Which way are you heading? Some languages and cultures train you to know north from south, east from west. These people don’t need a GSP or a compass. Their language builds a directional guidance system into their brains. In Nuuk Thaayorre, an aboriginal language in Australia, you don’t “Hi” or “Hello” when you meet someone […]
Today we are encouraged to follow our feelings to determine what is right and wrong. We are called to be authentic in deciding what is good and evil, even if—especially if—it conflicts with traditional religious norms. But does the Transfiguration tell us a different story? But can we just invent our own language of what […]
Where is the Proclamation? Sometimes older church leaders will look at younger innovative churches and wonder if the proclamation of the gospel is being lost. They wonder if there is still a place for preaching in these new church models. It is true that churches like mine—which often rails against preaching that is individualized, overly rationalistic, […]
We constantly stumble over the word—faith. How do we know we have it? What does it mean to lose it? But really, faith is weirder than we think. And there is one thing we often misunderstand about faith. We are almost done with our Faith Hacking series. Previously we covered… Making room for the God who […]
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1 Thing about Advent We Usually Forget
Often we think of “salvation” as a movement from or against: away from sin, hell, or the “world.” But what is salvation for? What is it leading us to? Is heaven the extent of our answer? What if our idea of salvation needed to move away from a “place” (going to heaven instead of hell) and more toward a “person”? […]
In our hopes to transform culture we often forget about society. And too often we split apart culture and society. This is bad for culture, society, and the church. Culture is usually viewed with suspicion leading to separation or withdrawal. We have “culture wars” after all. But society is usually viewed neutrally (if thought about at all). Christians […]
Why Still So Tired? For all the weary and over-burdened, we were told that if we followed Jesus then his “yoke would be easy and his burden would be light” (Matt. 11:28-30). But often times we don’t feel that way. We haven’t found that kind of rest in Jesus. We feel still feel disconnected, tired, […]
I choose messy relationships over Church Clarity. And I choose messy relationships over the Nashville Statement (as I’ve said here and here, and David Fitch and I discussed on our podcast). In fact, as I process the launch of Church Clarity I see 5 ways that Church Clarity is just the inversion of the Nashville […]