“After several years of hard work, we finally discovered that there are more effective ways of measuring spiritual growth in a church. We began to listen to how people talked about and reflected upon their faith. We asked whether people could think critically about faith formation, make connections between the Bible and their lives and... Continue Reading

“While I don’t want to minimize the importance of faithful planning, musical skill, and wise leadership, our greatest problem when it comes to worshiping God doesn’t lie outside us, but within our own hearts. It’s the problem of idolatry.”   What’s your greatest hindrance to worshiping God as you gather with the church for corporate... Continue Reading

“These days, the Millennials engaged in and engaging churches seem less concerned with sectarian diatribe or gospel gimmicks than with the captivating person of Jesus and his still-radical responses to struggling humanity. If Jesus is right and those who clothe the naked, feed the hungry and care for the sick have actually “done it also... Continue Reading

Years ago, when our daughter Bethanne was born, I realized that when faced with difficult circumstances people often say stupid things. I know that most of the time the stupid comments come from good intentions. People mean to be kind, generally. They simply just don’t know what to say. Here’s a small sampling of things... Continue Reading

Groups who are not content to let evangelicals remain on the sidelines are forcing them to take sides on all of these issues. Some are capitulating or assimilating, following a hybrid, Borg-like ethic that (in their minds) looks like the old evangelicalism (because it embraces “love”!) but functions like moral libertinism (because it doesn’t know... Continue Reading

Perhaps the doom and gloom story seems familiar – if also wrong – because we’ve heard it so many times before. As young scholar Matthew Lee Anderson puts it, the “change or die narrative is presented as a perennial problem.” Progressive hand-wringers are missing the point, in my view. If history teaches us anything, it... Continue Reading

Again, the startling irony is that these same people fancy themselves champions of tolerance, diversity, and “equal rights.” That has never been accurate, and they are proving it now with special uncompromising rigidity. They are pursuing what they’ve always pursued: selective tolerance, selective diversity, and selective equal rights. Religious rights are not among their select.... Continue Reading

Do you want true, lasting comfort for your body and your soul? Do you need what you can’t supply? Are too lost to find yourself? Do you want to cope or do you want to be saved? If you have sin (and we all do), and if you are ready to name it for what... Continue Reading

What you think about the kingdom of God matters. It you think that the point of giving/evangelism/church is to advance God’s kingdom by supporting “justice,” then you likely will end up having your money going toward some kingdom-building justice project that is neither advancing the kingdom or the gospel. I don’t mean to sound harsh... Continue Reading

Haven’t you learned anything from history? ‘Advancements’ earned through tyranny never endure. You can only win a debate by suffocating your opposition for so long. Your strategy is doomed for failure, because it has always failed. In the name of ‘fighting for the freedom to love,’ you’ve utilized hate. For the sake of ‘tolerance,’ you’ve... Continue Reading