The Mission Of The Church Pt. 2

Are Christians supposed to get involved in politics or social issues? As Pastor Chris Gordon and Dr. Bryan Estelle continue their discussion about the true mission of the church, they look at the significant cultural shifts that put undue pressure on pastors to address social concerns from the pulpit. They analyze how to balance congregational involvement in the issues of the day with the clear direction of the church, which is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s an important conversation that draws from Acts and Hebrews to remind believers that the calling is to be humble, to be salt and light, and to always stay focused on the Lord.

Chapters:
00:00 - The Social Gospel
01:05 - Changing Society
01:43 - Should We Fix Society?
03:40 - Origins Of Social Gospel
05:27 - Christian Activism
06:46 - Acts 17
07:43 - Paul In Athens
09:20 - Paul On The Church Mission
13:10 - Hebrews 10 - Forgiveness
14:30 - Heavenly Minded
17:35 - Anger In The Movements
19:10 - Salt & Light
21:10 - Destroying The Church?
24:00 - God’s Spoiler Alert!
25:10 - Psalter Hymn 149
28:00 - You Can’t Bind The Conscience
30:00 - The Church Mission Is Not American

More:
Dr. Bryan D. Estelle is an Orthodox Presbyterian Church minister who serves as professor of Old Testament at Westminster Seminary California in Escondido. Raised in mainline Presbyterian churches in Texas and Southern California, he became a Christian in his late teens. Bryan moved to Santa Barbara and worked with prison inmates and troubled youth. He also was employed in Yosemite National Park as a mountain climbing guide in the Sierras, where he scaled the northwest face of Half Dome and southwest face of El Capitan.

There he met Lisa, a fellow guide whom he followed to Eugene, Oregon. Lisa became his wife on September 5, 1982, and they have three children, Sean, David, and Kaitlin. For eight summers, Bryan and Lisa fished for salmon in Kodiak, Alaska. The Estelles worshiped at Oak Hill OPC in Eugene where he learned the Reformed faith from OP pastors Larry Conard and Alfred Poirier. After Bryan earned his bachelor’s from the University of Oregon, Eugene, in 1987, Conard and Poirier told Bryan he had ministerial gifts and urged him to go to WSC. Edmund Clowney’s book, Called to the Ministry, also educated him on the high calling of being a minister. In 1989, Bryan went to WSC and graduated with a masters of divinity in 1992.

In 1994, the Estelles moved to Washington, D.C., where Bryan earned his masters of art in 1998 and his doctorate in Semitic languages at Catholic University of America in 2001. During this time, Bryan was ordained by the OPC’s Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic on August 9, 1996. He served as assistant pastor of Knox OPC in Silver Spring, Maryland until 2000, when he was invited back to WSC. Serving the broader OPC, Bryan was elected by the General Assembly to serve on the Committee on Creation in 2001 and on the Committee to Study Republication in 2014. He also served as Hebraist for the Psalter-Hymnal Committee. He has written Salvation through Judgment and Mercy: The Gospel According to Jonah (2005), The Exodus Motif (2017), and The Primary Mission of the Church (2021).

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Dr. Bryan D. Estelle is an Orthodox Presbyterian Church minister who serves as professor of Old Testament at Westminster Seminary California in Escondido. Raised in mainline Presbyterian churches in Texas and Southern California, he became a Christian in his late teens. Bryan moved to Santa Barbara and worked with prison inmates and troubled youth. He also was employed in Yosemite National Park as a mountain climbing guide in the Sierras, where he scaled the northwest face of Half Dome and southwest face of El Capitan.

There he met Lisa, a fellow guide whom he followed to Eugene, Oregon. Lisa became his wife on September 5, 1982, and they have three children, Sean, David, and Kaitlin. For eight summers, Bryan and Lisa fished for salmon in Kodiak, Alaska. The Estelles worshiped at Oak Hill OPC in Eugene where he learned the Reformed faith from OP pastors Larry Conard and Alfred Poirier. After Bryan earned his bachelor’s from the University of Oregon, Eugene, in 1987, Conard and Poirier told Bryan he had ministerial gifts and urged him to go to WSC. Edmund Clowney’s book, Called to the Ministry, also educated him on the high calling of being a minister. In 1989, Bryan went to WSC and graduated with a masters of divinity in 1992.

In 1994, the Estelles moved to Washington, D.C., where Bryan earned his masters of art in 1998 and his doctorate in Semitic languages at Catholic University of America in 2001. During this time, Bryan was ordained by the OPC’s Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic on August 9, 1996. He served as assistant pastor of Knox OPC in Silver Spring, Maryland until 2000, when he was invited back to WSC. Serving the broader OPC, Bryan was elected by the General Assembly to serve on the Committee on Creation in 2001 and on the Committee to Study Republication in 2014. He also served as Hebraist for the Psalter-Hymnal Committee. He has written Salvation through Judgment and Mercy: The Gospel According to Jonah (2005), The Exodus Motif (2017), and The Primary Mission of the Church (2021).