Ohio City Requires Permit for Home Prayer; Resident Appeals to Supreme Court
Even without a Supreme Court decision yet, the case already illustrates how local land-use rules can be weaponized against minority religious practice.
Early believers gathered in homes to pray, teach, and break bread. When authorities later demanded registration or closure of such meetings, Christians appealed to divine law over human commands that contradicted it. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29, KJV) Daniel Grand,... Continue Reading
A Response to PCA’s CN Study Committee
Not all cultures are equal; not all religions are compatible with the liberal conservative order.
Many new PCAers are Evangelicals, coming to Calvinist churches in the heyday of the racial reconciliationist moment of the early 21st century. And there are bad actors in the internet. But therein lies the problem. Not every conversation can be, or should be, about race and antisemitism. And those controversies should not govern questions of... Continue Reading
Why the Whole Counsel is So Important
“For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).
Living out Acts 20:27 means that all our thoughts and actions are constantly to be corrected or revised according to divine, transcultural norms. Averse which has been at the center of my life for over a half century has been on my mind a lot lately. Several of us have begun strategizing and working... Continue Reading
Feel-Good Evangelicalism and Our Problem of Biblical Illiteracy
CEO pastors who gloss over the Bible and doctrinal differences have proven to be a failed model for church life.
Too many American Christians have a bias against formal Bible translations, theological texts (such as old catechisms), and hymns. These were great crowning achievements of the Protestant world. Now they’re perceived as too stuffy and churchy, and we mock them or even imply that they send people to Hell, because people don’t find them “relatable”... Continue Reading
The God of Small Churches
Most of us have a picture in our minds of what a successful church looks like. It is large. It has a full parking lot. The worship team is polished.…
Your size does not determine your worth. It does not determine whether God sees you. It does not determine whether He cares for you or will work through you. The church at Colossae was small. And God wrote them a letter that the whole universal church still reads. The metric of success that the world... Continue Reading
Preachers, Don’t Tell Anyone to Do What You’re Not Prepared to Do
Teaching without being an example is hollow and hypocritical.
Paul says (rather uncomfortably for us) that his listeners should follow his example as he follows Christ. He says variations on this several times in his letters. Paul thinks that if you lived with him, and you watched his life closely, you would notice that he really believes what he is teaching. He is practicing... Continue Reading
The Most Neglected Element of Worship
Though this is obvious, it is often neglected: to read the text well, you need to practice reading it.
To read the Bible publicly is to stand before other people and read aloud words that God himself has written. This is a tremendous honor and a weighty privilege, and it deserves to be taken seriously. There are some elements of public worship that receive a great deal of attention. These elements are taught,... Continue Reading
Fellowship of the Suffering
Our suffering is to be a cause to pull closer together, to receive His gifts and drink deeply of His promise.
There is no shame in your suffering. It does not mean your faith is small or your righteousness is lacking. For the righteousness that you have, the righteousness that gains you eternal life, which gives you the promise of glory, is not your righteousness. It is Christ’s. It is a gift given freely to you... Continue Reading
Autism and Christianity: A Square Peg in a Round Hole?
Is Christianity a religion by neurotypicals and for neurotypicals? My response: That might feel true. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
If we want to ensure that autistic people don’t fall through the cracks, apostatize, or reject the messages we try to deliver, we need to take seriously the work of contextualization for the autistic population. The good news is that Christianity has been doing this for a long time. We don’t need to reinvent anything.... Continue Reading
A Pre-Assembly Update from Mission to North America
What MNA Has Accomplished—and Where the Lord Is at Work
The PCA can rejoice with us as we see how the Lord has worked powerfully in and among the people serving as staff, volunteers, and partners in the ministries of MNA. I used to be a RADAR technician for F-4 fighter aircraft. Doing that job, I learned that there are times when ground clutter... Continue Reading