I preached a sermon a few years ago at a church anniversary of a church founded and led by a friend of my wife and I. It was on a missionary (whose name is in the title above). I decided to add it to our own mission family blog. But upon thinking about it, it …
Month: March 2022
Spiritual Abuse Collection
Years ago I created several slide presentations on Spiritual Abuse. I am not an expert, but I have a great interest in the topic, and modest experience in it. So, I did some minor updates and have them below. Part 1. Spiritual Abuse--- Characterisits and Methods. https://www.slideserve.com/embed/11233222 Part 2. Spiritual Abuse--- Abusive Leaders. https://www.slideserve.com/embed/11235566 Part …
Structurally Messy Churches Are a Good Thing– Part 2
Continued from Part 1, Previously, I have argued that from the perspective of the Bible, Structurally Messy Churches are fine--- or at least not anti-Biblical or sub-Biblical. That is nice to know, but is far from suggesting it is a good thing. I would like to argue that it is a good thing from a …
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Structurally Messy Churches Are a Good Thing– Part I
There are both good things and bad things associated with having a highly structured church with unambiguous lines of authority. But I would like to make the case for "Messy Church," where authority and structure are rather murky, or inconsistent. Point #1. Biblically, the primitive church of the first century does appear to be rather …
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Review: Cross-Cultural Servanthood— by Duane Elmer
I want to say that this is the best Christian Missions book I have read in a long time. The problem with that is that I have been rather blessed in having read a lot of good Missions books lately. Maybe it is better to say that it is "THE MOST READABLE, RELEVANT, AND QUOTABLE …
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A Healthy Struggle with the “Wrath of God”
I was raised up in a fundamentalist (but not all capitalized FUNDAMENTLIST) church. One of the things I learned is that the death of Christ is to turn away God's wrath. I was told in college that propitiation was the term meaning to turn away God's wrath. When I became a little more familiar with …
Christian Missions and Pastoral Care
Christian Missions seems so opposite to Pastoral Care. Christian Missions is usually linked with proclamation and apologetics. Pastoral Care is more tied to listening and eductive learning. Christian Missions usually seeks to change others. Pastoral Care is usually more focused on empowering others to change themselves--- or at least understand themselves better. But there are …
Reflecting on Crappy Ads on Christian Websites
I am sure there is a nice term for this, but since I am not involved in marketing, I don't know what it is. But here are a few examples. A Christian theologian who I really appreciate moved his personal blog onto Patheos. Of course, Patheos has a LOT of advertisements on the webpage they …
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