One of the most common questions asked by students of the Bible concerns the relationship between Israel and the church. We read the Old Testament, and it is evident that most of it concerns the story of Israel. From Jacob to the exile, the people of God is Israel, and Israel is the people of God. Despite the constant sin of king and people leading to the judgment of exile, the prophets look beyond this judgment with hope to a time of restoration for Israel.

Why this trend? The Pew report only touches on a few of the reasons—but all kinds of causes have been suggested: a move away from the gospel, failure of Christians to live out their faith, identifying Christianity too closely with politics, suffocating materialism, the pluralism of our global age, a spiritual but post-Christian worldview pumped... Continue Reading

In October 2009 Rev. McNeill, then a pastor at Central Presbyterian Church at Newark (NJ) Presbytery, went to Massachusetts where she married her partner in a ceremony held at an Episcopal Church which was overseen by clergy from The Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ.

I find myself weary of dramatic hyperbole in descriptions of the ideal Christian life. Extreme! Radical! Passionate! Awesome! Edgy! On fire! Dramatic! I can understand the emotional appeal of such hyperbole. After all, who wants to live half-baked, mediocre, listless, dull, bland, and boring?! But the opposite of listless is not necessarily all fired up. Our faith contains a wonderfully curious surprise.

My mentor in college assigned our discipleship group the task of studying Jesus’ questions in the gospels as a means of becoming more effective in evangelism. He then assigned us to go out and ask questions – specific in number and type. That study changed my life.

It’s easy when watching presidential and vice-presidential debates simply to treat the affair like one would treat a sports event. Root for your candidate’s victory and ride the ups and downs, the give and take. It’s also interesting to step back and consider what the debates say about American politics.

Evangelism is dying in many churches today. No, that’s not an overstatement. I am not speaking hyperbolically. Evangelism is dying.

We may join Whitefield, moving casually back and forth from new birth to justification! Isn’t that timely for the proclamation of the gospel? Aren’t people much more conscious that their lives need changing than that they need forgiveness? Don’t they yearn more deeply for transformation than for justification?

The term “living the gospel” has become a popular one in the past few years, being used by people such as Tim Keller, J.D. Greear, David Platt, and many others. Many variations on the term exist: “living out the gospel,” “living in light of the gospel,” “being the gospel,” and so on. While most people probably hear the terms and skip right past them without a second thought, there are others who have repeatedly and loudly declared opposition to all such uses of the term.

In many ways, Sandra Tsing Loh and I couldn’t be more different. The Atlantic writer is feminist, liberal, foul-mouthed, and cosmopolitan. At 50 years old, she has a successful career and a boyfriend. I, on the other hand, am not too many steps removed from what my college friend called “a prairie muffin.” You know, the stay-at-home Christian mom who bakes whole wheat goodies while wearing a modest denim dress.