July 17th 2007
Novel Faiths Find Followers Among Russia’s Disillusioned - washingtonpost.com
For churches and mission agencies to be aware of:
Technorati Tags: church growth, Europe, missions, Cults
July 15th 2007
In Europe, God Is (Not) Dead - WSJ.com
Signs of a resurgence of Christianity in Europe are very encouraging. The article uses the term “supply-side economics” as a possible explanation. My first impression was that it was going to be some economically-based way of explaining the whole thing away. It’s not–it’s a metaphor applied to the way churches have changed from being government-based to being locally or free-church governed. It’s consistent with the theory that being too tightly tied to government–both in polity and in financial support–has hurt European state churches badly. Rodney Stark has advanced this theory in some of his work on the history and sociology of Christianity. He is quoted in the article; I’ve read it in his original work, though I’m having some trouble remembering which book it was. (I think it was probably One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism.)
Though some people may view “church economics” as the whole story, there’s nothing necessarily anti-Biblical about it. It’s a cleansing of a corrupt connection; a release from a strange system in which church leaders had no need to work for their positions, their congregations, or even their finances.
Technorati Tags: church growth, missions, Europe
July 12th 2007
This may be the most difficult and yet most enjoyable blog entry I’ve ever written. The hard part is going to be getting it right, in words. Our church, especially our youth, is spending the week ministering in a poor and troubled part of town, partnering with a church that’s located right in that neighborhood. Our church is 99.8% white. The other church is just as thoroughly African-American. We have absolutely fallen in love with each other this week.
Technorati Tags: Christian Growth, church growth, Leadership, missions
July 10th 2007
Where Have All the Artists Gone?
Question and reflections posted on the Thinking Christian blog.
Technorati Tags: Artists, Christian Growth, beauty
July 7th 2007
Book Review
The deity of Christ is among the handful of doctrines most essential to Christianity. Nevertheless, there is a problem. I’ve often asked Christian friends–including people in the ministry–to state two or three passages in the New Testament that support this doctrine. I’ve especially used this question for ministers in training, who seemed to think they already knew it all. Sadly, many have not been able to do it.
Robert M. Bowman and J. Ed Komoszewski would have no such difficulty–in their book Putting Jesus In His Place, they have some 300 pages worth of Biblical support for Christ’s deity. Reading this book made it become apparent to me–again!–how much more I have to learn, too. I had no idea of the extent to which Christ’s deity is demonstrated throughout the New Testament.