Resources by Topic: Church

I have sometimes envisioned what it will mean for every tribe, nation, and language to gather together and sing the praises of Jesus, as is depicted in Revelation 5:9 and 7:9. I’m sure we’ll learn a lot of great new hymns and songs once we’re with Jesus, most of which we’ve never heard. But I feel nearly certain that one of those songs we’ll sing forever from this life is “Amazing Grace.”

I recently watched part of an interview that Keith Getty did where he challenges pastors, worship leaders, and parents to think carefully about what songs we’re giving our children to sing. What he has to say is great and important.

Don’t let the Coronavirus or anything else distract you from the promises of God, or rob you of living the life God has given you. Live for Jesus in the midst of this, and you may come out on the other side, as we do so many of the trials of our lives, saying, “God, you taught me more and drew me closer to you through this crisis than any other time of my life.”

Over the years Greg Laurie has become a dear friend. He has written a powerful article about what it means to be a pastor—specifically the difficulties and privileges. Knowing Greg and having dear friends who are pastors, I can attest to the truth of this article. I hope it helps you to understand and pray for your pastors.

This article is well done and is on a vital subject I’m deeply concerned about: the numbers of young people leaving the church, in what this article calls “the church exodus crisis.” I encourage pastors, parents, and those serving with youth to read this and take it to heart.

As I’ve shared before, the widespread perception among both unbelievers and believers in our culture is that conservative Bible-believing churches—especially those that are also politically conservative—are the last bastion of cultural chauvinism. We are thought to foster disrespect of women and, indirectly, abuse.

Periodically I write an unusually long blog because the issues are so far-reaching that I think they demand extra attention. I don’t like to break such blogs into multiple parts, so if you have the time to work this through with me, here we go. Many have reacted, both negatively and positively, to comments that John MacArthur made recently about Beth Moore. This happened at the Truth Matters Conference, held at MacArthur’s Grace Community Church in California.

I recently wrote about how “Famous Christians Are Losing Their Faith...and So Should You If Your Faith Is in Them.” The following article, by Nathan Tarr, is another reminder of the importance of not putting our ultimate trust in human leaders and of remembering that the gospel is all about Jesus. 

If I could share just one message in light of the high-profile Christians who have recently made public announcements renouncing their faith, it would be this: you should lose your faith…if it is in anyone other than Jesus. 

Isn’t there something more important than how many doors you knocked on or event invites you’ve distributed? Like getting to know people?

I appreciated this encouraging article by Daniel Ritchie about how God is at work through His church. As I shared in a blog post a few months back, God is doing great things worldwide using His people—but we won’t hear about them if we just keep watching the news or reading social media.

Today’s blog features an article by Whitney Woollard titled, “Delighting in Authority: How to Create a Culture of Happy Complementarians.” My daughter Angela passed it on to me, and it’s terrific.

On Sunday, the Houston Chronicle released the first of a three-part series titled “Abuse of Faith: 20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reform.” I've included a few excerpts from the article—though please read it for yourself. (And remember, while this article and the investigation focuses on Southern Baptist churches, it largely applies to all evangelical churches.)

The evangelical landscape is littered with the carcasses of lives and ministries decimated by sexual sin. For every well-known Christian television personality or evangelical leader who commits sexual immorality, there are any number of lesser-known local pastors, Bible teachers, and parachurch workers who quietly resign or are fired for the same.