Strengthen Your Brothers
The Beliefs and Brothers Every Pastor Needs Long-Term
A Day with Pastor Ray Ortlund
Renewal Ministries • Franklin, Tennessee
“And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:32
As American churches fragment and falter, I look to the future. I see a rising generation of faithful pastors who will rebuild, by God’s grace, for his glory. With my few remaining years, I long to strengthen those fruitful pastors.
May I have the privilege of serving you?
1
What is my urgency in offering Strengthen Your Brothers?
“And I will make every effort so that, after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things.” 2 Peter 1:15
I am now 75 years old. One great use of my last vigorous decade is to invest in younger pastors. You are the ones who matter now. You can and must build a better future than the wreckage my generation is passing down to you. The age of big-deal, self-important, Presidential Pastors is over. The age of honest, sincere, selfless pastors is returning. So, my time is now. And your time is now.
As I strengthen my brothers, I myself will be strengthened. A senior saint in the early church described how wonderfully these dynamics work:
“I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you – that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:11-12
2
What ultimate outcome am I hoping for?
What do I desire for you?
What I want for you is nothing less than authentic revival in your church. J. I. Packer paints that happy picture:
The end to which all church order, on the Puritan view, was a means, and for which everything superstitious, misleading and Spirit-quenching must be rooted out, was the glory of God in and through the salvation of sinners and the building up of lively congregations in which people met God.
“I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” — Philemon 7
Informing the minds of the saints is important! But it only gets the ball into the red zone. Refreshing the hearts of the saints is the TD that wins the Super Bowl.
For too many years, I did not understand that. Eventually, in God’s mercy, I began to change. Here is where I landed – in two sentences:
Wherever the gospel is allowed to exert its full authority, it takes over as an experience of ongoing refreshment in a church’s shared life.
In other words, gospel doctrine creates gospel culture.
That is the ministry the Lord has entrusted to his pastors in every generation. So please understand. “Gospel culture” is not a clever church growth strategy. It is Christianity. It is the new community Jesus died and rose again to create.
You and your brothers can be a generation of pastors refreshing the hearts of the saints by your love for them, as you preach gospel doctrine and nurture gospel culture. Then your church will be marked by both the truth of Jesus and the beauty of Jesus.
How does that sound to you? Want to make some “good trouble” together? Want to reach for revival? You need beliefs, and you need brothers. Let’s get after it!
3
As we interact together at Strengthen Your Brothers, what are the “ground rules”?
- The harder the question, the better. The more embarrassing the question, the more fun. I am putting myself at risk here. I like that. I ask you to do the same.
- We will be honest with one another. We will be real and raw. We will keep every delicate matter disclosed among us confidential. We are safe here.
- “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).
PHOTO: Our meeting place!
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What will be our two focal points at Strengthen Your Brothers?
1. Gospel Doctrine
A reviving pastor reveres the Bible and the Cross with articulate conviction.
- John W. Wenham, “Jesus’ View of the Old Testament,” in Christ and the Bible (1984), 11-37.
- John Woodbridge, “Evangelical Self-Identity and the Doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy,” in Understanding the Times (2011).
- J. I. Packer, “What Did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution,” The Tyndale Bulletin 25 (1974): 3-45.
2. Gospel Culture
A reviving pastor moves among his people with relational beauty.
- Francis A. Schaeffer, 2 Contents, 2 Realities (1974).
- Francis A. Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian (1970).
- Ray Ortlund, “How to Build Gospel Culture in Your Church,” TGC (2015)
I foresee three pastors joining me for each Strengthen Your Brothers event. You might be meeting one another for the first time, or you might already be friends, or you might be serving on the same pastoral team. But by the end of the day, your primary takeaway will be you and your brother pastors agreeing on “next steps” for your ongoing solidarity.
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How can you enter into Strengthen Your Brothers?
- Pray about it. Does the Lord want you to knock on this door?
- Email me using the form below to express your interest. I will ask you what church you serve and whether you have your church’s support for your interest in this ministry. I will send you an application form.
- If Strengthen Your Brothers looks like a fit for you, I will offer dates for your participation within the next year. This ministry will require of you one day here in my study. You will be expected to participate fully – no late arrivals, no early departures. You will be responsible for your housing and transportation. I will provide copies of the readings, which you will complete in advance.
- Your church will contribute $1000.00 to Renewal Ministries, paid in advance of your arrival.
