Pursuing a holistic expression of Christian faith that is true to the Bible and applicable for today’s world.
Celebrating Holy Spirit Power In another post we talked about the four main Christian holidays. In succession, they celebrate that Jesus came to earth (Christmas), died so we could live (Good Friday), overcame death to prove his mastery of it (Easter), and having completed his mission, he gave us a gift (Pentecost). Pentecost is the […]
Make Sure Your Faith Community Focuses on the Right Thing We need to examine the purpose of church. Why do we meet each week? What are our goals when we come together? What should our focus be? Though people will give various answers, the responses fall into two broad categories: ourselves and others. Church Is […]
Seek Ways to Make Our Faith Communities Relevant to a Postmodern World In the early 2000s there was much talk about the emergent church. The idea was to address shrinking church attendance by taking steps to be more pertinent to a younger audience, many who dismissed the religious practices of prior generations. These people weren’t […]
If We Can Fully Understand God, Then He’s Not a Very Great God Some people are confused when they hear about Jesus or read the Bible. Because they don’t fully understand everything, they dismiss him, waiting until everything makes sense. It never will. At least not during our existence here on earth. This is the […]
Do Sermons Belong in Church? We go to church to learn about God, right? So sermons belong in church, right? Who told you that? It was likely the minister at your local church. That’s who I’ve heard it from, and church is always the place where I heard it. Isn’t that self-serving? Think about it. […]
If Our Beliefs Are Important to Us, We’ll Make Them Part of Every Aspect of Our Life Have you ever met someone out of your normal context and were surprised at what you saw or heard? This is a person who compartmentalizes their faith. They have a work persona, a leisure-time persona, and a family […]
Our Right Standing with Christ Frees Us from Rules, but Don’t Abuse This Freedom Jesus’s sacrificial death releases us from the obligation of Old Testament laws. We have freedom in Jesus and don’t need to follow rules. Instead, we follow Jesus. Yet we need to guard against getting carried away with our freedom. The Bible […]
Remember to Celebrate Jesus this Easter According to those who track public thought and opinion, the majority of people don’t realize that Easter is a religious holiday—or at least a holiday with a religious origin. Given this, we must reclaim Easter for what it means. The commercialization of Easter is strange. To start, we have […]
Should Christians Focus on Worshiping Jesus Who Suffered or Jesus Who Rose from the Dead? As we moved through Lent to approach Holy Week we anticipate four significant days: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter (which some call Resurrection Sunday). The last two, Good Friday and Easter, stand as momentous occasions for all […]
The Emergent Church Seeks to be Biblically Relevant for Postmodern People Ten to fifteen years ago, it seemed that every time I turned around I heard something about the emergent church. I wrote about this in my dissertation, with one long chapter devoted to the topic. My thoughts on the emergent church were greatly influenced […]