Your Church Is Not Your City’s Savior
Jesus did not say that the world would know we are his disciples by our competition with one another.
The unity of churches in a community has the potential to drive—or, if they’re disunited, detract from—the evangelistic mission in that location. Churches are not businesses; they should not compete as though vying for their share of the market. Rather, churches are partners together in the mission of seeing sinners come to Christ and grow... Continue Reading
Presbyterian Church USA Denounces Religious Freedom Protection
Members of the Social Justice Issues Committee asserted religious freedom has the means by which individuals “discriminate against or impose one’s views upon others.”
This view echoes what LGBTQ organizations and abortion rights advocacy groups have been saying. Instead of siding with religious freedom, as many U.S. religious bodies have, the PCUSA has sided with sexual progressives. Ironically, in the early 1990’s, the PCUSA endorsed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but the liberalized denomination, which has since abandoned its... Continue Reading
A Sober Warning from the Earliest Christians
It’s crucial to understand that from the Roman perspective, the persecution was not primarily about religion, but about politics.
Where tolerance once called for respect despite disagreement, today it calls for far more. We are considered tolerant only when we advocate and celebrate new understandings of marriage, sexuality, and gender. Those who refuse to celebrate what they believe God forbids are seen as disloyal to the unifying principle of society. They are seen to... Continue Reading
Mystery of Liberal Church Decline
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune fails to explore the contrast between receding liberal churches and more vibrant traditional ones.
Unsurprisingly, this indifference to cause and contrast is common among Mainline Protestant elites. They routinely ignore or minimize their half century of perpetual decline. At their recent denominational conventions, both the Episcopal Church and Presbyterian Church USA largely pretended all was well. Meanwhile, they doubled down on radical political, theological and sexual stances. Do... Continue Reading
Can Preachers Make an Impact in a Post-Christian World?
Herman Bavinck’s advice to 19th century pastors still holds true today.
T. David Gordon’s Why Johnny Can’t Preach has put forward that current day preaching is not particularly good, and that most churchgoers do not expect it to be. In his argument, the typical 21st-century sermon is a rambling, inarticulate, and unsuccessful attempt to say something that is somehow connected to the Bible. This is the... Continue Reading
Greenville Seminary Announces Presidential Succession Plan
Dr. Joseph Pipa will retire as president of the seminary on July 1, 2021.
With respect to the formation of the Committee and its charge to seek a successor to Dr. Pipa, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr. C. Fredric Marcinak, III, stated that “The members of the Board, the faculty, and staff of the Seminary, the distinguished alumni of this institution, and the current student body... Continue Reading
Willow: Why The Women Went Public?
The women want Willow’s elders and WCA Board to be examined, not least for its most recent announcements.
We need to remind ourselves of the significance of what we are watching: this case will be a textbook case for decades on the failure of a church — its Elders, its Boards — to listen to women, to evaluate accusations, and to have policies in place for handling a one-of-a-kind world-influencing leaders. How the Elders handled this case... Continue Reading
What Being (Almost) Kicked Out of McDonald’s Taught Me about Those Outside the Church
When I entered McDonald’s with my Wendy’s bag, I was the outsider. But at church, I’m the warden.
“Maybe they never stepped foot inside a church so they have no idea what the Bible teaches about anything. Either way, they’re the person walking into McDonald’s with a Wendy’s bag. They haven’t fully bought into church or God, but they want to come anyway. And if you’re a true warden of your church, you... Continue Reading
Pastor, Don’t Waste Your Exclamation Points
Just remember that if everything is exciting, nothing is.
If you’re one of those rah-rah guys firing on all emotional cylinders for everything from bake sales and the book table to baptisms and baby dedications, you create an equality between minutiae and missional milestones that can be disorienting, and ultimately dulling. Generally speaking, a church will over time become affected by, influenced toward,... Continue Reading
Biblical Scholars Warn Against False Teaching in Human Rights Campaign’s LGBT Guide for Evangelicals
Some biblical scholars are warning against a new guide published by a prominent gay rights organization geared toward evangelicals who identify as LGBT, saying it amounts to "false teaching."
Last week, the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign released “Coming Home to Evangelicalism and to Self,” a 32-page guide containing resources, advice, and testimonials for evangelical Christians who are “on the journey toward living fully in their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and in their faith and its traditions,” according to its website. Some... Continue Reading
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 178
- 179
- 180
- 181
- 182
- …
- 569
- Next Page »