I’ve lived long enough to realize that spirituality does not grow without attention. Not only that, it doesn’t grow in…
In The History of Theological Education (2015), historian Justo Gonzalez examines the historical events and ideologies that influenced the Christian approach to theological and general…
In The Shepherd Leader: Achieving Effective Shepherding in Your Church (2010), Witmer provides biblical and practical teaching for prioritizing and…
This paper was written as a final assignment for my M. Div. program at Fuller Theological Seminary, for the class…
I admit it, the title of this post is misleading. In actuality, as Christians, we are to forgive others without…
1. A Brief History of My Communities My childhood was spent within a family whose ideology can be characterized as…
It’s no secret that I am discontent with the way we Christians do church. Sundays involve: passive listening instead of…
I have a confession to make. Though I am generally a theologically conservative Christian, I do lean center/left slightly on…
When we think about communicating the truths of scripture to one another, and especially to the outside world, we often…
All good visionary organizations have not only a vision statement, mission statement, and value statement, they also have a motto…
In church growth circles, there’s always some new trend that promises to revitalize and grow our churches in size, and…
So, I went on my lunchtime walk today and had a ‘conversation with God.’ Do you ever wonder if such…
The New York Times has an interesting article on churches that use violent video games to draw and engage teenage…
My brother’s old church actually preached harshly against gays, and the pastor used some unkind epithets. He asked me about…
Yesterday I had lunch with NeoFundamentalist, who is actually a pastor here in my area. We talked about the history…
Purpose can be defined as “the application of one’s self, with its talents, to a noble task.” This begs the…
Currently, I attend a small country church of about 100 people. And I do mean country – many of the…
Aaron, nice post. However, while you are addressing some extremes that need attention, I would like to also present some…
There are three ways to reform bad religion. These methods of reform may be described as modernization, restoration, and liberalization.…
Robert over at echurch.com is asking about creating and supporting community within churches. He has mentioned funtionality similar to linkedin.com,…
What signifies a healthy church? Is it a building? Or the number of people who attend on Sunday morning? Or…
I love the Church – but I don’t love how we ‘do church’ on Sundays. An hour of passive listening, often…
The video below is interesting, though a little hard core for me – it both appeals and repulses. But I like this quote: All true…
This wonderful cartoon from ASBO Jesus got me thinking about the whole vision thing. As a pastor, one of the chief difficulties is inspiring volunteers…