Apprentice 2 Jesus

Church

  • Back to Work

    My sabbatical is finished and today is my first Sunday back preaching. Of course, it’s Labor Day weekend and no one will be there… which could help because after 5 weeks off I’m not sure how this will go! The time away was needed. I was certainly more tired than I thought and the rest… Read more

  • Two Books Evangelicals and Pentecostals MUST Read

    Liturgical Theology, by Simon Chan. Desiring the Kingdom, by James K.A. Smith. No links. I’m not making money. These books are powerful and needed. Read more

  • Greatness

    I am currently working my way through the Book of John in my preaching. Today focuses on John 3:22-36. John the Baptist’s testimony was that Jesus needed to become greater and he needed to fade into the background. John the Baptist would just not fit in today. He needed to learn about “market share” and… Read more

  • Leaving Our Christian Ghettos

    One of the great challenges of pastoring is to move beyond pastoring my church and into pastoring my community. The longer I am in ministry, the more fed up I am with “programs” we try and design to keep the machine we call “church” going. If we were out truly pastoring our communities, things might… Read more

  • Christ and Culture — The Question We Fail to Ask

    In their fine book, Exploring Ecclesiology, Harper and Metzger take up the question of Christ and culture in Chapter 13. They use H. Richard Niebuhr’s model of Christ and culture, Christ vs. culture, etc. They also use the model of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and how he stood up against Germany in a time when Germany nationalism… Read more

  • Therapy Over Theology

    The Church in America has moved from teaching what is true to teaching what works. Personal growth and satisfaction take precedence over truth. “The ultimate consequence of Christianity centered on personal issues and self-improvement is that theology becomes therapy, the search for righteousness is replaced by the search for happiness, holiness by wholeness, and truth… Read more

  • Oddly Enough… We ARE Odd!

    Mark Galli strikes to the heart of our aversion to being “different” as evangelicals in America. We just want to be dog-gone normal! We want to compete with the local coffee shop or bar. In his column, Galli relates the story of a lawsuit brought by a high school senior who didn’t want the graduation… Read more

  • The Household of Faith

    One of those phrases used constantly over the last several years in pastoral ministry and theology is “missional.” Great word. What does it mean? “We are a missional community.” Great thought. Explain that, will you? What is the Church, the Body of Christ? Part of the community of Christ is we are a place where… Read more

  • Sacramental Witness — Part Three

    Part One Part Two The beauty of sacramental witness is it helps us tell the story of our faith over and over. The “downside” is not with the method. The downside is with our “been there, done that” culture. We hear something once and then think we have it down. There is very little we… Read more

  • Sacramental Witness — Part Two

    Part One Harper and Metzger call the church in North America a “little flock.” It is convicting to read those words. We think the Church is huge. Maybe it is not. Their words are sharp. It is almost like reading one of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. We need to hear this… Read more