Authentic Christian Fellowship
We share a common identity and a common life in Jesus Christ.
Authentic Christian fellowship is not about friendly chats over coffee and donuts, but about our shared relationship and communion with God. This should then lead us to a much deeper way of relating to one another. Here I would simply draw attention to our conversations with one another. They should have a more spiritual quality about them. Indeed, this... Continue Reading
How to Never Burn Out
Our lives are made for God’s love, and when it burns in us it should radiate with heat and light to the world and the people around us as well.
We’ll serve better and longer if we recognise the reality of our limits and live within them. But God gave us this life for a reason—not to be hoarded and protected at all costs, but to be shared generously in the pattern of our Saviour. So tend the fire with wisdom and care. Take reasonable... Continue Reading
Remembering the Reformation
The church must not forget the lessons learned during the Reformation. We cannot forget what happens when the gospel is obscured and distorted.
There are hundreds of books on the Reformation, but if one coming to the subject for the first time were looking for the best place to start, he would be hard pressed to find a better introduction than Stephen J. Nichols’ The Reformation (Crossway, 2007). For those who find history difficult, Nichols’ style of writing... Continue Reading
The Limits of Civil Obedience
Schaeffer argues that during the first eighty years of the twentieth century a more rapid departure from that worldview subjected every institution to substantial alteration—whether family, school, church, or government.
Christians, who understand what God requires, obey or disobey on principles, not whims or wishes. Schaeffer observes that wherever the Reformation flourished, two essential and inseparable aspects from the Christian worldview governed citizens: (1) because God ordains governments, he establishes proper order, including officials to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7); and (2) the obligation... Continue Reading
Leading is Editing
Leading a church is a bit like working with an editor.
For all there is pain in having lovingly crafted prose torn up, there is purpose to it. We can rarely see our own faults, and since churches tend to work well for their leaders, we can rarely see our church’s faults either. Work with “editors,” be they trusted outsiders or those within the church. Trust... Continue Reading
The Gender-Obsessed Left Will Have to Pry My Children From My Cold, Dead Hands
America may look back on transgender surgeries the way horrified students of history look back on these “progressive” phenomena.
As a father, it is my job to protect my children from harm, and this gender ideology threatens multiple harms. It threatens to confuse my young children about what men and women are. It threatens to mutilate their bodies and deprive them of the long-term fulfillment of having children of their own one day. It threatens... Continue Reading
The Hollow Core of Human Flourishing
The things around us and within us are simply incapable of meeting our deepest desires and needs.
Even as one of God’s people, it was a difficult thing to bring Solomon back from seeking fulfilment in earthly things once he had let himself go. Neither the voice of God’s Word, nor the voice of conscience, nor the influences of the Spirit, were sufficient to awake him or reclaim him. It wasn’t until... Continue Reading
United Methodist Church Exits Accelerate
It’s expected that 1500 and likely more churches will vote to exit this year, with perhaps a total of 3000-5000 churches exiting by the end of 2023.
After 2023, there is no clear path for United Methodist congregations to exit the denomination without losing their property. The 2024 General Conference could approve another exit pathway but it unlikely to do so. Paragraph 2553 was ratified by the 2019 Special General Conference by less than 52 percent, with traditionalists supporting and liberals opposing. Traditionalists... Continue Reading
Has the Internet Corrupted Our Moral Outrage?
In the online world, we are often only feeding the monster.
We should not always be quick to dismiss each other. Instead, our comments should point out our concerns without jumping to the conclusion that the person on the other end of the keyboard needs to be abandoned because they are not infallible. Even if they remain stubborn in their error, we can agree to disagree... Continue Reading
Truth and Logic in East and West
The claim that logic and the like are just Western inventions is quite amiss.
Biblical Christians cannot embrace Eastern philosophy and religion and still be true to the biblical witness. While there might be some helpful teachings here and there, the overall scheme of things is in direct contrast to what Christianity teaches, including the belief that there is absolute truth, and there are falsehoods that stand against these... Continue Reading
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