The Church in America: Where Are We Headed?
Over the last six months I’ve been quietly asking anyone with an informed opinion what they think is happening in the U.S. evangelical church. I’ve been doing this for a few reasons:
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Family Dinner
Remember the days of Leave It to Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show, when families used to gather around the table for dinner together every night? A lot has changed since then: soccer practice, dance rehearsals, piano lessons, play auditions, et al., making it seemingly impossible for many families to eat together one night of the week, much less seven.
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To All You Daddies with Little Girls
There is no one more important in the life of a little girl than her daddy. In her eyes, he is strong, brave, and able to fix any problem. And though she doesn’t know it, there is no one who has more power to impact her – for good or for bad – than he does.
Being a father is not an easy task, but it is an important one. Here are a few insights for all of you dads who are raising little girls.
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Relativism
Perhaps I was just having a bad day, but I recently took offense to a quote that was forwarded to me by the friend of a friend. It was supposed to be encouraging, but I wasn’t the least bit encouraged. It set me off. It dripped of the kind of harmful relativism that surrounds us, and rather than hit delete I decided to say as much.
As you likely know, relativism is the philosophical idea that holds that all points of view – i.e., all moral positions, religious systems, political views, art forms, etc. – are equally valid because truth is relative to the individual.
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A Mentor Dies
Several months ago I posted an entry under the title, A Mentor is Dying. Yesterday Steve Hayner finished the race. What follows is an article being run by Christianity Today. It’s an interview of Steve by Mark Labberton. It’s impossible for me to appreciate – let alone explain – the impact these two men have had on me. The interview of Steve by Mark captures a bit of their friendship and depth. I was privileged to be among the twenty-five or so slightly younger people who got close enough to them to profit from their collective wisdom and grace.
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Divorce: How are Christians Really Doing?
It’s often claimed that the divorce rate inside the church is just as high (or higher) as it is outside it. I’d like to offer some additional information.
First, I’m not convinced that the church should have a lower divorce rate than the rest of culture. Do not misunderstand me. Divorce is devastating – something that those who have been through one are usually quick to admit. I’m not celebrating a marriage breaking apart, I am simply noting that if the church is a hospital – i.e. a place where hurting people can go to get help – then it makes sense that there would be many there who are hurting from divorce (as well as from drug and alcohol problems, unemployment, domestic violence, etc.).
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Seven Steps to a Better You in 2015
Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.
— Jonathan Edwards —
A new year is upon us, and it arrives with renewed hope (and resolve) that the next twelve months will be different: this year we are going to advance; this year we are going to ‘raise our game;’ this year we are going to act wisely, finish projects, be kind, avoid sugar, lose weight, save money, work out and smell the roses. This year we are going to be different.
Of course we will not. At least, not if we go about things the same way we did last year. Our will is too weak to sustain 365 days of reform. Most of us will do well to make a week.
Is there any hope? Yes! Yes! Yes!
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Five Quotes to End the Year
“I do not advise that we end the year on a somber note. The march, not the dirge, has ever been the music of Christianity. If we are good students in the school of life, there is much that the years have to teach us. But the Christian is more than a student, more than a philosopher. He is a believer, and the object of his faith makes the difference, the mighty difference. Of all persons the Christian should be best prepared for whatever the New Year brings. He has dealt with life at its source. In Christ he has disposed of a thousand enemies that other men must face alone and unprepared. He can face his tomorrow cheerful and unafraid because yesterday he turned his feet into the ways of peace and today he lives in God. The man who has made God his dwelling place will always have a safe habitation.” — A.W. Tozer
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Sacrifice?
Over the last few weeks I’ve been reading Wilson, Pulitzer Prize winning author A. Scott Berg’s recent biography of Woodrow Wilson. Prior to reading this about the only thing I could tell you about Wilson was that he was our 28th president and that he slept eight to nine hours every night. Needless to say, I’ve been learning a lot. Wilson was many things: a leading public intellectual, a prominent political historian, a man of deep faith and more. There is much to like.
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Office, Study or Chapel
I once heard John Stott observe that in the United States pastors had offices, whereas in the U.K. they had studies. Given his dry British wit, I understood this observation to be a bit of a reprimand. (At least, it felt that way if I ever slipped up around him and talked about my “office.”)
But now Uncle John (as he asked to be called) has been one-upped. Gordon MacDonald recently told me that when the late Richard John Neuhaus went to visit Pope John Paul II, he was left to wait outside the Pope’s private chapel. “Hmm,” thought Neuhaus, “Protestant churches give their pastors an office; British church’s give their clergy a study; but the Roman Catholic church gives their leader a chapel.”
What would Uncle John say?