As a Twitter user, you can engage with a broader Christian community and with others in your own local area (and with other interest groups if your church is involved; there are significant Twitter communities sharing news around human trafficking or debt counseling or student mission, for instance). You can eavesdrop on these conversations and be informed, or you can contribute.

The church continually works to reclaim a biblical concept of the family. We call men to prepare themselves to be other-directed husbands. We call on women to find their beauty not in cultural stereotypes of a woman’s value but in God’s delight (1 Peter 3:1–6). Such will look increasingly and, oddly, peaceful to a culture conditioned to gender wars. But in the end, it’s not about being better men and women. It’s about a clear proclamation of the mystery of Christ and His church. They’re not in tension with one another, in competition with one another, mistrusting one another. They’re head and body—one flesh.

In Exodus 18, while visiting his famous son-in-law, Jethro observes Moses’s judicial administrative methods and then gives sage advice on delegation. The outcome was a much more effective and efficient way of serving the people.  But why didn’t God just tell Moses that from the beginning?     “Thus the Lord used to speak to... Continue Reading

In addition to assuming academic/administrative responsibilities at the seminary, Jim will also teach Greek and New Testament courses. His Bible Overview book is already a staple text in some of our seminary courses

Whilst in the great scheme of things what I am about to write about is not of the same scale as some of the much deeper and wider injustices in our society and world today, nonetheless what is going on is indicative of a deep malaise within the church in Scotland in general and the Church of Scotland in particular.

Ordinary women, being relational creatures, often see well-known men and women in ministry--the ones who write books, speak at conferences, launch ministries, or are married to people who do--and retreat into feelings of worthlessness. Stop it. Right. Now.

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.