Resources by Topic: Church

Several months ago, Nanci read this to me from her Charles Spurgeon devotional. I found it very touching, and applicable to the subject of children and teaching them to follow Christ.

What we need in our churches today are fewer actors and more sold-out followers of Jesus—converted people living lives centered on Jesus, the King of kings. And the good news is, there truly are many such people in our churches. Our goal should be to cultivate more and more of them. 

Ray Ortlund’s directness and humility in this article are refreshing. I SO loved what he had to say here about the importance of orthodox doctrine (truth), and also gracious culture and lasting friendships (grace).

I am convinced that it is permissible to both seek churches that adhere to the inerrancy of Scripture and provide opportunities for growth, while also satisfying some of our cultural and stylistic proclivities. BUT I have realized that even the search for the perfect church can become an idol.

I can only imagine how difficult attending a church without your spouse would be, so I don’t minimize that, nor the driving to get to church. That’s tough. But I keep going back to the piece of needing face to face fellowship.

I read Francis Schaeffer’s The Mark of the Christian shortly after it was published in 1970. I was 16—a new believer studying how to defend gospel truth to friends and family. Yet Schaeffer called Christian love and unity “the final apologetic,” the ultimate defense of our faith. 

This is a remarkable and heart-touching article from Russell Moore. It’s really about a different kind of ex-evangelical—not those who embrace heresy and sexual sin—but those who have been deeply hurt by the evangelical churches they’ve been part of, and never want to go through that pain again.

There’s lots of Christ-centered content to be found on the internet, and it certainly can complement our efforts to grow in our faith. But ultimately, we need more than online messages, worship,  comments, and articles. We need each other—as part of the body of Christ. 

Sadly, hurt from church is eating up many people and distracting them from moving on in their spiritual lives and keeping them from church altogether. In this spot-on video, Allen Parr answers the question, “How do you respond when you’ve given your life, your time, and a whole bunch of your money to a church only to be disappointed and hurt?”

I enjoy reading the insights of pastors and others who live in other cultures in different parts of the world. I really appreciated this fresh and thoughtful article by Chopo Mwanza, the pastor of Faith Baptist Church Riverside in Kitwe, Zambia.

God is the Creator and lover of human diversity. Christ is glorified not simply by the total number who worship Him, but because this number represents every race, nation and language. This excerpt from my novel Dominion depicts the beautiful diversity of Heaven.

This is an excellent blog from Brett McCracken on the problems with the church seeking to win the culture by conforming to it.

Many Christians and even some pastors have told me, “It’s cruel to bring up the subject of abortion.” But by talking about abortion in our churches—with grace and truth—we will prevent abortions and offer forgiveness and healing to women and men who are suffering in silence. Isn’t that an act of kindness both to unborn children and their parents?

I recently shared on  my blog a message that I recorded for my home church on Romans 14, called When Christians Disagree About Beliefs and Actions. The following article from Kevin DeYoung is perfectly consistent with the primary v. secondary or first level/second level/third-level approach I talk about in my message.