The purpose and limit of a husband’s authority

Jonathan Leeman: ‘Brother husband, you’re not your wife’s sinless, all-wise redeemer. She has one: Christ. Yet Christ died to save the church and to make the church holy before the Father. That was his aim and ambition. Likewise, helping your wife to become holy and one with you must be your uppermost aim and ambition in marriage.’

Seeing through the friendship fog

‘“I am 36 and I don’t have any friends” was the teaser title on the front page of the Times last week. “How do we tackle an epidemic of loneliness and foster a sense of belonging?” asked the Independent in May. Britain has a Minister for loneliness, it isn’t alone in this, and has spent over £80 million trying to reduce it. The US Surgeon General released an official advisory identifying loneliness as an urgent public health threat with profound consequences for the world. But if you’ve read your Bible none of that will surprise you. In one sense it’s nothing new.’

The Pastor’s Salary and Martin Luther

I am glad to be in a church who are keen to look after me in this regard. but John Benton’s words here are important: ‘John Piper’s book Desiring God is well known for his adage that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. This is often true. But an American brother I know, who has lived in the UK for a few years, observes that many British evangelicals seem guided by a parody of those words. He says quite a lot of us have a mindset that ‘God is most glorified when we are most frugal’. We are marked by frugality rather than generosity. If we can get away with doing anything on the cheap, we think we will know the smile of God. And sadly, that attitude can govern how much a church pays its pastor.’

Doug Wilson isn’t being manly, he’s being teenagerly

Kevin DeYoung wrote a gentle but honest assessment of Doug Wilson and some of (though not necessarily the worst) issues with him. Let’s just say, it was not well received. Stephen McAlpine looks at why and points to a particular feature of Wilson’s ministry.

Reformers syndrome

This one looks at reformers syndrome and suggests we might want to avoid it. I wrote a very similar article a while ago on this very thing which you can read here.

Stop Calling Them Names

This is an important one and we would do well to listen: ‘An old joke we bandied about when I was in seminary said: “What’s the definition of a liberal? Anyone to my left. What’s the definition of a fundamentalist? Anyone to my right.” For many Christians that joke is now their operating system for theological disagreement. The joke has become reality—and it’s not funny. If you’re prone to use name-calling with theological opponents, consider three passages in Scripture and how they address our unhealthy culture in evangelicalism of pejorative labelling.’

From the archive: Five ways to encourage members to participate in the church

‘Getting people to do stuff in church is hard, isn’t it? Hardly a church or leader I know doesn’t, on some level, worry about the involvement of their church members at some time or other. Everybody wants to know how we can increase take up for services, get people serving in different ministries and generally involve people more fully in the life of the church. Obviously, if I had a silver bullet for that, my church would be the biggest in the world! Clearly, my church is not that.’