Articles

Missional Christianity

07/31/08

Winfield Bevins

Is impossible to grasp the true heart and soul of Christianity without understanding the mission of the church. Christians have been sent as missionaries to share the Gospel in our present culture and to fulfill the Great Commission. The church is rooted in the concept of the Missio Dei, which recognizes that there is one mission and it is God's mission. The Missio Dei is a Latin theological term that can be translated as "Mission of God". The church . . . More...

Missional Discipleship

07/10/08

Jonathan Dodson

In evangelical subculture the ubiquity of the Great Commission is matched by the poverty of its interpretation. Matthew 28:18-20-the command to make disciples of all nations-is frequently summoned to validate countless and sundry discipleship and evangelism programs, ideas and practices, often ignoring the interpretive wealth of the text. It's as if we expect . . . More...

The Folly and Danger of Parting with Christ for the Pleasures and Profits of Life

07/08/08

George Whitefield

If we were but sensible of the great necessity there is, in this our day, of being real Christians, sure we should not be contented with being nominal ones; but we are sunk into I know not what; we are no better than . . . More...

Christianity and Culture

06/09/08

James Harleman

What is culture? Why do we create culture? Why does culture seem corrupted? . . . More...

Twelve Marks of a Missional Church

06/09/08

Scott Thomas

A church that is not missional is not really a church. A church exists by mission as the sun exists by burning. When the sun loses its burn it ceases to be the sun. When a church loses its mission, it ceases to be a church. Missional is an adjective describing . . . More...

The Christian Mind

06/09/08

Bassam Madany

During the early 1950s, I read a pamphlet by Roland Allen, a British missionary with long years of experience in the Far East, dealing with education on the mission field. In his critique of educating children of unbelievers in mission schools, he wrote: "Christian education is far more the teaching of Christians than teaching given by Christians. Christian education becomes non-Christian in the non-Christian mind." . . . . More...

Evangelistic Worship

05/28/08

Tim Keller

One of the basic features of church life in the U.S. today is the proliferation of worship and music forms. This in turn has caused many severe conflicts both within individual congregations and whole denominations. Most books and articles about recent worship trends tend to fall into one of two broad categories.1 "Contemporary Worship" (hereafter CW) advocates often make rather sweeping statements, such as "pipe organs and choirs will never reach people today." "Historic Worship" (hereafter HW) advocates often speak similarly about how incorrigibly corrupt popular music and culture is, and how they make contemporary worship completely unacceptable.2 More...

Work: A Holy Calling

05/27/08

Jerram Barrs

Whatever job you do, it is a holy calling, a sacred calling, a responsibility, given to you by God to serve Him there. Too often we think of our work, if we are not working specifically, for the church, as being secular, second-class, having nothing to do with true spirituality, and little to do with being a faithful Christian. You can think of all the incorrect expressions we use to mark this division between the sacred and the secular: We speak of people who are in "full-time ministry" as it only they are "full-time Christians." More...

Thanks to the DaVinci Code, Evangelism Will Never Be the Same

05/27/08

Peter Jones

In our day, the once "Christian" society of modern-day America now looks more and more like pagan Rome. Indeed, not since pagan Rome has homosexuality been accepted in history as normal behavior, but even in pagan Rome, there was no such thing as "gay marriage." In our liberated, "secular" though actually religiously-pagan society, Christianity is silenced and pushed to the margins. That is on the outside. On the inside, we face serious apostasy. We face a form of Christianity that is nothing more than a new, virulent strain of the heresy Irenaeus labored to denounce. More...

Religionless Spirituality

05/27/08

Tim Keller

Growing numbers of Americans say they are spiritual but not religious," says Robert Wuthnow in After Heaven, his assessment of American spiritual development since 1950. It is a spirituality without truth or authority but filled with belief in the supernatural. It is a trend born of the modern fears of religion. The powerful critiques of Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche have penetrated our popular psyche. Freud saw religious performance as a way that guilt-ridden people cleanse themselves and force God to bless them. Marx saw religious principle used by one class of people to oppress another. Neitzsche asserted that anyone claiming to have the truth is making a power play. He asked the powerful: "Why do you call for love? Is it not just a way to keep anyone from revolting against your authority?" He asked the powerless: "Why do you call for justice? Is it not just a way for you to get on top?" These critiques are powerful because they have the ring of truth. They're the reasons many who seek spirituality reject religion. More...

Racial Reconciliation and the Christian Gospel

05/27/08

Tim Gombis

In the thinking of many Christians, the notion of racial reconciliation does not have a direct relationship to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We may agree that Christians of different ethnicities ought to get along, but many would also be hesitant to recognize a demand in the gospel along this line. After all, the thinking goes, the gospel is the message that all people need to "get saved." Each individual human is alienated from God because each of us is a sinner, and we need to ask Jesus into our hearts so that we'll go to heaven when we die. And, while we might agree that it would be nice if there were all sorts of races in heaven, and we probably should do our best to get along here on earth, if we don't, we can be thankful that this is no threat to the gospel. More...

Unbelievers Despise the Glory and Excellency of Christ

05/27/08

Jonathan Edwards

Subject: Unbelievers set nothing by all the glory and excellency that is in Christ. In the foregoing chapters we have an account of the out-pouring of the Holy Ghost on the apostles, and of its extraordinary effects in their speaking boldly in the name of Jesus, and speaking many strange languages, and so being made the instruments of the sudden conversion of vast multitudes. And in the chapter immediately preceding, there is an account how Peter and John miraculously healed a man who had been a cripple from his birth; which, together with the word which they spake to the people that flocked together on the occasion, was the means of a new accession to the church; so that the number of them that heard the word believed , as we are told in the fourth verse of this chapter, was about five thousand. More...

Motives for Evangelism

05/27/08

Tom Wells

Motives are tricky things. There are two pitfalls in looking too closely at them. First, There is the danger of unhealthy introspection. Take the man, for instance, who thinks he has discovered a bit of pride in his heart that he was not previously aware of. How will he react? Well, he might say, "Yes, I can see that it was pride that led me to take the course I took, but at least it's humble of me to admit it." C. S. Lewis has told us: There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves.... The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit... More...

Community Ministry

05/27/08

J.D. Greear

Our church is committed to physically blessing whatever area we are trying to plant churches in. By that I mean not only do we want to see churches planted, we want to see the improvement of local education, health, and politics, and standards of living, and see the decrease of crime and poverty. We engage in projects to those ends. We don't do this as a bait and switch, as if it's just a gimmick to get people to trust Jesus. Part of the Gospel is loving our neighbor whether or not they ever trust Jesus. As a friend of mine says, "We don't serve to convert, we serve because we are converted." More...

The Digital Age--A New Dark Age?

05/27/08

Kyle Vaughn

As Christians, we need to deeply understand how the gospel impacts and gives us a responsibility concerning knowledge as well as understand how a lost world around us is drowning in a storm of information that they don't know what to do with. We live in a unique time in terms of knowledge. Never before in the history of mankind have so many people had the ability to learn (literacy) and had the access to such a vast array of information and even other cultures. With a vast network of libraries and information systems, particularly the internet, one only needs to travel one block over or click a button to access just about everything mankind has ever known or experienced. But mankind is adrift in its thinking. More...

The Cause and Cure of Poverty

05/27/08

John Armstrong

What causes poverty? The question presently plagues many serious Christian thinkers and leaders. The answers vary but the proposed solutions are the stuff of our political campaigns every four years. We can already hear the discussion from the various candidates for the presidency in 2008, both Republican and Democrat. One candidate, John Edwards, actually wants to make poverty a major issue in the next election, maybe as important as the Iraq War. He openly presents his version of a solution and thus makes it a major part of his stump speech these days. More...

How Reductionism Impacts Evangelism

05/27/08

John Armstrong

Last week I wrote about the problem of reductionism. I argued that reduction itself is a necessary part of our being human, thus it does not necessarily need to be a problem for faithfulness to the message and work of Christ. But it can easily become a problem precisely because of our sinful human desire to control the message and all things associated with it. This leads to what Nietzsche called "the will to power." We may reject much of what the radical anti-Christian philosopher had to write, but in this case he is more often right than wrong. We have a deep desire to control and to make sure the outcomes are what we want them to be. More...

The Cosmic Church

05/27/08

John Piper

The church of Jesus Christ is the most important institution in the world. The assembly of the redeemed, the company of the saints, the children of God are more significant in world history than any other group, organization or nation. The United States of America compares to the church of Jesus Christ like a speck of dust compares to the sun. The drama of international relations compares to the mission of the church like a kindergarten riddle compares to Hamlet or King Lear. And all pomp of May Day in Red Square and the pageantry of New Year's in Pasadena fade into a formless grey against the splendor of the bride of Christ. Take heed how you judge. Things are not what they seem. "All flesh is like grass. And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord (and all His family) abide forever" (1 Peter 1:24,25). The media and all the powers, and authorities and rulers and stars that they present are a mirage. "For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). The gates of hades, the powers of death, will prevail against every institution but one, the church. More...

Seek Justice, Encourage the Oppressed

09/18/07

Jerram Barrs

For the past fourteen years, Patricia Green Director of Rahab Ministries, has worked in Bangkok, Thailand, with women and children who have been sold into sexual slavery. Ms. Green and the other Rahab Ministries workers seek to bring these oppressed people out of prostitution, by the grace of God. Ms. Green recently visited the campus of Covenant Seminary to help students become more aware of the need to seek justice on behalf of these women. The following is an interview with Ms. Green that Professor Jerram Barrs led during her visit. More...

Beginning a Conversation about Christ

03/27/07

Ed Stetzer

Finding a starting point for a Christ-sharing conversation is not easy. Maybe you've heard before: 1. "So, do you consider yourself a good person? Yes, well I've got some bad news…" 2. "Nice to meet you, Stephen. Did you know that there was a guy in the Bible who was stoned to death for his beliefs about Jesus? What do you believe about Jesus?" 3. "If you were to die tonight..." More...

Advancing the Gospel into the 21st Century Part I: Church Multiplying

12/02/03

Tim Keller

We are entering a globalized, urbanized, and post-secular world. This means that we are going to be more like the Roman Empire than anything seen in centuries. First, it is a globalized world again. The triumph of Rome's power created the Pax Romana and an unprecedented mobility of people, capital, and ideas. Cities became multi-ethnic and international in unprecedented ways. So today, cities link as much if not more to the rest of the world than they do to their own geographically connected countries. Saskia Sassen in The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo makes the case that increasingly the residents of these cities are more like one another than they are like other residents of their own country. More...

Advancing the Gospel into the 21ST Century Part III: Context Sensitive

12/02/03

Tim Keller

The Principle of Contextualization (Acts 16:1-5) This is the third crucial principle of ministry for the 21st (and the 1st!) century. 1. What does contextualization mean? To use this word could get me into a mine-field. Contextualization can, unfortunately, be used to mean that one's interpretation of Scripture is as valid as any other. Or, it could mean that every interpretive community has a perspective that helps us see aspects of God's self-disclosure that other communities cannot in themselves see or hear. That's better. But as a practitioner of ministry, I see contextualization is adapting my communication of the gospel without changing its essential character. More...

Advancing the Gospel into the 21st Century Part II: Gospel-Centered

12/02/03

Tim Keller

GOSPEL-CENTERED - Acts 15: This is the next strategic principle for ministry in the 21st (and the 1st!) century. I do not simply mean by 'gospel-centered' that ministry is to be doctrinally orthodox. Of course it must certainly be that. I am speaking more specifically. (1.) The gospel is "I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey" while every other religion operates on the principle of "I obey, therefore I am accepted." (2.) Martin Luther's fundamental insight was that this latter principle, the principle of 'religion' is the deep default mode of the human heart. The heart continues to work in that way even after conversion to Christ. Though we recognize and embrace the principle of the gospel, our hearts will always be trying to return to the mode of self-salvation, which leads to much spiritual deadness, pride and strife, and ministry ineffectiveness. (3.) We must communicate the gospel clearly–not a click toward legalism and not a click toward license. Legalism/moralism is truth without grace (which is not real truth); relativism is grace without truth (which is not real grace). To the degree a ministry fails to do justice to both, it simply loses life-changing power. More...

Thinking Critically about Revival

07/27/95

Tom Wells

A group of us were sitting around a table at our monthly pastors fellowship in Dayton, Ohio, agilely flitting from subject to subject when someone mentioned revival. The ensuing discussion went something like this: "What about the revival in China?" The question was directed to a missionary who had visited the People's Republic no less than ten times in recent years to evangelize college students in one of the major cities. More...

There is No Greater Satisfaction

10/01/90

John Piper

Missions exists because worship doesn't. Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. The glory of God is the ultimate goal of the church—because it's the ultimate goal of God. The final goal of all things is that God might be worshiped with white-hot affection by a redeemed company of countless persons from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Revelation 5:9; 7:9). More...