The Fork in the Road: A Different Gospel, Part 1 (Gal 1 -2)

In a recent post regarding the “progressive agenda,” I wrote,

Of course, my view of the gospel differs from the gospel as taught by conservatives in important ways. I’m persuaded that if they’ll understand the gospel as I teach it, unity will be easy.

That wasn’t exactly transparent writing, but sometimes the details conceal the larger reality. And the larger reality is that I teach a different gospel from what is taught in 20th Century Church of Christ theology.

This statement, of course, has led to questions I thought I’d try to answer. Now, I could simply say what I believe, or I could work through the scriptures and explain what I believe. And in this case, only the second way makes any sense because only the second way has any chance of being persuasive. Continue reading

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A Different Way to Do Teen Ministry Campus Ministry Church, Short-term missions?

https://i0.wp.com/www.unitydanville.org/skedlogo.gif?resize=264%2C203Theory, Part 3 — Or how teen mission trip reports can be about someone other than the teens

Two short-term mission trips.

Trip 1. The adults bought plane tickets and hired a bus so the kids can go to Central America to paint a house. The youth ministers spent six months getting enough adult volunteers, because it takes a lot of adults to chaperone the kids. They’ve planned one day of snorkeling at the end to reward everyone for their hard work and sacrifice.

Result: Kids see deep poverty and are touched. They bond with each other and some of the adults. Trip is fun. Lots of pictures taken. And they learn that short-term missions are for teens. Adults either send money or chaperone. The adults have a passion for the teens but not for the Central Americans, not really. Continue reading

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The Lord’s Supper: The Experts Weigh In

John Mark Hicks recently posted some material on the Lord’s Supper that’s very pertinent to this series, which I thought I’d wrapped up a few weeks ago. The post summarizes a scholarly paper he presented at the 2010 Stone-Campbell Conference.

He writes in the post,

Given the following assumptions, some time during the early to mid second century the Eucharist was separated from the Agape. My assumptions are:

  1. There is a consensus among New Testament scholars that the Eucharist was originally conducted in the context of an Agape Continue reading
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The Cruciform God: The Cross-Shaped Colony, Part 2

We’re continuing our study of Michael J. Gorman’s Inhabiting the Cruciform God. We are now well-beyond the book, but continuing to explore its implications.

A different kind of colony

(1 Pet 2:9-10)  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Peter wrote his epistles to several churches, and each church was made of people who were proud of their ethnic heritage, whether as Jews, Romans, or Greeks. The Empire was very cosmopolitan and a given city might have businessmen and bureaucrats and soldiers from anywhere in the Empire. And Peter dares to tell them, “Once you were not a people”! That would be insulting even today. Continue reading

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A Different Way to Do Teen Ministry Campus Ministry Church, Mentors?

https://i0.wp.com/www.unitydanville.org/skedlogo.gif?resize=264%2C203Theory Part 2 — Or why teens shouldn’t have to tell us what they did last summer

Let’s push this line of thought just a little further. And by “a little” I really mean “a lot” — because this isn’t going to be easy for anyone.

A few weeks ago our teens participated in a very worthy program called 30 Hour Famine. Now, to be clear, I like this program a lot and I’m totally sold on its value. I say that because I’m not sold on its marketing. Continue reading

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Amazing Grace: Patternism Articles in New Wineskins

The recent series of articles in New Wineskins regarding the errors of patternism have triggered a response at the From God’s Breath blog edited by Scott Shifferd Jr. I was actually quoted! Shifferd’s posts responding to the articles are-

(actually replying to a blog post by Royce Ogle)

“Patternism?”: Why Christians Must Observe Biblical Examples

New Wineskins’ Confusion over Christ’s Patterns Continue reading

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The Cruciform God: The Cross-Shaped Colony, Part 1

We’re continuing our study of Michael J. Gorman’s Inhabiting the Cruciform God. We are now well-beyond the book, but continuing to explore its implications.

The holy colony

(Phil 3:20-21)  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

We in the US take citizenship for granted. Most of us were born citizens. But in Rome, citizenship was a rare commodity — enjoyed by a minority of residents. Citizenship had to be inherited, bought, or earned. And the most common way to earn it was to serve at least 25 years in the Roman Legion. Continue reading

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Transforming Publishing: New Outlet for Book Publishing

For all you frustrated authors out there, Milton Stanley, who blogs at Transforming Sermons, has begun a publishing venture for Christian books called Transforming Publishing. He says,

Electronic copies of all publications will be available free online, and hardcopy publications will be available on-demand for what we hope to be very modest prices–less expensive in many cases than users will be able to print on their own printers

It’s an intriguing concept and I wish him and his authors great success. Continue reading

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A Different Way to Do Teen Ministry Campus Ministry Church, Relationships?

https://i0.wp.com/www.unitydanville.org/skedlogo.gif?resize=264%2C203Theory, Part 1 — Or why I cringe everytime I hear that our kids are building great relationships.

I have this theory. It goes like this. Sometimes we run youth ministry like a babysitting service with devos thrown in. And we sometimes make youth ministry downright narcissistic by running it entirely for the kids. Ponder that one for a while. If the kids spend six of their most formative years having ministry run for them, what are they not doing? Right. They aren’t doing ministry for others. If they are always the ones being served, then they can’t become servants.

And so we get parents involved and the parents pick up the pizza and serve the pizza and carry the kids hither and yon in minivans — showing great servant hearts. But the kids are never taught to be servants. After all, they’re kids. And while kids learn by example, it has to be explained for them, and they have to be taught to follow the example. Otherwise, being immature (only adolescents are allowed in a teen program!), they’ll respond immaturely — by feeling entitled to the services they receive. Continue reading

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The Political Church: A Christian Commonwealth?

Church StateFollowing centuries of Christian-on-Christian persecution, the English nation was desperate for a solution. How do we end the violence and bloodshed?

The answer came from the pen of John Locke, the Enlightenment philosopher whose work greatly influenced the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and even the Restoration Movement. He wasn’t the first to urge religious toleration, but his famous Letter Concerning Toleration, written in 1689, so clearly and brilliantly explained the necessity of religious toleration that his views eventually became law. Continue reading

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