Though it may be tempting to simply encourage ministers to seek more relationships, many ministers are faced with a trade-off between quality and quantity. Those with a large number of very intimate relationships have a smaller overall social network, and those who form lots of relationships have impoverished inner circles. Failing to get the right... Continue Reading

What we can say, wherever you happen to minister, is that at some point you’ve got to share the gospel. You might run a food bank or a CAP job club but, despite the doling out of food parcels or CV writing, unless the gospel is at some point stated we have not been engaged... Continue Reading

Of course, we all know (or at least we should know) that worship is meant to be an all-of-life response to who God is for us in Christ (Romans 12:1; John 4:21–26). Just like breathing, worship can’t be limited to one portion of our day or one day of our week. We’re always doing it.   Sunday afternoon... Continue Reading

When we describe the church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic we mustn’t miss the emphasis on fellowship, which is the outward expression of a spirit and attitude of love.  To be one is to be united not merely by mutual assent to a doctrinal statement or creed, but by a genuine care and concern... Continue Reading

Polyamory is but the next movement to find an accepting audience among professing Christians already willing to justify any consensual sexual relationship with revisionist readings of Christian history and theology. Many Christians have been warning those of us who hold to monogamous heterosexual marriage as sexuality’s only valid expression that this day was coming.   Chuck and his wife made their... Continue Reading

Pastor as overseer of worship music does not mean he has to pick every song out, but it means that he certainly can. Exercising oversight can be done from near or from far, but it must be done. Pastor if your church music is missing the mark theologically, or is unsuitable for corporate singing, you... Continue Reading

Typically, people reduce this to geography: “I’m moving out of my parent’s house and in with my new wife across town.” But “leaving and cleaving” also alters your parents’ authority and responsibility. Once a couple gets married, there’s a seismic shift in the parents’ role. They don’t stop being Mom and Dad, but they can’t expect... Continue Reading

The plan is to help the five campuses transition to “autonomous churches” by 2022. The purpose in transitioning is to free up these congregations so they can plant more churches themselves and engage in their communities as well as be more involved with the global work of the church.   Matt Chandler is the lead... Continue Reading

“One factor in the decline was the liberal theological direction of the denomination, including its growing acceptance of homosexuality and gay marriage. In 2003, when it appointed its first openly gay bishop, the Rev. Gene Robinson, scores of congregations left the denomination.”   The Episcopal Church in the U.S. lost nearly 35,000 members last year,... Continue Reading

“To be clear, most church members do not make these statements nor do they reflect these attitudes. But healthier church members should and must speak up when they hear other members making such destructive statements.”   Words have meaning. And if church members start articulating words consistently, those words begin to reflect the priorities and... Continue Reading