There are three common mistakes that churches make that provide safe havens for abusers and re-victimize the vulnerable time and time again.
There are three common mistakes that churches make that provide safe havens for abusers and re-victimize the vulnerable time and time again.
I first attended Abilene Christian University Lectureship when I was a freshman Bible major in February 1986. This was back when they still put up the big tent on the other side of Edwards Dormitory.
Rather than holding to a set of convictions that properly constitute a faithful Christian, Christianity is more about an orientation toward following Jesus Christ.
Sometimes you have grown so used to the problems that you don’t see them anymore: that squeaky door, the quirky light switch that just won’t seem to work right, the overgrown yard.
I equally love and hate surprises. If I sense somewhere in my gut that somebody is withholding a fun secret from me, it nearly drives me crazy.
The very people who have the greatest possibility of being close to us are the ones we are most likely to envy.
In most of our consumption, whether food, Netflix, media, or people, we quickly ingest without taking the time to appreciate the experience.
The greatest gift a parent can give a child is permission to become the person God created him or her to be.
We often assume our prodigals will know how to stay clean from their addictions, stop hurting people, and be an active participant in the life of our church.
I recently tried a sad kind of experiment. I tried to see if I can make it 24 hours without hearing a body shaming or food shaming comment.
We shouldn’t be judgmental, right? Saturday morning cartoons and countless sitcoms have taught us as much.
Every conversation about hospitality must include boundaries, and every conversation about boundaries must include hospitality.
Historically speaking, pacifism appears the unquestioned stance of the New Testament and the early church.
There was no food, no money, and no more time. She had enough supplies for one last meal with her son before she would to take their fate into her own hands.
In the early years, I was on my own with the losses, fighting the pain every day, watching my life burn to the ground, and compiling a list of grievances against God and the world.
The church has rightly discarded anxious and fearful revivalist eschatologies, but have we replaced them with a healthier perspective? I call us to embrace a biblical view of the last things .
If you’ve never stopped long enough to eavesdrop on nature, you’re missing out. That pond was a sanctuary, and the birds and the bullfrogs were the choir.
Fair concerns remain about risk and logistics when it comes to relearning the virtue of Christian hospitality toward immigrants and refugees.
This small congregation’s outward reaching focus remains a central pillar of why they exist
Only when the adrenaline rush is over can we begin to count our losses: the things we can’t replace and the fire’s impact on us: mind, body, and soul.