GraceConversation: Publicity

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Jay F Guin

grace7Please help us publicize this conversation as widely as possible within the Churches of Christ — among all elements of the Churches.

If you participate in a Christian forum or maintain a blog, please post a notice iniviting readers to read and comment. For this sort of dialogue to truly work well, it needs the broadest circulation possible.

Thanks.

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GraceConversation

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Jay F Guin

grace7Phil Sanders has posted Proposition 1: Doctrinal Error Can Lead to Eternal Damnation.

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The Future of the Progressive Churches of Christ: Shrinking Churches, Part 5 (the Near-Death Congregation)

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Jay F Guin

cooperation.jpgImagine that you’ve been hired as a consultant to a congregation that’s lost so many members that it’s near death. What approach would you take to solving the problem?

It’s a tough question, isn’t it? I have an idea or two — all of which have actually been field tested.

Here are my thoughts. Please add yours. Continue reading →

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GraceConversation

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Jay F Guin

grace7Greg Tidwell has just posted a statement of agreed principles, “As We Begin.”

Debate in earnest to begin shortly.

PS — I’ve been working on the blog’s look. I think it’s getting better.

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The Blue Parakeet: Covenant Community

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Jay F Guin

parakeetBackground

After sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, God began the work of putting things right. This work begins most significantly through Abraham.

Now, in my childhood, I was taught that there are three dispensations: Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian. And in Church of Christ theology, a large emphasis is placed on the repeal of the Law of Moses. A favorite prooftext is —

(Col 2:13-14)  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Continue reading →

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In Celebration of the First of April

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Jay F Guin

Which posts are serious? (all from Todd Rhodes at MMI) —

Southern Baptist Convention adopts official song in opposition to drinking beer.

Official investigation into lip-syncing praise teams

Heavy metal monk —

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Thanks!

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Jay F Guin

hitchartOne In Jesus had 16,500 hits in December, which was a good month — but the site had 39,640 hits in March — up nearly 250%. Oh, wow! Continue reading →

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Humility

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Jay F Guin

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How to Argue Like a Christian: The Last-Verse-Read Argument

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Jay F Guin

Perhaps the biggest failing of believers of all kinds is our persistent use of the last-verse-read argument.

For example, in the Churches of Christ, we deny once saved, always saved (the perserverance of the saints), as we are Arminian in theology. And so in our Sunday school classes we read the once saved, always saved verses first. We then read the yes-you-can-fall-away verses last. We tell our students that the yes-you-can-fall-away verses explain the once-saved-always-saved verses. The class goes home feeling affirmed in their beliefs.

Across the street a Baptist Sunday school teacher reads the yes-you-can-fall-away verses first. He then reads the once-saved-always-saved verses last, telling his class that the last-read verses explain the first-read verses. His class goes home feeling affirmed in their beliefs. Continue reading →

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The Future of the Progressive Churches of Christ: Shrinking Congregations, Part 4 (Community)

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Jay F Guin

cooperation.jpgAlan Rouse noted in an earlier comment that congregations won’t lose members if the congregation is a genuine community. I agree. Community is a critically important part of the Kingdom. I’d just want to emphasize that the way we do community matters — a lot. And we often do it wrong. Let me explain.

Let’s go back to 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr. had just led a march in Birmingham, Alabama calling for racial equality, only to find himself arrested and in jail. He was severely disappointed that the Birmingham churches had largely refused to assist him, despite the clear teachings of scripture in support of the equality of men regardless of race.

He wrote —

There was a time when the church was very powerful — in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Continue reading →

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