Insider language and the mission of God
‘I still feel a tension between using insider language and methodically bringing others along in the language of God and the church. On one hand, theological and historical terminology can become Shibboleths that keep others uninformed and disengaged. On the other hand, the language of the church gives us the opportunity to share the language of God in thoughtful, educated and engaging ways. We need to labor to ask ourselves how we are employing terminology that is unique to the worlds of theology, philosophy and sociology as we seek to bring the Gospel to outsiders who don’t speak the language of the church.’
Does your heart run on hype? The emotional power of ordinary Sundays
‘In corporate worship we find something far better than a typical rush of feeling. Here are three reasons why we shouldn’t expect each Lord’s Day to produce an off-the-charts mountaintop experience, and why we can instead delight in the regular, ordinary, supernatural joy of engaging with God together.’
Bullies/Abusers, Victims and Church
Dave Williams has written about people not feeling able to refer abuse victims to the church. ‘I want to suggest that if we are ever going to reach the stage where people can confidently refer the victims to us, then some things will need to change. Here are a few.’ His follow up on how to spot the characteristics of bullies in the church is also worth reading here.
Your church may not be as gospel-centred as you think
Tony Merida contrasts gospel-centred churches with other approaches. He then gives us five reasons to pursue gospel centrality.
Anti-prayer ‘safe zones’ outside abortion clinics are a threat to civil liberties
‘It seems that the lawful freedom to protest (even prayerfully) must be curtailed when it might cause alarm or distress to the objects of protest. You might well question the potential consequences of this, for what public protest does not have agitators who cause others to feel harassed or intimidated?… By this logic, should not all simultaneous counter-protests be banned if the decent and law-abiding primary protestors might feel alarmed or distressed by the actions of their antagonists? What happens when pro-life advocates feel distressed by pro-choice protestors waving their placards of female emancipation and baby-hate?’
How does a Neo-Apollinarian Christology even work?
I too owe much to William Lane Craig. I have found his apologetics extraordinarily helpful over the years. But I have also come across his unorthodox Christology and I find in it a major problem. Derek Rishmawy does a good job of explaining why his ‘Neo-Apollinarian’ view is something of an issue.
From the archive: 4 ways community, fellowship and hospitality will cost us
‘There is no pretending that fostering genuine community – and all that goes with it – is easy. It takes work and it will cost us in one way or another. Here are a bunch of ways it will do exactly that.’