Geoffrey Holsclaw
During the pandemic, physical church attendance is seen as optional at best. And because of the understandable deconstruction and disgust, many are repulsed at the thought of church. And that’s why idea of “church as mother” elicits a strong response from people (for and against) (See my recent post and all the response). This is […]
Wars and rumors of war are nothing new. On a dangerous journey at great cost to themselves, the Magi (Wise Men or Kings) were pressing through the difficult and the danger. They were looking for something. They were “seekers.” Or as some say, they were “searchers.” Aaron Bjerke notes the neglected “searcher” demographic. Seekers […]
Pentecost comes and goes so quickly. And we so quickly forget what we have received, trading our birthright for a bowl of porridge called power. Here are six kinds of power followers of Christ often seek after instead of the promise of Pentecost—the Holy Spirit. Many times these six work together, sometimes they compete with […]
Ok, insert here [right here] your favorite illustration about the need for balance. Something about riding a bike, learning to walk, or Luther’s example about not falling off a horse, or stacking rocks. Because that’s what I’m talking about here—the need to balance contending for the kingdom and consenting to the kingdom. In different church […]
bGrowing up, workaholism was a vice to avoid (at least, in theory). But now, workism has become its own religion of sorts—promising “identity, transcendence, and community.” This is the thesis of Derek Thompson of The Atlantic. Amid the decline of traditional faith in America (a claim I find dubious), Thompson suggests workism is an upstart […]
And the other thing we mostly forget. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up […]
Ok, yes, it might sound extreme. But let’s be sober-minded. As Todd Hiestand (and the comments) notes in his great post, “10 Suggestions/Thoughts on Bi-vocational Ministry”, being a missional bi-vocational pastor is hard, it takes commitment, it takes faith. But in this post-Christian context (or at least outside of the ever shrinking Christendom pockets), the […]
Here is the complete series: 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6. As we saw in the last post, humanity was created in God’s image and likeness to be God’s representative in the world (royal-image), and to be God’s very representation in the world (cultic-image). God’s presence had been given to humanity (indeed, to […]
