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Confronting the issues of the American Conservative Church
Yesterday I was in prayer for the American Church. I had read in Mark 11 about Jesus cursing the fig tree and cleansing the Temple, and I was grieved for the Church once again.
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The sign of Jonah
In Luke 11:29 people ask for yet another sign from Jesus. Too often we are asking for a sign and don’t know what we’re asking in that request.
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Evangelical no more
I will also not be “scared silent” anymore…
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And Yet Again, What of Evangelicals?
We have been decrying the decline of the “liberals.” Alternately, there has been the call for the end of “conservatives.” All in the Church. Not even in politics! Now, John Ortberg has us wringing our hands about evangelicals again. Not really. I just wanted to be sensational in my headline. This is a well-thought out column. We need to realize…
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The King Jesus Gospel — Messing Up the Message
I am beginning to work my way through The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight. My church staff will be making our way through it the next several weeks as well. The diagnosis of the “evangelical problem” resonates with me. The struggle over “decisions” and “disciples” has been something I’ve felt for all my years in ministry. McKnight lays out his…
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Evangelism — Orthodox and “Evangelical”
I have not been a fan of using church services alone to “evangelize.” A worship service is for…well… worship. It’s FOR Christ. Not us. But that’s just me. Obviously. 😉 This interview with Bishop Kallistos Ware (bishop of the Orthodox Church in England) is a good read. I like this exchange on “evangelism”: To draw in the unchurched, evangelical churches…
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Whiplash Politics and Reactive Christianity
Another fine column by David Brooks in The New York Times illustrates our extreme unhappiness with all things government. We just can’t be satisfied. Those who want limited government really aren’t happy. Those who want government involvement aren’t happy, either. As Brooks points out, what HAS happened in the past ten years is government has become more pervasive, and that…
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Marketing and the Church
I get into debates with myself over what is “marketing” for the church. What “counts” vs. what “doesn’t count,” etc. But then I read articles like this one and just get sick. The article begins like this: In the back room of a theater on Beale Street, John Renken, 42, a pastor, recently led a group of young men in…
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More on the Evangelical Demise… Chuck Colson is not so sure about the demise of the evangelical movement. He does offer these very wise words: Yes, the evangelical movement is growing, which is good, but numbers don’t mean everything. For example, a new Barna survey shows that only 19 percent of evangelicals hold a consistently biblical worldview. What this tells…
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Other Thoughts On Evangelical Demise Mark Galli posted on Christianity Today. He put down his thoughts regarding the demise issue. This thought stands out: What I will do, to my dying day, is work with anyone who knows he was lost but now is found, whose Bible is worn because she repeatedly looks there for God to speak, who finds…
Category: Evangelicalism
