We were supposed to be stewards. That is why we were created. In the very beginning, back when God made everything out of nothing, the pinnacle of that creation was man. Man was made in his image and was to rule in his stead. In essence we were stewards, entrusted with overseeing all that God…
Tag: the church
Already, but not yet – Part 2
If you do not know what you are fighting for, you are bound to make mistakes. In the last post, I talked about the kingdom of God (or the kingdom of heaven, as the terms are interchangeable in the Bible). The term gets thrown around a lot. We Christian folk are always talking about "kingdom…
Already, but not yet – Part 1
Jesus is concerned about his kingdom. It is pretty easy to agree with that statement if you read the gospel account of Matthew. The kingdom of heaven is possibly the most prevalent theme in the book, and is most often recorded off the lips of Jesus himself. Yet, for most of us, the kingdom of…
The nations are in your backyard
I am currently staring out the third floor window of my new home, overlooking the busy, downtown streets of Washington, DC. Well, it is my new home for half the week, at least. This is why: Since the dawn of modern international missions, this task has largely seen people leaving the United States in search…
A better way: An alternative to dumping Starbucks
This post is the conclusion to a two-part series. It will probably not make much sense unless you go read the first post: Will I be dumping Starbucks? I concluded the last post by asking if there was a better way to approach cultural issues than this ban on Starbucks. This is how I answered:…
Continue reading ➞ A better way: An alternative to dumping Starbucks
The “have it your way” church
We do it without even realizing it. We walk through our day, in virtually every way, as consumers. After all, that is what we are taught to do. Our culture filled us so full of a consumerist worldview that we internalized this approach to life. It is interred in our bones. Ever since you were…
When the gospel does its work
The gospel changes things. I was reminded of this truth today during a conversation with a friend who also spent some time overseas as a missionary. We were waxing verbose about some ongoing discussion in one of his missions classes at the seminary. It was the familiar question of contextualization and how we must interact…
The good news of community
God likes community. How do I know this? Well, it is written all over the place. In Genesis, God creates everything from nothing, and as the pinnacle of that creation he makes man in his image. As soon as he does, God creates woman because it is not good that man be alone. In Abraham,…
A Consequence of Ministry: Dealing with Sheep
"A shepherd should smell like his sheep." If you think about the above statement, it seems like common sense. Of course a shepherd would smell like sheep. After all, it is his job to spend his time around sheep. It is his job to follow sheep, herd sheep, find sheep when they are lost, and…
Continue reading ➞ A Consequence of Ministry: Dealing with Sheep
A Right to Secrecy
The basic American right to privacy. It is a thing, right? Most people do not realize a "right to privacy" is not explicitly stated anywhere in the constitution. However, despite the absence of those words from the document, our country (at least its citizens) clearly believes that all people have a basic right to privacy.…
