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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Communion Meditation: The Christian Passover
3,500 years ago, or so, God wanted to free his chosen people from slavery in Egypt. He performed many mighty acts to bring this about, but the people remained firmly in captivity. Finally, the choice became a very stark one: … Continue reading
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Autonomy and the cell church
Imagine that a member of a 500-member church wants to evangelize the local downtown singles community. He believes he can best do so through a cell church model, meeting in coffee shops and apartments. Absent some really good reason to … Continue reading
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How can we both merge and plant?
It’s very fashionable today to talk about the benefits of planting churches. The independent Christian Churches have enjoyed rapid growth through a planting strategy, while the Churches of Christ have plateaued, growing hardly at all in the last 20 years. … Continue reading
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Why we should merge churches–overcoming doctrinal differences
As previously noted, there are very real, very practical difficulties in trying to merge congregations. The foremost difficulty is our intolerance of doctrinal differences. It’s instructive to see how we behave depending on the options available in our home town. … Continue reading
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Why we should merge churches–the doctrinal reasons
I’ve already made one doctrinal point. Larger churches are more effective at ministry to those outside the church–and this is the very essence of Christianity. Read Matthew 25’s account of Judgment Day. Read James’ definition of pure and undefiled religion. … Continue reading
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Why we should merge churches–the practical reasons
Well, there are very real difficulties in merging churches. What would motivate us to work through these problems and actually have a merger? First, we address the practical considerations. There are many.
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Why we shouldn’t merge churches
The overwhelming majority of Churches of Christ have less than 150 members. Although many of these congregations are the only Church in their community, many communities have several congregations. In my own town, many of our members drive past two … Continue reading
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Adult Bible Class Myths: Asking questions is easy
Myth #9. Asking questions is easy. Well, maybe for some people, but not for me. To have a decent discussion, the teacher must ask questions. And it’s certainly easy enough to ask questions, but asking good questions is hard. Very … Continue reading
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ElderLink: Atlanta, March 24, 2007
I’ll be speaking at the ElderLink seminar in a couple of weeks. Details may be found at http://www.acu.edu/ministry/elderlink/conferences/atlanta.html. My two topics are “When does a Christian fall from grace?” and “What does the Bible really teach is a test of … Continue reading
Adult Bible Class Myths: Restoration history isn’t important
Myth #8. Restoration history isn’t important enough to teach. One of the peculiarities of the Churches of Christ is our insistence on denying our indebtedness to the 19th Century Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement). I grew up … Continue reading
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