Life and ministry is not about me, it is about Christ. It is about Christ for a world of lost sinners in need. It is about coming to Him, “Just as I am without one plea.” It is about the simple things, the good things. Peggy Noonan once said that the most profound things are... Continue Reading

“A misunderstanding of how our faith should function can provide fertile ground both for the lure of temptation and the power of systems.” —Miroslav Volf As Miroslav Volf’snew book argues, the Christian faith is intrinsically a public, prophetic faith. Any attempt to deny this injures not only the Church but also the “City of Man”... Continue Reading

Sometimes a yoga class is an exercise class and sometimes it’s worship. Sometimes a luncheon is one-part prayer service and one-part lunch. Park Slope Presbyterian (PCA) may do “God’s work” in the city of Brooklyn, but it is as much a social justice operation as it is a church. This week the United States Supreme... Continue Reading

Imagine a church in which children and adults of all ages, races, and classes were bound together by their common love for the words of the gospel. If Christians can learn, week after week, to read the story of Jesus of Nazareth—to love what we read, to be loved by what we read—then surely the... Continue Reading

(Recently at) Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a widely respected Evangelical center in the Boston area, Miroslav Volf gave a lecture…He is…a professor at the Yale Divinity School. His book Allah: A Christian Response was recently published. Its central thesis was reiterated in the lecture at Gordon-Conwell: Yes, one can say that Christians and Muslims believe in... Continue Reading

Contrary to what many believe, domestic abuse is not about an angry person losing their temper and lashing out at their spouse. Rather, it is a pattern of behaviors that people use to establish dominance in their relationships. Deb* still has a hard time saying she was abused. Her husband knew the Bible well and... Continue Reading

(Augustine) wrote, “Give me chastity and continence, but not yet. For I was afraid lest Thou shouldest hear me so, and soon deliver me from the disease of concupiscence, which I desired to have satisfied rather than extinguished.” The influence of postmodernism is reshaping the outreach of some evangelical churches to minister sexual redemption in... Continue Reading

C. S. Lewis’s line is appropriate here: “I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun, not just because I see it, but by it I can see everything else.” Immersion into God’s world, through Scripture, changes the way we think, feel, and live—even when it doesn’t give us detailed prescriptions on every aspect... Continue Reading

In short, the Two Kingdoms approach gives too little weight to the fact that every culture is filled with idols, that sin distorts everything, that there can be no final neutrality, and that we need Scripture and the gospel, not just natural revelation, to guide us in our work in the world. I don’t think... Continue Reading

What will a fresh Christianity look like in America?…Sunday worship will have less denominational flavor and more interaction among local constituents. Traditional resources like prayer books and hymnals will give way to local idioms and creative resources. Leaders will be locals, not hires from afar. First, it will have multiple faces, not just a few... Continue Reading