline to receive applications for the year 2020 grants is October 15, 2020.  Decisions will be made on grants no later than November 20, 2020.  

While the board has already allocated funds in starting this program, they are working towards trying to fund this program with donations in order to continue with this program. For those who have already paid off their education debt and would like to help other pastors, Northern Baptist Education Society is raising funds here: https://gf.me/u/x5fhzj

​Registration is still open for the Gordon-Conwell course Church Revitalization, offered at First Baptist Church in Haverhill, MA in two, two-day seminars (Sept. 25-26 & Nov. 6-7). Taught by Dr. Ron Bouthillette in collaboration with several pastors from the New England region, this course examines the reasons for church decline and addresses solutions for revitalization—the course intersects ecclesiology, evangelism, leadership, preaching, sociology and pastoral ministry. This is one of several courses Gordon-Conwell offers off-campus as a part of our Thriving In Ministry initiative, providing seminary-level education in the local church and equipping pastors and lay leaders to enrich their ministry. We plan to offer this course live with appropriate precautions. Please join us for this opportunity to explore how congregations can move toward renewal!

There are three ways to participate:

• Anyone may audit this course for $75.
• Anyone may participate at $250 per course as a part of Certificate of Ministry Leadership, designed for lay leaders in congregations. The certificate program requires the participant to complete 6 of these courses, with required coursework.
• Gordon-Conwell alumni may audit one course per year at no cost (please email us to register).

Sign up by September 16 to reserve your spot! Click here to register and view further details. We welcome you to extend this invitation to others in your church.