Work Out Your Salvation in Fear and Publishing – Philip Yancey sits down with World Magazine: "I tell people I write my books for myself, and that’s true. I grew up in an unhealthy church. I’ve talked about that very openly in my books. It was almost a toxic church. I went through a period of time where I threw out that whole church background because I realized there were some things they had lied to me about … [W]hen I started writing, I realized I had the opportunity to pick up pieces, one-by-one, of things that I had learned in church, and examine them, kind of, dust them off, and see what the truth was. You can almost tell from the titles of my books … what interests me."
Up in the Sky, It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Super Apostles – An excerpt from a new book appears in a review by Tim Challies: "Some readers may suspect that the authors are anti-charismatic. They may expect us to argue that the miraculous gifts described in 1 Corinthians 12—including the gifts of prophesying, healing, and speaking in tongues—are no longer active in the church today. This is not our objective. Many Christians around the world, including charismatics and classic Pentecostals, believe that the miraculous gifts are still active, and we do not dispute their belief. We’ve tried to show that NAR teachings do not represent the views of most charismatics or classic Pentecostals, but are, rather, entirely different." Read the review of God's Super Apostles.
Three Things Megachurch Leaders Get Right – With 300 members, you may not feel you're playing in the big leagues, but you can borrow their strategies. "In our experience, it is common for churches to accumulate a variety of ministries over time. Some of them get the attention of senior leadership while others seem to float along under the radar. If you’re looking to lead a church toward a unified vision, build accountability by keeping everything tied to your senior leadership team." Which brings us to …
A Liberal Gay Jewish Man Walks Into a Baptist Megachurch – After constantly driving by Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, curiosity gets the better of him: "First, these churches deliver powerful, personal spiritual experiences—which is a primary reason they’re winning over lapsed Catholics and mainline Protestants. The pastors talk directly about their conversion experiences. The service that I went to was a carefully, skillfully choreographed crescendo designed to inspire (and, judging by the enthusiasm of the congregants, successful at doing so). The theology is personal and experiential; you’re meant to talk to God, and hear God talking back …"
Academic Avenue: The Role of Oral Tradition in the Synoptics – I thought we'd toss some meat in the middle of the snack food: "But why can all three synoptics sometimes provide different wording regarding either the story or quotation of Jesus, yet some quotations will be exactly the same in all three synoptics? Scholars call these similarities and differences the Synoptic Problem." Later on, "[E]xperts now tell us that ancient oral tradition was not only formed but performed. That is, early church communities further remembered Jesus by performing plays about these remembered incidents in his life."
The Things Educators Believe Matter – Despite having high academic test score averages, a Christian school in the UK is in danger of losing its certification and having to shut down because inspectors felt the school reflected homophobic attitudes. Parents have rallied to fight the assessment carried out by Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, a government agency. A ten year old girl was put on the spot by the question, "What is a lesbian?" and was asked "if she felt trapped in someone else's body?" Worse, the girl now feels the school's rating by Ofsted is her fault.
Why We Won't Lose the War – Author Anne Marie Miller doesn't ignore the statistics, in fact she loves stats. And she knows that many under-35s are leaving the church. "Some leave and go to the church down the road. And then to the other church farther down the road. We commit just long enough to wonder why we haven’t found community only to start all over again." Yet, despite all this, she remains wholly optimistic; "… quietly hoping, seeking, praying, pleading, trusting and living out the Gospel that the numbers and statistics don’t matter."
Sorry, It's In Your Contract – I knew a youth pastor once who worked in a megachurch that can only be described as a "sweatshop." The week after his father died he asked if he could be exempted from having to be part of the platform party—it was the type of church where all the ministers sat on the stage during the whole service—and they refused him. And so he sat there, in full view of everyone, in tears. I think of him whenever I see this healthy contrast: The annual list of the Best Christian Workplaces.
Short Essay of the Week – A Michigan pastor escapes the frozen north to Cancun only to come face-to-face with his own susceptibility to consumerism. As a member of the resort staff leads him into temptation: "It’s ironic, but our 'all inclusive resort' turned out to have some exclusions after all. Now here’s the thing: I was completely happy with my little corner of paradise until Shakira (yes, that was really her name) told me that there was more, and that—for only $70 more per day—we could have it all." Did he purchase the upgrade?
Why Speak in Tongues When There's Christianese? – "The Sea of Forgetfulness. Partaking in Christ’s body and blood. Dying to yourself. The mark of the beast. Getting caught up in the air. Out of context, some of the language used regularly in church sounds more like it belongs in some sort of weird horror movie … Some strange church sayings are direct quotes from the Bible, but to someone not familiar with the whole story of the Bible, they’re mind-boggling." Speaking of our family dialect, the most recent post at The Dictionary of Christianese concerns the word televangelism.
Okay, I Know I Should Know This – Even some seasoned people in ministry get this wrong sometimes: The difference between Baptists and Anabaptists.
The Reverse Lawsuit – Someone has filed a discrimination case in Colorado that is the opposite of the standard gay wedding cake suit.
Paul Wilkinson blogs daily at Thinking Out Loud. The family in the UK school story has the same last name but is no relation.
