The trend of realignment among mainline churches can be seen in the formation of ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (2012), the North American Lutheran Church (2010), and the Anglican Church of North America (2009). Both ECO and NALC were formed from networks of ministers and churches that had decided that renewal from within... Continue Reading

Members of stable churches want the focus to be on their preferences. They want church “the way it’s always been.” They are more concerned about getting their way with music style, room temperature, and precise starting time of worship services. In their latter years, they are able to sing, “I did it my way” rather... Continue Reading

Am I saying that preachers should never write blogs, articles, and books? No. After all, I write posts, articles, and books. As a teacher I am required to write. It is part of the call I have from the church. It is an expectation of my employer. I got started blogging only because my church... Continue Reading

I don’t have space for a full-on analysis of this style, its benefits, its grounding, or how much it actually connects to Biblical narrative, or even Evangelical testimonials. I just want to make two or three points about what it seems to do to our ability to talk to one another in a dispute.  ... Continue Reading

So what can we do to help protect ourselves, our families, and the people in our churches from the burden of discouragement, the loneliness of isolation, and the difficult side effects of a sacrificial ministry? Although there may be many ways to answer this question, I have found one to be particularly helpful in my... Continue Reading

“There was just no question among [The Orchard’s] leaders that this was right move for us,” said Collier. “Our departure was not about the homosexuality issue per se, but about the general church’s inability to deal with it. Unfortunately, its failure became an enormous distraction to the kingdom work our congregation is called to do.”  ... Continue Reading

Today: Emphasis on congregational singing. Ten years ago: Emphasis on performance singing. Healthy churches are seeing an awakening of congregational singing today. Ten years ago, contemporary churches emphasized the performance of the praise team and band, while traditional churches emphasized the performance of the choir and soloists.   Change or die. Such has been the... Continue Reading

“I am writing this a week away from a short Sabbatical that our elders graciously built into my call package when we organized in May of 2015. To that end, I wanted to explain one or two aspects of Sabbaticals that churches might want to consider. Historically, ministerial Sabbaticals have been viewed differently than extended... Continue Reading

Being able to rightly teach God’s word presupposes that they themselves have been taught by God’s word; that they are men who are controlled by and in submission to God’s word. In what follows, I want to lay out three ways this evidences itself. I want to do so precisely because judging a man on... Continue Reading

For students anticipating a move from college, how might they best decide where to go, which internship to take, what grad school to apply to, what job offer to accept? Well, they actually have to make a decision. Some people call this adulting. God won’t make the choice for them. But at some future point... Continue Reading