I am amazed that the majority of Christian churches (of whatever type) have so much trouble aligning with and advancing the purpose of God in the world. God has a plan for the world. God has intention, purpose, goal. A short list to summarize his purpose might include that human beings recognize him, reverence or …
Category Archives: Church
Holy Dissatisfaction
I have noted that lots of negative adjectives are somehow improved in the Christian vocabulary by prefixing “holy”. Anger may be a problem, but “holy anger” makes us like God. I avoid wrath, but is not a little “holy wrath” God-like? I am dissatisfied! If it makes you feel better, mine is a holy dissatisfaction. …
What the appraiser said!
The appraiser was at the house Monday–nice fellow, talkative. Interested in my ministry–when he found out I was moving to McAlester, he encouraged me to do lots of “field work” on the lakes and in the deer stands. He genuinely appreciated my desire to work in the trenches (his terminology), even though he clearly understood …
Church Culture-I
What is the culture of the church where you attend? Church culture is constructed of the same basic building blocks as any other shared culture, whether national, organizational, business, school, or other community of assembled people. What is the world view? What are the shared understandings? What are the prevailing attitudes? What are the shared …
A Centennial Celebration
I have celebrated a few centennials in my almost 20000 days. The first I remember is the Kansas Centennial in 1961. While Jan and I were working with the Fort Gibson church, that church celebrated 1000 months–83+ years. This weekend the church in McAlester is celebrating 100 years of history. Who are we? We are …
The church and humanism
Patch Adams was in McAlester recently. Lots of folks went to hear him. He is interesting and funny. He supports a lot of worthwhile causes at the Gesundheit Institute and seeks to improve health care in our nation. All well and good–but…. Patch Adams is a humanist. A seminar offered at the Institute next month …
How Should We “Do” Church? (4): Worship and Preaching
WORSHIP AND PREACHING: DO WE REALLY KNOW HOW TO DO CHURCH? [Note: you can link to previous blogs in this series: (April 20, April 27, May 4) .] Recently, I was visiting with a friend. He shared an observation from an acquaintance outside the churches of Christ: “You guys have the best preaching around but …
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Church “Wellness”
In psychiatry, researchers study not just the manifestations and causes of mental dysfunction or illness, but also ‘wellness,’ that which helps the patient become ‘more well.’ In education and business, for students and for companies respectively, increasingly the emphasis is to explore and develop strengths rather than focusing on weaknesses. In analyzing developing countries, debt …
A Community Called Salvation
Late last summer, Abingdon published Scot McKnight’s book, A Community Called Atonement. McKnight gives us theology–a more familiar word may be doctrine. How we understand atonement is central to the Christian Faith. But McKnight calls us see atonement as more than doctrine. Atonement is the purpose of God for his creation. McKnight wrote in his blog …
Children’s Ministry
From the introduction to Postmodern Children’s Ministry. The church’s ministry to children is broken. A cursory look doesn’t reveal its brokenness. From the outside children’s ministry looks healthier than ever. But it is broken. It’s broken when church leaders and senior pastors see children’s ministry as primarily a marketing tool. The church with the most …