Crumble into dust
“If we work on marble, it will perish; if on brass, time will efface it; if we rear up temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work on immortal minds and imbue them with principles, with the just fear of God and the love of our fellow men, we engrave on those tablets something that will brighten to all eternity.” Daniel Webster
Weekly Blog Highlights
The one really good reason I serve in children’s ministry
America’s Most Tolerated Sin | Desiring God
A Great Teacher Can Simplify without Distortion by R.C. Sproul | Ligonier Ministries Blog
A Good Assistant Pastor–Easier Said Than Done | The Christward Collective
What do mad Christians sing? | Gentle Reformation
ISIS and the Imprecatory Psalms – Reformation21 Blog
James Gilmour of Mongolia « THE CHRISTIAN PUNDIT
Where a Desperate Small-Town Pastor Found Hope | TGC | The Gospel Coalition
Credo Magazine » Thomas Schreiner gives reading advice to young pastors
The progressive wish to replace marriage | Denny Burk
God’s Nouthetic Confrontation of Uncaring Shepherds
Four Qualities Millennials Look for in a Church
Ok, so I know what you might be thinking if you have ever read any articles about Millennials and the Church: “Seriously, don’t we have enough articles and blog posts on this topic?”
In my opinion, yes and no.
For those of you who are unsure of what I am referring to, let me briefly explain: Researchers use birth years ranging from the early 1980’s to the early 2000’s to talk about the Millenial Generation (sometimes called Generation Y). Around six months ago, the relationship between the Millenial Generation and the Church became a hot topic on the blogosphere when Rachel Held Evans wrote an article about why Millennials leave the Church. Her article exploded through social media and ever since, other voices have contributed their voice to the discussion.
That said, I have read many of these articles and as a whole, have found them to be inconsistent and confusing when viewed side-by-side. One author will say that Millenials are leaving the church because they are stuck in the past while another will say that the church is trying too hard to be progressive. Another will say churches are not making use of technology the way they should be, yet another says they are trying too hard with the flashiness of the worship or technology. One author will say that Millenials are leaving evangelicalism and for liturgical traditions, while another will say that they are trading in the traditional church for simple church.
Like I said, inconsistent and confusing.
Considering that I am a Millenial myself and happen to be on the pastoral staff of a church that continues to grow with Millenials, I would like to offer four qualities that I believe Millenials are truly looking for in a church that transcends stylistic preference:
- Authenticity
First and foremost, we do not want mundane ritualistic services, nor do we want flashy and showy services. We just want the real deal. Sometimes the real deal can be boring, and sometimes it can be exciting, and we are okay with that. We want to see that the Church of Jesus Christ is more concerned with presenting the holistic Gospel of the Kingdom than chasing after the latest fad. We want to be involved in a church that is holistic in its focus and approach, seeing that discipleship and evangelism are both key in carrying out the church’s mission. With this in mind, we are seeking a church environment that is transparent and genuine in nature!
- Relationships
Secondly, we do not need more consumerist or entertainment-based church models. We have entertainment all around us, but often we lack something much more meaningful: true community. We no longer want to follow the trend of individualistic Christianity, where we compartmentalize our faith and walk it alone. We want to be apart of a community that journeys through the thick and thin together. We desire to see “iron sharpen iron” through challenging and encouraging each other. With this in mind, we are seeking a church that will reach out to us, help us get connected and encourage small group environments where we can grow together!
- Honesty
Thirdly, we are looking for a church that embraces the full mystery of our faith and our God. Millenials do not want to run away from tough questions and discussions; likewise, we do not want our inquiries to be discouraged or shut down with shallow answers or dismissive comments. What we want is something of a “pre-modern” faith-seeking-understanding position that takes Orthodoxy and mystery seriously. Churches that embrace the mystery of God and allow diversity in Orthodoxy will provide a place for Millenials to learn and grow. With this in mind, we are seeking a church that will reinforce the mystery of our faith and encourage us be honest about our questions!
- Depth
Lastly, we do not want a watered-down Christianity that merely blends a message of prosperity and piety. If we wanted what televangelists offered, we would stay home in our pajamas with the remote in hand. We want to go deep into our faith and understand what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus. We want to be taught how to contextualize the truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom into our everyday lives. We like it when we find a church that values well-researched teaching paired with timely application. With this in mind we are seeking a church where leaders see the value in studying, teaching, challenging and encouraging their congregation!
Have any other qualities you think are essential? Comment below and let’s talk about them!
The post Four Qualities Millennials Look for in a Church appeared first on Think Theology.
Notable Voices: February 21, 2015
The Difference between a “Can Do” Church and a “Can’t Do” Church — Sam Rainer
Attitude and outlook are important factors for churches. Negative attitudes and pessimistic outlooks do not foster the growth opportunities like a positive attitude and optimistic outlook do.
Is Your Church a Landmark or a Lighthouse? — Danny Franks
Churches focused on their community are lighthouses. A church focused on itself is a landmark. Which is yours church?
Best 400+ Online Resources For Pastoral Ministry — David Murray
David’s compilations include some of the best resources available for pastors. This list is no exception.
9 Thoughts on Receiving and Responding to Criticism — Chris Hefner
Chris provides a helpful framework for handling criticism and how to respond when needed.
Biggest Mistakes Preachers Make #3 – Not Preaching to the People Present — Peter Mead
This is Peter’s third part of the series. In it, he explains the importance of preaching to the group gathered with you.
Pastor, Don’t Let One Critic Control Your Preaching — Paul Tautges
This is a common issue with many pastors. A vociferous critic causes you to rethink your sermons or your wording to avoid their criticisms. Paul encourages pastors to please God with their sermons, not avoid the criticism of men.
The post Notable Voices: February 21, 2015 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
How “free public schools” make us all renters from the State.
by Scott Alan Buss
Remember when you could actually own a home in America? The answer is: No, you do not. Even if you think that something like true home ownership was recently or is presently allowed here in “the land of the free” and the home of the NSA, you are simply wrong. As with most of the […]
A Presidential Blunder: My Response To Obama’s Address At The National Prayer Breakfast
The President obviously does not understand the primary sources of either faith for him to make such a tendentious parallel. The predominant delight in his remarks would be in the Muslim world and the irreligious. The next day Geraldo Rivera, opining favorably, made the oft repeated lie that more people have been killed in the name of God than in any other cause. Try telling that to the Chinese and the Russians and the Cambodians and the victims of the Holocaust! Such intellectual ignorance gains the microphone with pitiable privilege.
Same-Sex Attraction and the Conservative Church
Surely the greatest days of testing are upon us for our Christian same-sex attracted brothers and sisters. We must stand firm with them and pray for them. Their willingness to remain celibate despite their fleshly desires is perceived as a slap in the face to the homosexual community who prides itself on living outside of God’s bounds. It is viewed as absolute absurdity to not act on your impulses. The condemnation that they experience for striving to subdue this particular struggle extends beyond what most of us might ever face.
Why Does the Bible Matter?
Many implications for our approach to the Bible flow from the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture. For example, the Bible is authoritative, along the lines of Sola Scriptura. And the Bible is sufficient, meaning that it contains in its pages all that we need for faith and practice.
Preparation For the Lord’s Service
If you do not prepare yourself to come before the Lord on His Sacred day and attend to His ordinances with a right heart and a right mind then what can you expect, but for them to have the same effect on your spiritual life as the “customary” things and why then should you be surprised to see the base things of the flesh becoming normal in the culture, not just surrounding, but in the church itself? If you cannot take seriously enough the holy things of God to prepare for them, why should the world then seek to know the things of God that have so little effect on your life?
The Top Ten Most Fiercely Defended Traditions in Churches
By “traditions,” I am referring to those extra-biblical customs that become a way of life for many congregations. A tradition is neither inherently good nor bad. Its value or its distraction in a given church really depends on how members treat the traditions.
No Fuss Parenting – Teach Kids to Sit Still
Here’s the key: When we left a service because he wasn’t quiet or sitting, I held him the entire time we were out of the service. I didn’t put him down and let him run around, because I didn’t want leaving to become a fun escape. I know this probably sounds like child torture, but it wasn’t at all. It was simply learning a new skill.
Liturgy Is Cool
It is helpful to recognize the difference between liturgical narrative and liturgical elements. I am convinced from Scripture that the only liturgical elements we should include in worship are those with New Testament warrant. But I am a big advocate of giving more careful attention to the liturgical narrative of our corporate worship services exactly because of the biblical example. What I mean by narrative is the story the order of our corporate worship tells.
What’s The Difference Between Christianity And Islam?
The theological gulf between Islam and Christianity is immense, and this means that any contact between the two religions is bound to be fraught. The easy way would be for Christians to avoid saying anything that would be offensive to Muslims, but that would amount to a vow of silence, and would make contact dishonest and pointless. It is the offensive bits, like Christ being God’s Son, we have to talk about.
Is Homosexual Affirmation an Inevitability for Andy Stanley?
Back in 2012, I was not too familiar with pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. I was, however, familiar with his father, pastor Charles Stanley of FBC Atlanta. In fact, I had bought several of the elder Stanley’s books. Some minor disagreements aside, I have always viewed him as a faithful teacher and preacher. I mistakenly expected the same faithfulness to God’s Word from his son. It took me by surprise when in April 2012, Andy Stanley delivered his “When Gracie Met Truthy” sermon. From the Christian Post:
Cataracts of Unbelief
God knows our vision problem and the cataracts of unbelief that can develop over our eyes of faith. As a Father and Physician, He ministers to us. He knows how unbelief can plague us, how our faith can become distracted and unfocused, and He knows the problems associated with that unbelief—problems like lack of joy and losing our way.
That’s why He gives us His Word.
Top Ten Reasons to Attend Evening Worship
Recently, in my weekly email to my congregation, I gave my people my “Top Ten Reasons to Attend Evening Worship” in an ongoing effort to educate, encourage, and exhort. They are not exhaustive and they apply to my context, in particular, but the principles should be applicable to any who reads this. May God move his people in our time to sanctify the Christian Sabbath, leading to a renewal of evening worship.
Islamic State’s Horrible Healing Power In Egypt
This week, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Sisi responded to the beheadings with acts that unequivocally recognized the Copts as “innocent victims” and true sons of Egypt. He declared a week of national mourning, dispatched envoys to appeal to the United Nations and ordered air force bombers to “deliver swift justice in retribution.” Sisi’s visit to St. Mark’s Cathedral to offer condolences to Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, was another welcome gesture of solidarity. Whatever the strategic value of Sisi’s moves, his display of respect is precisely what Copts have been yearning for.
Therapists Who Say Gays Can Be Cured Are Committing Consumer Fraud, NJ Judge Says
In his ruling last week Bariso wrote: “It is a misrepresentation in violation of the Consumer Fraud Act, in advertising or selling conversion therapy services to describe homosexuality, not as being a normal variation of human sexuality, but as being a mental illness, disease (or) disorder.” The ruling also said conversion therapists could not advertise their “success rate” of turning people into heterosexuals because “there is no factual basis for calculating these statistics.”
Confusion and Distortion Regarding the Gospel
Those who harp on the gospel only being about Jesus and set this off against what took place prior to Jesus’ earthly accomplishments and what took place after it have not only a very narrow and rigid understanding of the gospel, but also operate with a grave distortion of the biblical view of history.
Will the Real Bonheoffer Please Stand Up? Part 2
Bonhoeffer recognized this background and accepted it as the Sitz im Leben of the German theological and philosophical landscape. We might even say that Bonhoeffer believed Kant to be asking the right questions—questions worthy of a theologian. In fact, while in America studying at Union Theological Seminary, Bonhoeffer critiqued his American students, saying, “questions such as that of Kantian epistemology are “nonsense,” and no problem to them, because they take life no further” than what is pragmatic. America focused on William James not Immanuel Kant.
How I Misused Nouthetic Counseling
I learned a long time ago that in some cases, like the poor who will always be with us, the weak and faint-hearted will always be with us, too. Yes, I have seen many counselees changed with nouthetic counseling. Nouthetic counseling offers much hope. However, I had to realize that sometimes more than admonishment is needed.
George Whitefield, Principled Calvinist 2: Defending Calvinism
Whitefield may have adopted modern marketing and communication methods, then, but his message was traditional and Calvinist, standing against the “humanitarian” challengers of the day. Instead of softening his view on the depravity of man in response to critics, he emphasized original sin even more. Whitefield spoke regularly of how in their lost state, people became “sunk into the nature of the beast and the devil.”
Evangelicals Must Resist Mainline Protestant Trajectory
But before their demise, liberalizing egalitarian post evangelicals may wreak a lot of damage in the church, mislead a lot of people, inflict spiritual harm in society, and portray a disfigured face of Christianity to the world far more erroneous than any of the mistakes of old style rambunctious conservative evangelicals. For this reason, we are all called to avoid the passivity and silence of orthodox Mainline Protestants 80 and 90 years ago who were mostly too polite to resist the subversion of their venerable church institutions. The sad Mainline Protestant trajectory has already evinced the fruits of compromised Christian witness.
Difficult Bible Passages: James 2:13
by Bill Muehlenberg
The last half of James 2:13 says this: “Mercy triumphs over judgment”. This passage is not so much a difficult passage as it is one which is regularly misused and abused. It is often hauled out to say something which it never intended to say.
Primarily, many Christians drag up this text when discussions of public justice are being mooted. They will argue that the state must always show mercy, because this is the “Christian” thing to do. But is this the case? Is this how we are to understand this passage?
Challenge: Believe Something for Which There is Absolutely No Evidence
by Jason Wisdom
In recent years, I have heard many atheists say that faith means believing something for which there is no evidence. Some have even suggested that faith means persisting in belief despite good evidence to the contrary. Even more alarming to me is the fact that I have recently interacted with a number of Christians who agree that faith is (at least primarily) about choosing to believe when there is no evidence.
Addressing the Concerns of a Critic and the Case for Intelligent Design
By Dr. Fazale Rana
In 2008, Baker Books published my book, The Cell’s Design. Overall, the reaction to the book has been positive. But there have been a few reviews that were critical. One of note was written by microbiologist Frank Steiner. A recent discovery regarding the structure of an enzyme by researchers from Germany helps address the central point made by Steiner, and in doing so actually strengthens the case for the intelligent design of biochemical systems.
Jesus vs. Muhammad: 33 striking differences
by James Bishop
Introduction: I think many will be surprised at just how divergent Jesus and Muhammad really were on just about every level of their existence. Because of the controversial teachings of Muhammad it is no wonder that 70% (IHRC) of the world’s refugees are Muslims attempting to flee Islamic theocracies. We also find that most of these Muslims are fleeing to traditionally Christian strong nations, and I believe this set of 33 differences will vividly illustrate why this is so. All that really needs to be done is to go straight to the very founder of each of the Christian and Islamic religions, that it the purpose of this blog article.
Just a brief side note, the first seven points are fleshed out more than the rest (points 8-33) as they needed more detailing and a fuller context, whereas points 8-33 are usually two or three sentences long as they are much easier to understand, and come straight from the Koranic, Biblical texts themselves.
Distinctions Unique to Christianity
by Pamela Christian
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit… How can Christianity claim to believe in One God?
The God that Christian’s worship is revealed in Scripture as a trinity of distinct persons. This understanding about God, as revealed in the Christian Bible, is unique to Christianity, and woefully misunderstood by many people groups.
A Different Jesus? – Looking At The Mormon Teachings of Christ.
by Bobby Gilpin
In the Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 25:26 says: And we atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our cchildren may know to what source they may look for a dremission of their sins. On Mormonism 101 a recent […]
Cold Case Christianity: Stop Teaching Young Christians About Their Faith
In my last post, I summarized the studies and publications that describe the flight of young people from the Church. A compelling cumulative circumstantial case can be made to support the fact that young college aged Christians are walking away from Christianity in record numbers. What can we do about it? What can be done? Whenever people ask me this question, I always say the same thing. STOP TEACHING YOUNG CHRISTIANS. Just stop it. Whatever Christendom is doing in its effort to teach it’s young, the effort appears to largely be a failure. In fact, Ken Ham (in his book, Already Gone:Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do To Stop It) found that young Christians who faithfully attended Bible classes were actually more likely to question the authority of Scripture, more likely to defend the legality of abortion, same-sex marriage, and premarital sex, and more likely to leave the church! What’s going on here? I think I know. It’s time to stop teaching our young people; it’s time to start training them.
The imperfections of the Quran – Part 1
by Samuel Inbaraja
Muslims generally believe that the Quran is perfect meaning it is complete and error free. However, a close examination of the evidence suggests that the Quran is incomplete and therefore imperfect. 1. Part of Quranic revelation was eaten by a goat Sunan Ibn Majah, Book of Nikah, Hadith # 1934 “Narrated Aisha ‘The verse of […]
Carl Trueman has wise words about Bondage to Pornography. “One would not allow alcoholics to have the last word on liquor licensing laws or crack addicts on drug policy. Yet when it comes to sexual morality, that is the kind of world in which we now live.”
Our Time is Short
Difficult Bible Passages: Matthew 11:19
by Bill Muehlenberg
This is another one of those biblical texts which is not so difficult as it is one which is so widely and so often misused and misunderstood. Perhaps I may need to rename this series and call it something like “Twisted and Abused Bible Passages”.
But I refer to the words of Jesus in Matthew 11, beginning with verse 18: “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” See also the parallel passage in Luke 7:33-34.
It is specifically the phrase ‘friend of sinners’ which I want to address here. We hear it all the time, and it is tossed around so very cavalierly and sloppily. It is used time and time again to cover a multitude of sins. How often, for example, are we told to embrace homosexuality and homosexual marriage because this is somehow something Jesus would do.
‘After all, he was a friend of sinners you know.’ The idea by so many clueless believers and ‘progressive Christians’ is that all lifestyles must be accepted and embraced because Jesus was a ‘friend of sinners’. After all, he hung around with prostitutes and so on, so we should stop being so judgmental and just accept everyone just as they are.
So how might we reply to this sort of thinking?
The Mall: A Great Fishing Pond….. While it Lasts
After reading Ray Comfort’s Militant Evangelism, being convicted by the Holy Spirit for my sins of evangelistic apathy and depraved indifference, I was determined to engage in biblical evangelism. Through the Living Waters website, I discovered there were other people (not many) in my area for whom the evangelism light bulb was now illumined.
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