Onward Christian Spenders
While evangelicals have not fully got their way at the ballot box we may now get it at the cash register. We’re discovering American business is more responsive to our desires than American government. Business leaders who scoff at the almighty God do not scorn the almighty dollar. I was reading yesterday in the Euro-centered The Economist magazine
How Do Men Learn Differently From Women?
A modest research to get us started… It is no secret that the church is more attractive to women than to men, especially Sunday School and small group Bible studies. While some argue the American Christian church is made up of 70% women and only 30% men, the ratio varies widely depending on the age,
They Come for the Show but Refuse to Grow
American evangelical Sunday evening attendance has collapsed, Sunday school is in total meltdown, even our latest discipleship effort — homes groups — are now in a tailspin. But morning worship attendance is still doing quite well, thank you, especially in big churches. In the last ten years these other meetings have languished, but we’ve given
The Infrastructure Back Door
A year ago I was a cyber-unregenerate. I was satisfied with a rattle trap 286, DOS, and my old dot matrix printer. I considered modems a toy. But my friend Dan kept ‘witnessing’ to me. He described the joys of the on-line world, told how it enriched his life and ministry, and warned me of
On Listening to Our Critics
It is a lot easier to criticize than to be criticized. Most of us think it is bad for people under us to criticize, but we think the people over us deserve a bit of it. In the local church, we see ourselves as Moses, and our critics as the grumbling people (Numbers 21). But
Why Boomers Resist the Emergent Fad
Emergents trying to convince Boomers that there is a new generation with new needs that requires new approachesoften meet a brick wall from Boomers. Boomers say, “I’m tired of chasing fads in ministry.” Why is it that boomers (my own generation) are so resistant to the emergent generation’s claims that the church must change or die?
Beheading Christ
It is popular for some today to try to take Jesus and reject the church, the body of Christ. This leaves them with a beheaded Jesus—Christ without His body. It is a handy way to escape being tarred by the brush that paints all Christians, but it is not the religion of Jesus Christ. I
The Three Greatest Challenges
THE THREE GREATEST CHALLENGES FACING THE CHURCH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY The most pressing concerns for the church are seldom the most important and the most important concerns are seldom the most pressing. The three greatest challenges we face may not be pressing, but they are important: 1. What is the church?
Three Motifs For The Church’s Relationship To The World
What is the church’s relationship to the world? How much are we to be in the world yet not of it? How much influence are we to have on the world? How much separation? Should we simply let the world “go to hell in a hand-basket” or are we expected to get involved and change things? Jesus did not
Twenty One Skills of Great Preachers
The one thing most of us would rather do than preach, is hear another great preacher. I mean a “Great” preacher. I’ve learned plenty from hearing the best preachers, especially in a live setting. For most of my life, when sitting under a great preacher, I’ve taken dual sets of notes, including content on one
How to Read a Book in Ten Minutes
In today’s world ministers need to be widely read professionals. Medical doctors keep up with the changes in their profession by reading the latest professional journals. Ministers do the same, though, of course, for ministers the methods and issues change, not the timeless truths of the faith. The larger the church the more a minister
People Are Good
Theologians often live in ivory towers far from average folk who dismiss their lofty theological notions. Not so with eBay, the current theological teacher of the masses. This Internet company is constructed on a simple theological proposition: “People are good.” If you’ve not seen their powerful theological video you should watch this convincing piece of