L Cole Harper

I spend my time making disciples of young people.

Tag: church

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Church Discipline: The Solution to Church Hurt

    As I’ve read and reread the New Testament, I am increasingly struck by the glaring lack of discipline today as compared to the early church. I cannot recall a sermon or teaching in my entire Christian life on the Matthew 18 process of confronting a believer who has sinned against you. In case you haven’t… Read more