Pope Benedict’s choice to publicly baptize the most prominent Muslim in Italy, Egyptian-born Magdi Allam, highlights a quiet worldwide exodus from Islam. In recent years, millions have moved on. With this high-profile action, Pope Benedict demonstratively blesses this massive conversion from the highest levels of the Church.Interviewed by al-Jazeera in 2006, Ahmad al-Qataani, leader of the Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya, explains the decline:
As to how that happened, well there are now 1.5 million churches whose congregations account for 46 million people. In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Everyday, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity. These numbers are very large indeed.
Mark D. Roberts begins a series on planning and goal-setting in Christian ministries:
Can we make plans and formulate goals and still leave room for the Holy Spirit?
Should churches and other Christian organizations have formalized processes for clarifying vision and setting goals?
Can the Spirit of God speak to us in the midst of a goal-setting process? If so, how?
What can we do to let God guide our strategic planning processes?
Evangelicals make up the nation’s single-largest tradition, followed by Catholics. The survey also notes many Americans have changed religious affiliations or dropped ties to a specific faith.
The naked reality of a guilty heart–amazingly and powerfully exposed in this clip from ER.
My question, directed specifically toward followers of Christ, is this: What does this say about our mission, about why we must do what we must do?
(I’ve opened up a discussion on a different question, for anybody to participate in, on my Thinking Christian blog. The clip is 2 minutes, 38 seconds long.)
Over the last three years, I have witnessed thousands of such confessions at churches and at more than 30 campuses, both secular and Christian. I’ve discovered that this generation of young men and women is crying out for revival….
Here’s an entirely different Bible-in-one-year plan, designed to give you the same amount of reading every day. It’s based on page numbers, not chapters and verses, and it’s customizable to your Bible. It works best with straight-text Bibles; study Bibles have varying amounts of text on each page so this system will not give you an equal amount of reading each day.
It’s my own “invention” using Microsoft Excel. It’s not fancy, and it’s not elegant programming, but it works! You need to know how to enter a very few, very simple data points in Excel, based on your calendar and your Bible.
We’re coming up on the first of the year, when many readers begin a Bible-in-a-year plan. This plan can start on any day of the year, though. There are 12 catch-up days in the plan, when you can make up for reading you have missed.
Following this plan, you will read in both the Old Testament and the New Testament every day, as well as in the Psalms. Some of the longer Psalms have been divided into more than one day’s reading. You have two options for the Proverbs, you can read the chapter whose number is the same as the current day of the month, or you can read them as they come in their sequence in the Old Testament.
Just download the Excel file (110 KB), and begin!
A new study finds that college students get more interested in spirituality between their freshman and junior years, but their interest seems to be the vague and hazy kind.
So the next time you hear an earth-shattering announcement about Jesus from the media, don’t get angry. Rather, take three deep breaths, sit down with your Starbucks coffee, and watch how the announcement is treated on blogs and other media. Above all, prepare yourself for the opportunities it presents.
That was how Darrell Bock closed his article in Christianity Today on popular media challenges to Christianity. He’s right on the money. Last night I completed the second of two book discussions based on The Golden Compass. The turnout was small, but I believe there was groundwork laid for growth. The people who came–especially library directors–are people who can encourage others to come.
At any rate, it showed me how these challenges can really be opportunities. Do you desire to share your faith? Do you want others to know more about Jesus Christ? What’s the hardest part about that, usually? It’s getting started, raising the topic. They’re raising the topic for us!
Thank God for that, and take advantage of the opportunities.
Here’s an entirely different Bible-in-one-year plan, designed to give you the same amount of reading every day. It’s based on page numbers, not chapters and verses, and it’s customizable to your Bible. It works best with straight-text Bibles; study Bibles have varying amounts of text on each page so this system will not give you an equal amount of reading each day.