Category: Uncategorized
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High Pastor Turnover Breaks Down Trust and Hurts the Church
Frequent leadership turnover exhausts congregations and makes them wary to trust the next pastor. Some churchgoers suspect it will won’t be long before he leaves just like the previous ones. That’s one of the reasons a church should rely on a plurality of elders and never be overly dependent on a single pastor. God calls… Read more
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In a Class by Themselves: The Clergy-Laity Divide
Many other problems stem from the class division within the church between the clergy and laity (i.e., between the ordained leaders and the non-ordained members). As a missionary myself, I am not opposed to paid, full-time ministry positions. Scripture contains ample support for vocational ministry. Israel’s priests fed themselves from the offerings and sacrifices of… Read more
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Am I Saved? How Poor Theology Leads to False Assurance
The last post Tired of Church? How to Rediscover the Joys of the Christian Tradition dealt with the use of rituals in church, especially communion (the ongoing sacrament). This post deals with the initiating sacrament of the church: baptism. For this article, I am concerned with false assurances of salvation, not providing a comprehensive treatment… Read more
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Tired of Church? How to Rediscover the Joys of the Christian Tradition
Are you tired of church? I have felt that way often the past few years. Simultaneously, I have rediscovered several joys of the Christian tradition: the church calendar, spiritual disciplines, and the sacraments, to name a few. I went through a period of my Christian life where I thought all man-made traditions were religious nonsense.… Read more
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Where There is No Vision, the People Perish
Although the oft-quoted proverb, “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” is likely not the best translation of the Hebrew scripture, the truth could not be more relevant in the church – or any organization, business, or group.[1] Of course, vision comes from the leader(s). Even before that, however, vision must come to the… Read more
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Territorial Attitudes in the Church – Part 2
If you have not already, first read Territorial Attitudes in the Church – Part 1 – then come back! The best opportunity to begin remedying the territorial attitudes in the church lies with our youth. Studies suggest that young people have a higher degree of openness than adults do, a willingness to try something new.[1]… Read more
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Territorial Attitudes in the Church – Part 1
Perhaps the most pernicious problem I’ve encountered as a parachurch worker is the territorial attitude that plagues many congregations. First, imagine the ideal: churches of different denominations, as well as parachurch organizations, sharing the common goal of making disciples of Jesus Christ. They do not let minor doctrinal differences prevent them from working together to… Read more
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Out-of-Touch Oversight: Who Holds the Pastor Accountable?
The current institutional oversight in many denominations is too far removed from the goings-on in local congregations to provide proper accountability to the churches. I recently learned that, in the United Methodist denomination, the people to whom the pastor is accountable are the district superintendent and the bishop above him. There is a Staff/Pastor-Parish Relations… Read more
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The Biblically Illiterate Church
We Need More Expository Preaching. The church fathers, the apostles, and possibly even Jesus himself would be shocked and appalled by the lack of biblical literacy among Christians today. We carry around with us devices that contain the entirety of the scriptural canon – not to mention the myriad of commentaries, dictionaries, and other tools… Read more
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Have Sermons Become Obsolete?
We live in a world where attentive listening is almost extinct. Both attention and listening seem to be rarities, and that ought to alarm us. In 2015 Time magazine shared a study from Microsoft that indicated that the average time a person will spend on a webpage before going elsewhere is eight seconds. Many have… Read more