By George Elerick Death isn’t fun. I have yet to meet someone who is excited about death. The commercials that sneak across our screen whispering that we can fight what’s inevitable gives this false hope that we might not die. Statistics say that one out of one people will die. And statistics don’t lie. Death … Continue reading A State of the Union for the Church
By Tim Chermak For the ecclesiastically challenged out there, this guide’s for you. If you’re fed up with the color of the carpet, boring sermons, generic donuts, or the terrible lead guitar player at your current church, maybe it’s time to consider looking for another house of worship. Today’s church market is more competitive than … Continue reading Church Shopping 101: A Guide for Consumer Christians
By George Elerick Ben and Jerry’s is one of the biggest ice cream conglomerates in the world. Most know Ben and Jerry’s for their plethora of flavors and creative interactive buffet of items to add to their ice cream. It’s like Disneyland for the taste buds. This corner shop enterprise is a great metaphor for … Continue reading Hope for the Church in a Post-Postmodern World
By Renee Johnson For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery. -Mark 7: 21 I looked up the word sex in the New International Version of the Bible, and it appears at least fifty-six times. Most of the references are found in Leviticus about abstaining from weird sexual … Continue reading Lets Talk About Sex
By Liz Bureman I have officially experienced the greatest church service of my entire life. And it happened in a men’s prison in Soroti, Uganda. On Sunday, after church, we climbed on a batch of bodas and rode off to the outskirts of town. A brief downhill ride later, we coasted into the Soroti government … Continue reading Ninety Minutes in a Ugandan Prison
By Claire Pritchard In October I was living out my dream. I had taken my first trip to Africa and was living with 20 other missionaries in a village in central Ghana. We were planting a church. One night after we had hosted a party for the local children at our house, myself and one … Continue reading Worship without Walls
By Serena Woods I used to envy the religious elite. The spiritual pedigree of children who grew up to become Christian adults and preachers under the wings of cookie-baking Sunday School teachers and shiny-toed pastors. They had the glory of the church life crowning their heads from the moment of conception. They were bred to … Continue reading The Scheme of God: How Sinners and Saints Need Grace
By Jeff Goins, Editor I had the opportunity to sit with blogger/author Anne Jackson last week at Merridee’s Breadbasket in Franklin, TN (an excellent place to get a cup of coffee and breakfast, if you’re ever in the area), and we spent a couple hours talking about writing, missions, church, social media, and building a … Continue reading Anne Jackson: Permission to Speak Freely
By Lex Wisniewski Has the Church in the West abandoned the love of Christ for recreational theology? Last weekend I got to attend a conference with the students from [redefined]. It was a great time, as always, but one session in particular pierced my heart. The theme of the weekend was love. God’s love. Brotherly love. … Continue reading Are We Too Smart for Love?
By Jason Clark In the world of psychiatry, students study not just the manifestations and causes of mental dysfunction, but the idea of wellness’, of what helps the well part of a patient become more well’. In the worlds of education, and business, rather than focus on people’s weaknesses, there is the move to explore … Continue reading The “Wellness” of Church