If you have a church member who has been warned or disciplined by another pastor or church, you have a responsibility to investigate what’s going on. True, it might be that the old church spoke where there is no authority to speak, disciplining a parent for not homeschooling, for example. But, even then, if you will give an answer for the soul of this person, you bear the responsibility to find out what exactly is going on.

We need the awkwardness of a worship service where not every song is a wonderfully produced experience of excitement. We need awkward pauses and awkward people. Why? Because that's real life.

But we should recognize, and emphasize, that the authority of God speaking can and must only be attached to what he has said in his Word. It is illegitimate, therefore, not to mention dangerous and deceptive, for anyone to say that the word of God has come to him as an individual. If that is so, then that word would carry all the authority of God himself, and would, by definition, undermine, subvert and contravene any biblical notion of the sufficiency and authority of Scripture

Simply put, a refusal to engage the cultural and political issues of the day is no longer an option for thoughtful conservative Christians in America.  The battle has been forced upon us.  Reasons for this have to do with current political realities, especially the wholesale shift of administrative power to a technocratic elite with a... Continue Reading

The scientific and moral issues are complex. They need to be addressed honestly without claims of scientific misconduct whenever a researcher reaches conclusions that some do not like. Similarly, imperfect studies should not be championed as the final word by people longing to justify their moral beliefs with science. How about an honest pursuit of... Continue Reading

All this to point out that American Presbyterianism is rapidly aging and, well, dying. It doesn’t much matter what your theology is if you don’t have a future generation to bequeath it to. The barrenness and sterility that we see in American Presbyterian churches is in sharp contrast to what we see in Malawian Presbyterian... Continue Reading

I lived and worked as an educator in the Mississippi Delta for seven years. The Black community there is bruised by generational poverty, lack of education, poor health care, single parent homes, apathetic men, and nearly every other social ill that exists. Yet the norm for my students and their families was to attend church. As I daily encountered the fruits of these dysfunctions I asked myself, “Where is the Gospel transformation?”

My next writing project is a book on busyness. I meant to work on it this summer but ran out of time. Seriously.

Pastor, do you examine yourself daily by humbly placing yourself before the one mirror you can trust, the mirror of the Word of God? Or have you fallen into the habit of looking into carnival mirrors that will only ever give you a misshapen view of your spiritual journey?

There are many PCUSA churches that call themselves progressive and some of those churches have defined what that means by aligning themselves with others at progressivechristianity.org.