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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Churches of Christ in Decline: Silos, Politics and Turf Wars
Silos, Politics and Turf Wars is a business management book by Patrick Lencioni. I’m a huge fan of his The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, which should be required reading for every elder and minister in the Churches. I’m such … Continue reading
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Churches of Christ in Decline? Data Points
Alan Rouse, in a post on his blog, brought together several pieces of data that bear on the decline of conservative denominations, such as the Southern Baptists and Churches of Christ. I’d like to add a few more. First, the … Continue reading
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100,000 Hits!
Rats! I was planning on watching the hit counter hit 100,000 and got distracted. Oh, well. Thanks to everyone for clicking over here. And thanks especially to those who comment. It makes things much more interesting. PS — Don’t forget … Continue reading
Buried Talents: The Women of the Gospels and Acts
The Gospel Prophetesses Before the birth of Jesus, three prophetesses were inspired by God to speak and to instruct men. The first is Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1:42-45). Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also inspired to … Continue reading
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Straight Talk About Premarital Sex
Excellent article from Janice Crouse reporting the results of the latest research on premarital sex.
Churches of Christ in Decline? “Good News and Bad News” (revised)
Dr. Flavil Yeakley, long the unofficial chief statistician of the Churches of Christ, has just published a booklet called “Good News and Bad News: A Realistic Assessment of the Churches of Christ in the United States 2008.” It can be … Continue reading
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Are We Sacramentalists? Marriage as a Sacrament, and the Church
Recall Hicks’ definition of “sacrament”– The material elements do not merely represent, but they participate in the reality to which they point. They are not mere signs, but symbols that mediate a spiritual reality. The signs become symbols because God … Continue reading
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Southern Baptist Churches In Decline
New research shows that the Southern Baptist denomination, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, is no longer growing and is, in fact, in decline. A discussion of the report by one of the researchers, Ed Stetzer, may be listened to here. … Continue reading
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Buried Talents: References to God as Female
Of course, one of the most male-centric aspects of the scriptures is the fact that God often refers to himself as a male — as “father” in particular. But there are also a number of Old Testament passages where God … Continue reading
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Are We Sacramentalists? The Lord’s Supper and the Assembly
Back a few weeks ago, I started an exploration of the Eastern Orthodox understanding of “sacrament.” Their approach is quite different from the Catholic/Protestant approach. Let’s just, for fun, you know, see if we can find evidence of a sacramental … Continue reading
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