Church Life – Apprentice 2 Jesus

A prayer for renewal

Two statements showed up on my timeline back to back from different sources and they call me to prayer.

Nov. 2 is All Souls Day. We remember those who have gone before. Hebrews 12:1–2 (NIV): Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2Continue reading “All Souls Day”

Our spiritual blindness

Mark 8:22–26 (NIV): They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”24Continue reading “Our spiritual blindness”

The development of toxic leadership

Scot McKnight, author A Church Called Tov, has a regular column he writes through substack, so this may be behind a paywall. His concern these days revolves around toxic leadership, how churches are blind to it and actually develop it, and how to change church culture to move away from that model when looking forContinue reading “The development of toxic leadership”

“Build another building”

Reading in Eugene Peterson’s biography (and remembering this story from his memoir), there was the time in beginning Christ Our King church that they finally built their building. It was a glorious time. Then, people began to disappear.

The toxicity of white space

How hard have we made it, as white evangelicals, for people of color to be in our supposed multi-ethnic spaces? How hard have we made it for black brothers and sisters to voice their concern, their pain, and even their joy in our spaces? Some examples:

The beauty of the Body of Christ

There is no doubt so many expressions of the American Church have caused a lot of pain and turmoil. Through the ages, the Body of Christ has struggled with the humanity of the institution called the Church.

The weekend wrap up

Thoughts for the week ahead:

Walking into the New Year

As I was preparing this post and then started to post, I put my title in first. I almost wrote: “Walking WITH PURPOSE into the New Year.” (Well, not all caps, but those were the words I chose to delete.) It’s not that “with purpose” is a bad idea. It’s a bad idea to walkContinue reading “Walking into the New Year”

The dire warnings of Christian Celebrity

David French takes up the subject of celebrity pastors. It’s not just about the latest notable failing and “fashion pastors.” Or, “hot pastors.” It’s about guarding our hearts and staying humble before the Lord. Christian celebrities will continue to fall. But they don’t have to fall so often. They don’t have to inflict so muchContinue reading “The dire warnings of Christian Celebrity”