Bishop Willimon has a post about pastoral leadership and stewardship, with the particular aspect of stewardship being apportionments. I like the framing that goes on in our church, as apportionments are called “fair-share giving.” I know that sounds better, but I still call them apportionments. I think the general finding is unexceptional. Pastoral leadership has…
Ben Witherington is taking on Biblical arguments against women in ministry in an article titles Why Arguments against Women in Ministry Aren’t Biblical. (HT: Dr. Platypus.) I personally find his first and second arguments quite good, while I tend to be less convinced by his arguments regarding the specific texts. It seems to me that…
I think there are two major errors we can make as Christians: We can fail to have a message, and we can fail to be the message. If I follow the stereotypes I would say that liberals tend to fail in the first, and conservatives in the second. But I’m afraid we all tend to…
Alan Knox has reposted a series on how the church can live Romans 12:9-21 along with some current thoughts. He points out that Romans 1-11 are theological, but starting with Romans 12, Paul begins to speak about how the church can live out the theology of the first chapters. This all reminded me of one…
Kevin at Shooting the Breeze comments on a YouTube video.
I have, on occasion, been accused of being a “love preacher.” It’s not an accusation that frightens me, but it used to puzzle me. It doesn’t so much any more. There’s a difference between a casual “all you need is love” attitude and “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34), especially considering…
If you’ve been on a church nominating committee and experienced the task of persuading someone to take a job that just has to be filled, or if you’ve been on the other end of that phone call when you’re begged to take a job for which you know you are not gifted or called, or…
… or use them more effectively. From The Assembling of the Church: … Instead, the church decided that they wanted to spend more money serving people and less money of a meeting place. Go read Alan’s post for the full context. Messiah Baptist Church is to be congratulated, and hopefully their example will be followed…
The gentleman came to me with a sheaf of papers after a meeting at which I was speaking. “I’d like you to read this,” he said, holding them out to me. Now this was before I had started publishing, not that I haven’t had related experiences since. But even so, this gentleman wanted me to…
Though I think I might ask myself the next question. Will I grow spiritually after I get there? The atmosphere of grace is, I believe, most conducive to growth! (HT: Kouya Chronicle)