The Just Church
Here is Jim Martin, head of Church Engagement for International Justice Mission (IJM), on his recent book, The Just Church. Jim Martin :: The Just Church from Tyndale House Publishers on Youtube.
church
The Third Baptism
I was just thinking back on the church history trip I lead through Kilns College. I remember being in Zurich getting ready to head to Geneva the next morning, then the next day to Pisa, then to Florence and then a few days in Rome before flying back. There’s nothing like actually standing in places …
Social Justice
Here’s a little video of Mike & Danae Yankoski answering a question at Redux last Sunday. I thought they did a particularly good job of answering the question and arguing for balance in our approach to the material and spiritual focuses of church. (Make sure you watch the whole thing!!)
Terminal Christians
I’ve been thinking through something this past week that I’ll probably put into a full message. The main idea basically goes like this: there are people who call themselves Christians who are on an inevitable path to walk away from the church and God. I call these people Terminal Christians. In the past, when America …
Dorothy Sayers
Check out what Dorothy Sayers, a contemporary of C.S. Lewis, writes about the diminishing appreciation for literature in her time. I couldn’t help thinking that the same line of reasoning could be applied to the decline of appreciation for “church” within the Christian community in our time. It is amazing how we ride the tides …
Distance & Disapproval
Last Sunday at Antioch, Tim Kizziar underscored a point that I really like. He was talking from the Book of Job about the nature of blessing God as a form of ‘approving of God.’ The converse was cursing God as a form of ‘disapproving of God.’ The interesting point, for me, comes in the relationship …
Velvet on the Inside
Lately, I’ve been noticing that most of the things that God created for believers are pretty unattractive on the outside. Think about it. Baptism is really really awkward. Reading the bible never seems that important or fun. Church often feels stale or sticky. Solitude is always down on our list. Fasting, by definition, is the …
Shrinking Circle
I received this e-mail from a staff person on Monday. I decided to post it because I know the context, the passion and the meaning of his words. Hopefully those things will come across. If they don’t and this is confusing or offends… trust me, if you knew the context it wouldn’t. And thanks for …
Genericide
Ann Mara and I were in a meeting today with a trademark attorney as World Relief wanted us to pursue trademarking “World Relief NEXT.” It turned out to be a really fun and engaging meeting as the lawyer took an interest in what NEXT is doing and also knew some of Ann’s friends. As a …
Church and Visitors
I came across a statistic on churches this week that was pretty interesting. “85% of churches retain 10% or less of their visitors.” Seems pretty crazy… that means that only 15% of churches connect more than 1 in 10 visitors!! Now I’m sure that some of that is because a lot of people aren’t really …