Why church membership matters
This one makes a case for just that.
Go into all the world and make friends
I quite liked this one.
Why didn’t God clearly explain every theological issue?
The title doesn’t really give away what this one is about. But it offers us a good reminder that, important as theological precision is, how we treat one another (particularly those with whom we disagree) is a real mark of whether we belong to Jesus.
4 questions a pastor should ask himself before and after delivering a sermon
I think these are helpful questions that get to the nub of what we’re aiming to do as preachers. They’re also helpful questions to ask as we listen to sermons (at least, the latter three). All too often our categories for what makes a ‘good sermon’ are not necessarily marks of a good sermon at all. These four questions may help us evaluate them more helpfully.
TikTok: Now Serving Deconstruction
‘People are being algorithmically served content about deconstruction all the time. They are exposed to people’s deconversion stories and challenges to the faith in ways that are historically unprecedented. But when people stumble across these TikTok videos spurring on their deconstruction, what are they actually finding?’
4 reasons you might think the Bible is boring
‘If you’re bored with the Bible, have you wondered why? A variety of explanations exist, and any (or several) of them could identify the problem. Let’s consider four possibilities.’
From the archive: Authority not authoritarianism
‘Many of us naturally baulk at the idea of submission to authority. But it is hard to avoid the idea in scripture. Everyone is to submit to Christ, who submitted himself to the Father. Wives are to submit to their husbands leadership whilst husbands are to submit themselves to the needs of their wives. Children are to submit to their parents’ authority. Church members are to submit to the authority of their elders whilst the elders submit themselves to rule by the wider church. The church is called to be subject to the governing authorities who, themselves, are to be subject to God. Employees are to submit to their bosses, slaves are to joyfully submit to their masters. Everybody, somewhere or other, is expected to submit to someone.’
I didn’t get the chance to post this comment under last week’s ‘Snippets’ article before it was closed to comments, so I hope that the blog owner won’t mind me putting it here.
The article from Themelios really is very good, and a thorough assessment of the subject. For me, the stand-out passage – which runs completely true to life – is this: “Simply put, terrible fathers sometimes have believing children, but they rarely have obedient children. Great fathers sometimes have believing children, but they frequently have obedient children.”
Not only can this be used to determine the character of the father, but also the possible causation behind a person who has great difficulty in submitting to authority. Maybe a church member is antagonistic to authority because he or she had a terrible father, so needs treating with considerable pastoral sensitivity and understanding. It really isn’t going to help their spiritual growth by being unsympathetic or coming down strictly on them.