What Scripture Teaches About Meeting Together Is Far Different Than Our Sunday Services We talked about three options for a house church gathering: duplicate a typical service, participate online, or just hang out. Each of these three approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. However, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul gives us some ideas […]
Discussing Church 21 Most of this church’s ministry happens on Saturday. The Sunday service is for those they meet during their Wednesday evening street ministry. Consider these four discussion questions about Church #21: 1. We turn to Hebrews 6, but as the pastor begins her message, the Holy Spirit sends her to Ephesians 4. We […]
Scripture Can Produce Tears of Joy and of Sorrow A minister in Africa passed out Bibles to his people so they could have their own copy and read Scripture in their native tongue. He said that “I see many believers crying and praying as they read the Word.” This report makes my heart soar with […]
Our Worship verses God’s Work After God finishes with his amazing creation he takes time on the seventh day to rest. He declares the day holy. Later in the Old Testament, God reminds his people to keep the Sabbath holy and to not work. How should this inform our worship of our creator? Yea, a […]
The Bible Overflows With Praise to the Almighty The word praise occurs in more than 360 verses in the Bible. Most of these refer to praising God. They tell of people who praise God and their need to do so. Consider the short, six-verse Psalm 150. It’s filled with praise. The word occurs thirteen times. […]
Discussing Church 4 This church’s Facebook page—they have no website—says their “services are informal with a blend of hymns and contemporary music.” I expect service melding contemporary and traditional aspect of worship. Consider these four discussion questions about Church #4: 1. I suspect the service will match what I see in the facility, a merging […]
Expressions of Grief Abound in the Psalms but We’ve Forgotten How to Lament In the churches I have attended throughout my life and visited in the past few years (nearly one hundred) I don’t remember singing songs of lament. We laud God the Father, we express love to Jesus and give thanks for his gift […]
Have a Visitor-Worthy Church With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #48. This church did many things right, especially the warm way they welcomed my wife and me into their community. Several of their practices were personally inviting […]
There are Different Ways to Worship God With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #47. The people at this church are considerate of visitors. Their embrace of us, in a casual, open way, encourages me. This, however, belies […]
We are All Priests Through Jesus With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #36. We arrived at church only to learn they cancelled the service because their pastor had an emergency. Despite this, we hung around and talked […]