Category Archives: Uncategorized

Missional Christianity: The Moral Majority

In response to the failure of government to teach our children to pray and to teach the poor to be industrious and chaste, many Christians tried to purify the government. In the 1980’s, Jerry Falwell famously founded the Moral Majority … Continue reading

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Missional Christianity: The Constantinian Worldview

Forgive my use of a term borrowed from philosophy. Our “worldview” is the set of assumptions that dictate how we view the world. Many Americans, for example, see the world through the lens of personal freedom, while many Middle Easterners … Continue reading

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Missional Christianity: Introduction

This is the first of a series of posts on what’s being called “missional” Christianity or the missional movement. “Missional” is a newly coined term, referring to the mission of God on earth and our mission as Christians to work … Continue reading

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The Gospel According to Luke, Chapter by Chapter Outlines

I’ve yet to figure out how to convert an MS Word outline into a WordPress posting. Therefore, I’m attaching the outlines as .pdf files. It’s not elegant, but it’s at least possible. If anyone knows a way to make the … Continue reading

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The Gospel According to Luke, Introduction

We’ve been studying the Gospel of Luke the last quarter at church, and we’re about to continue for another quarter. Most of the teachers haven’t gotten past chapter 7, and we’ll surely not get done this second quarter either. However, … Continue reading

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The Gospel Advocate Creed, Part 3

The last three months, the Gospel Advocate has been blessedly free of declarations that those who disagree with the editors are damned, and I’m thankful for it. I hope this trend continues. If we could just get over the habit … Continue reading

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Adult Bible Class Myths: It’s a good idea to talk about other denominations

Myth #10. It’s a good idea to talk about other denominations. In my early years of teaching, I taught as I’d been taught–by teaching what “the denominations” do wrong. Sadly, sometimes there were visitors there from exactly those denominations, and … Continue reading

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On Building Community in a Congregation

In my last series of posts dealing with Richland Hills and the instrumental music controversy, I mentioned the importance of building community in a congregation. It’s certainly more important and more urgent than buying a piano. You can bring in … Continue reading

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Richland Hills, Instrumental Music, and the future of the Churches of Christ, Part 3

Now, all that being said, I have trouble seeing the Churches of Christ remaining a cappella for another 100 years. There are some very good reasons to seriously consider picking up a guitar or violin. First, we live in a … Continue reading

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Richland Hills, Instrumental Music, and the future of the Churches of Christ, Part 2

Church leaders considering having two different worship styles, whether instrumental or not, in two separate services have to wrestle with the risk of effectively creating two congregations that share a common building. If one service is traditional and another is … Continue reading

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