When we’re shocked to find sinners at the church
Jared Wilson offers a good word on hiding sin in the church. ‘How about we stop being shocked to find sinners among the “pious” and start shocking the fearful with grace?’
Willow Creek, Accountability, Denominational Structures and #ChurchToo
Dave Williams offers some comment on my post earlier in the week regarding church polity and abuse (which you can read here).
Up Willow Creek without a pastor
Stephen McAlpine offers some comment on the imminent implosion of yet another megachurch. He gives some helpful analysis on why this keeps happening and how the rot reaches much further than those we deem outside our camp (irrespective of that fact that the world can tell no difference).
Church members must watch their elders’ life and doctrine
By some coincidence, on a similar note, this came up in my blog reader and I was pointed to it on Twitter by somebody else. 9Marks highlight the need of church members to hold their leaders to account.
God never forgets his promises
‘As the puritan John Flavel has been so frequently cited as saying, providence is best read like Hebrew, backwards! Only then is it possible to trace the divine hand on the tiller guiding the gospel ship into a safe harbor. No matter how dark things get, His hand is always in control.’
Poor interpretation lets us to “believe” the Bible while denying what it actually says
‘Historically, theological liberals denied Scripture, and everyone knew where they stood. But today many so-called evangelicals affirm their belief in Scripture, while attributing meanings to biblical texts that in fact deny what Scripture really says. Hence they “believe every word of the Bible” while actually embracing (and teaching) beliefs that utterly contradict it.’
From the archive: A cautionary tale of greed
‘A couple of days ago, the Guardian carried a story about Dave and Angie Dawes who had won £101m in the Euromillions lottery. The Guardian report that their son, Michael Dawes, took them to court, complaining that the £1.6m they had given to him was simply not enough.’