Category: Uncategorized
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Lost Liturgical Traditions & Why We Ought to Revive Them
This is the final post in a series that highlights five ways the contemporary evangelical church can learn from church history about spiritual formation. This post focuses on liturgical traditions. For more on this topic, see my previous article: Tired of Church? How to Rediscover the Joys of the Christian Tradition. Contemporary evangelicalism has rejected… Read more
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Spiritual Formation Was Historically a Team Sport – What Happened?
This is the fourth post in a series that will highlight five ways the contemporary evangelical church can learn from church history about spiritual formation. This post focuses on communal rhythms. The individualized regimen of solo Scripture-reading and personal prayer is a modern invention. Unfortunately, it is the predominant spiritual growth plan in the twenty-first… Read more
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The Missing Center of Spiritual Formation: the Eucharist
This is the third post in a series that will highlight five ways the contemporary evangelical church can learn from church history about spiritual formation. This post focuses on the Eucharist (a.k.a., the Lord’s Supper or communion). Whereas the initiating sacrament of baptism and the corresponding catechesis have traditionally served as the onboarding process of new… Read more
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What To Do With New Believers? Church History Answers
This is the second post in a series that will highlight five ways the contemporary evangelical church can learn from church history about spiritual formation. This post focuses on the traditions of catechesis and baptism. The Early Church: Make Sure They Know What They’re Getting Into The initiation of new disciples into the church has… Read more
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Church History and Spiritual Formation: The Willingness to Suffer
This is the first post in a series that will highlight five ways the contemporary evangelical church can learn from church history about spiritual formation. Jesus and the early church were willing to suffer. Suffering is intrinsic to spiritual formation. Christ himself suffered for sins and learned obedience through suffering (1 Peter 3:18 and Hebrews… Read more
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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