Can a Devout Roman Catholic Be Genuinely Born Again?

The core beliefs and the enshrined practices of Roman Catholicism deeply concerned the Reformers five hundred years ago. Those same concerns remain largely unalleviated for contemporary Protestants today — problems that we still see in the latest teachings of the pope and even in the most up-to-date version of the official catechism of the Catholic Church. It all leads to a question over whether a devout Roman Catholic can be genuinely saved. It comes from a listener named Jimmy.

“Hello, Pastor John. A close friend of mine passed away recently. He was a great man, a good friend, a mentor to many young men like myself, and a devout Roman Catholic. My questions for you are these. Will I see my friend in heaven? Or do his theological views make this impossible? Can I rightfully experience Paul’s ‘sorrowful, yet always rejoicing’ mantra, or was my friend merely a devoted husband, a wonderful friend, and a good man? In other words, do you believe devout Roman Catholics can be genuine Christians?” Listen to Audio or Read Transcript

Wednesday's Catch: "Four Ways Leaders Should Keep an Outward Focus" and More

Four Ways Leaders Should Keep an Outward Focus [Video]

In this Rainer Report Thom Rainer offers four ways pastors and other church leaders can maintain an outward focus. Watch Now

Jeff Medders on What a Pastor Should Do When His Church is Tired of Hearing the Gospel[Video]

Is your church tired of hearing the gospel? J. A. Medders, Lead Pastor of Redeemer Church in Turnbull, Texas, shares his thoughts on what a pastor might do. Watch Now

Should Pastors Address Current Events in Their Sermons?

Experts weigh in. Read More

How Evangelical Biblical Scholars Treat Scripture

We agree on the “divine inspiration, integrity, and authority of the Bible.” But there's much more to our hermeneutic. Read More

On Bringing Back the Prayer Service [Podcast]

In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Jonathan Leeman and Mark Dever discuss the benefits and best practices of hosting a regular, church-wide prayer gathering—in addition to the Sunday service. Listen Now

Things I Failed to Do When People Left Our Church

I have been a pastor in the same church for over 30 years. Over the years many have joined our church. But over the years a number have left, for all kinds of reasons. Read More

How to Face Tough Conversations

Sleepless nights can be replaced with one tough conversation. It’s not easy, but it needs to happen. Read More

Evangelicals Still Want to Evangelize Jews, But Not for the Same Reasons

Survey finds sharing the gospel with God’s “chosen people” is less tied to the end times. Read More

What Should Ministry Look Like in Post-Christian America?

Four church leaders weigh in. Read More

Getting Small Churches on Mission (Part 3)

More ways small churches can serve their communities

Small churches can adopt the same (or different) unengaged, unreached people groups currently living in the United States.

In addition to overseas work, consider how you can share the gospel effectively and long-term with a people group in America. States like Oklahoma, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Iowa, to name only a few, have thousands of people who comprise various unengaged, unreached people groups.

They are as spiritually destitute and lost as those living overseas without a gospel witness. If your church is geographically near one of these groups, then begin praying about how you can begin a ministry to them. Preach on the value of avoiding worldly wealth and, instead, storing up treasures in heaven in hopes that some of your members will envision themselves selling their homes and moving closer to this group to encounter them daily in their neighborhoods.

These groups, depending on location, are either centralized (think one main neighborhood) or decentralized (think ethnic neighborhood[s] spread throughout a city). But as a people group, they share common languages and customs. Interacting with them in their environment, learning their culture, understanding their traditions and religion(s) will allow you to be better prepared to engage them with the gospel.

Befriend them. See them not as a project to be conquered or a task to be checked off the list, but people who are lovable and need to learn about their Creator. Read More

Personal Gospel Mercy

Listen carefully in reformed churches, and you will hear the fear that goes something like the following. If the church becomes involved too deeply in social issues or mercy ministry, the gospel will be lost.

Certainly the last century has shown that mainline churches became derailed as influences such as liberal theology, the social gospel, liberation theology, and feminism sent them careening off course. Yet the answer is not for the church to retreat from social matters and set themselves up as theological fortresses that remain unmoved by the affliction around them. As James asks, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” (Jam. 2:14) Rather, based on a robust gospel foundation, people in congregations must be encouraged and trained to give their neighbors not only the gospel but their own lives and resources as well. Read More

Related:
Let the Church Be the Church! Calvin’s Theology of Social Justice [Audio]

Innovation Or Insistence? There’s More Than One Way To Reach Your Goal

If your usual door won’t open, be willing to try other doors. In most situations, innovation is often the best, most overlooked option.

Imagine a hallway full of doors, all of which lead to the same destination.

All your life, you’ve seen people go through one particular door, so you use it, too. But one day you try to go through that door and it won’t open for you.

What do you do?

Insistence says, “get me a battering ram, a crowbar or a prayer group. We’re going to push, pry or pray this door open!”

Innovation says “let’s try another door, and another, until we find one that opens. They all go to the same place, after all.”

Both options have their merits. After all, there are times when a door is stuck because of a problem that needs to be fixed. But not always.

We all have to fight the tendency to commit to a door, rather than to the goal on the other side of the door.

When your usual door won’t open, be willing to try other doors. In most situations, innovation is often the best, most overlooked option. Read More

4 Old School Communication Tactics Your Church Should Still Be Using Today

Is your church leveraging chatbots to reach people? Are you leveraging a social media listening tool to understand the sentiment towards your church? What’s your Instagram story strategy to engage people in your community? Is your church ready for augmented reality and the impact that will have people attending your services?

STOP!

Too many church leaders are running too quickly to optimize the latest communication tools to reach people in their community while they are ignoring “low hanging” fruit with “old school” technologies with proven abilities to do the same. Before your church figures out the latest tool or trend, you need to make sure that you are leveraging existing channels.

In January, Facebook announced its latest changes to the news feed which means organizations like ours are going to see even less “organic” reach on that channel. In fact, many brands are reporting a 50% drop in traffic from the social media behemoth in just a matter of weeks. [ref] This underlines that no church communications strategy can be single source dependent but needs to employ a wide variety of channels to reach your people and your community. Read More

6 Ways to Engage with Your Community

We live in a time when most of us are disconnected from the communities in which we live. We don’t know our neighbors, rarely serve in our city, and the cast majority of the connections that we have there are digital. This disintegrating of community leaves people lonely and alienated, leads us to treat our neighbors with suspicion, and means that fewer people are hearing about Jesus.

For followers of Jesus, remaining isolated from the communities in which we live is not an option. We have been called by God to love our neighbors, to pray for our neighbors, and to serve our neighbors in the name of Jesus, so staying aloof and knowing no one constitutes serious disobedience to Jesus.

For those of us who grew up in communities that seemed more tightknit than our current ones, we should not spend much time bemoaning this situation, but rather we should begin mobilizing to address it. This situation offers us many opportunities to make an impact by being a friend to people, showing people hospitality, and by serving them in Jesus’ name.

If you have been distant from the community in which you live, here are six ways that you can engage with your community. Read More

Monday's Catch: "Why Do You Work?

Why Do You Work?

I find the start of the answer in Psalm 104. Psalm 104 is a reflection on creation and maybe even a further reflection on the flood of Genesis 6–8. We see the psalmist poetically describing not just God’s creation of the earth and of all creatures, but we also see God’s intimate work in sustaining His creation and the creatures He made (vv. 1–13). Read More

Seven Rules for Raising Money in the Church

Raising money in the church is a complicated issue, but it’s not an issue to avoid. In this article, I want to talk about seven stewardship principles, while encouraging you to take practical action steps to lead your church to generosity. Read More

3 Strategies for a Long Lasting Ministry

Here are three strategies for spending time with God that will help make your time with God more effective and your ministry good for the long haul. Read More

Five Reasons Many Pastors Struggle with Depression

...the primary purpose of this post is to explain the precipitating factors to depression. More clearly, these are the five primary causes pastors identified as the reasons behind their depression. Each of the causes is followed by a direct quote from pastors who shared with me their struggles. Read More

10 Ways to Help Your Church Remember Your Sermon on Monday

I’ve done it as a listener, and you probably have, too. By time Monday rolls around and the week cranks up, you’ve already forgotten yesterday’s sermon. If you’re a preacher or teacher, here are some ways to help your hearers remember what you’ve taught them long beyond your presentation.... Read More

Resources to Prepare Your Worship Team

You’ve got your pastor’s outline. Creativity is flowing. You know exactly what songs, where, and when to use them. But now….how do I get the right resources for my team? Read More

Killing Sin Does Not Make You New

Killing sin is essential to the Christian life, but it’s not the essence of the Christian life. When Christ calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow him — and he does summon us to deny ourselves — he does so that we “may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). What we put on is far greater than anything we put off or leave behind. Read More

The Rise of the Dones: The ‘Done With Church’ Population

John is one of the Dones even though he’s every pastor’s dream member. He’s a life-long believer, well-studied in the Bible, gives generously and leads others passionately.

But last year he dropped out of church. He didn’t switch to the other church down the road. He dropped out completely. His departure wasn’t the result of an ugly encounter with a staff person or another member. It wasn’t triggered by any single event.

John had come to a long-considered, thoughtful decision. He said, “I’m just done. I’m done with church.”

John is one in a growing multitude of ex-members. They’re sometimes called the de-churched. They have not abandoned their faith. They have not joined the also-growing legion of those with no religious affiliation—often called the Nones. Rather, John has joined the Dones. Read More

Also See:
Meet the 'Dones'
Burned out on ministry and fed up with organized religion, these spiritual refugees present a challenge to the church. Read More

The Phenomenon of The Dones
Sixty-five million Americans who were once regular attended a local congregation no longer do.About thirty-five million of those no longer self-identify as Christian, but over thirty-one million still do.This last group has been tagged “The Dones”, those who still seek to follow Jesus and find real community but have given up hope that the local congregation is still relevant to that journey.

What do we make of this phenomenon?As one who has spent twenty years helping people explore the life of Jesus beyond our conformity based system, here are some of my thoughts about helping people explore relationship with God and his people beyond our conformity based systems and how we might participate in this conversation in a way that champions the unity of all of God’s family. Read More

Three Ways Pastors Win Over Influential Critics

Every pastor has critics. It’s an inevitable part of leadership.

Some criticism is constructive. Even when it’s not constructive, you can almost always learn something. Other criticism is just a visceral reaction. A personal attack was not intended; someone just said something in the heat of the moment. Some criticism is malicious and sinful. Other times, people are using criticism in a self-serving way.

If you don’t want to expend the energy to filter criticism appropriately, then you shouldn’t lead a church. But the point still stands—criticism hurts. Read More

How to Pastor Women (Without Making Them Uncomfortable)

In the #MeToo era, many pastors live as though God will not hold them accountable for the souls of women in their church.

There are commonly two extreme—and opposite—answers to this question. The first is a pastor who carelessly sees his role to pastor women as no different than men. This pastor thinks the same blunt conversations he has with men in the church can take place with women. This mentality has led to many pastors, including several I have personally known, to lose their marriages and ministries because they foolishly placed themselves in compromising positions with women in their church—in the name of caring for them.

There is, however, another side that is a growing, particularly among younger pastors. It’s the pastor who so fears the foolishness of the first extreme that he completely neglects the pastoral care of women in general in his church. Motivated largely by fear, some pastors deceive themselves in the name of being “above reproach,” God will not still hold them accountable for the souls of female members entrusted to their care.

Because of these two extremes, the first thing to establish is a need for a wise balance. Wise, thoughtful, discerning, and balanced parameters need to be at the heart of every pastor’s approach. Here are four suggestions I have found helpful over the years in avoiding these extremes as I try to care for women in my own church.... Read More

Evangelism Is Not a Sales Pitch: An Interview with Randy Newman

A few weeks ago I was at my weekly lunch with David, a non-Christian reading the Gospel of Mark with me. David has been spending time with Christians for about a year but had yet to repent of his sins and trust in Jesus. By God’s grace, before our lunch was over, David professed faith in Jesus!

What happened during that lunch?

Just days before, I had finished reading Randy Newman’s excellent book, Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did (Kregel, 2017). Newman calls Christians to employ questions in their evangelism—questions “to move the conversation in a Christ-ward direction, questions that non-Christians are asking (either directly or indirectly), and questions that Christians can use as answers” (19).

At my lunch with David, I put into practice what I learned from Newman’s book. I listened to him more, I asked follow-up questions, and eventually (and unexpectedly) the door opened for me to ask a penetrating question that I believe the Holy Spirit used to open David’s eyes to the reality of his sin and his need for forgiveness.

Questioning Evangelism will benefit Christians in their pursuit of more faithful evangelism. The book is the fruit of Newman’s decades of experience in personal evangelism. Further, as a teaching fellow for evangelism and apologetics at the C. S. Lewis Institute and the founder of Connection Points (a ministry to help Christians proclaim the gospel well), he is uniquely qualified to teach, train, and encourage others.

Newman answered some of my questions, providing further insights and encouragements that I trust will benefit your evangelistic efforts. Read More

Is God Calling You to Go Home?

I got out. That’s how it felt looking back at my rural hometown after I moved to Texas and then California. It was a weird way of thinking, because growing up I never imagined leaving. But once I was gone, especially after I settled in Southern California, I was able to see clearly the brokenness and hopelessness much of small-town America knows as normal. Like the Clampetts from The Beverly Hillbillies, I had made it to California, the land of movie stars and small-batch coffee shops—and I never wanted to go back.

I wanted to be a church planter and a missionary—only, not to my hometown. I seriously considered everything from church planting in Huntington Beach to rural South Africa or Mongolia.

But a trip home changed everything. Read More

Being an Acts 2 Church in the 21st Century

"So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."  (Acts 2:41-42, ESV)

Some churches are known for their music programs, others for their children or youth ministries, while yet others for some sort of “niche” that appeals to a large audience. While all such ministries can be good and helpful for both reaching your community and encouraging the church, it’s interesting to look back at what the first church devoted themselves to. In Acts 2, after Peter’s Jewish audience heard the gospel proclaimed, they responded with repentance and faith, were incorporated into the church through baptism, and they devoted themselves to a common faith and a common life. Read More

Why We Need Christian Friends Who "Get in Our Face" in Love

I’ve heard the statement, and I actually agree with it: “We need to monitor ourselves, always doing honest self-reflection.” We do indeed need to continually check our heart. On the other hand, all of us need an honest, perceptive, prayerful friend who will “get in our face” in love when needed. Here’s why.... Read More

Thursday's Catch: "4 Reasons The Potential Of The Church Is Stronger Than Ever" and Much More

4 Reasons The Potential Of The Church Is Stronger Than Ever

Reach and impact are more important than size, but we can never let that become an excuse for lack of zeal or drifting into a comfort zone. Life change has always been the true measure. The Church is changing, but its potential is greater than ever. How we think and lead will impact our outcomes. Read More

Differences in Large Church vs. Small Church Revitalization - Revitalize & Replant #029

Large churches are obviously different than small churches, but what are those specific differences as it relates to church revitalization? Today, Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe cover that and more. Listen Now

7 Things The Church Can Learn from Disney World

I grew up going to Disney World quite often, and my family is filled with Disney fanatics. My family and I are going there soon, and we are going to have a blast. Of course, I have a hard time not looking at things from the perspective of leading a local church, and even going to Disney World is no different. Boiling down what I learn when I go there, I see seven key things churches can learn from Disney World.... Listen Now

When Did Evangelicals Start Observing Lent?

According to a 2016 survey by LifeWay Research, fewer than one in three American evangelicals (28%) observe the Christian season of Lent. (Keep in mind that LifeWay defines “evangelical” more narrowly than other organizations.) While that figure is far behind the Roman Catholic equivalent (60%), it’s actually a bit higher than the overall numbers for Americans (20%) and Protestants in general (24%). Read More

What Is Lent and How Should I Observe It?

I walked through my first Lent in 2004. I had been raised and later ministered in a church that didn’t observe Lent. This was all new to me. Read More

Your God Is Too Small

Most Americans want a God who is only a slightly bigger, slightly smarter version of us. But the God of the Bible is something altogether different. And here’s the irony: Only a God like that is capable of sustaining our faith, igniting our passions, and giving us the confidence that we need to face suffering and the hardships of the world. Read More

5 Quick Ways Turn A Situation Around When It Blows Up In Your Face

Let me walk you through the lightning-fast leadership pivots my team and I went through. My hope is they’ll help you the next time your best-laid plans blow up in your face. Read More

3 Leadership Cop Outs That Sound Spiritual, But Aren’t

I often hear from people who say “We don’t any need more ideas/strategies/conferences/skills…all we need to do is ________,” and then they fill in the blank with something that sounds spiritual. Maybe you have people like that at your church, or someone like that on your team. It’s amazing how common this perspective is. Read More

10 Point Sermon Checklist

Peter Grainger offers a 10 point sermon checklist that may help you strengthen your preaching. Read More

The Importance of the Simmer Day in Sermon Preparation

I have come to realize that I need margin in my sermon preparation process. I need a day after the message is written when I can put it away, not look at it, and not think about it consciously. Read More

But Contemporary Worship Brings People to Jesus! ... Right?

For one thing, music doesn’t bring people to Jesus. Jesus does that work admirably enough through the Holy Spirit, certainly better than a brush with David Crowder’s beard. But there’s an even deeper flaw in our thinking. Worship is not an evangelistic tool. Read More

The Golden Rule of Church Technology

While modern technology is a powerful tool, it can also make things more complicated. Technology is always changing. Entire books could be written on the best use of technology in preaching, but they would be outdated within a year. Read More

I Have Forgotten How to Read

For a long time Michael Harris convinced himself that a childhood spent immersed in old-fashioned books would insulate him from our new media climate – that he could keep on reading in the old way because his mind was formed in pre-internet days. He was wrong. Read More

This is a disturbing development. It also may help explain why I am reading less.

Evangelicals from Max Lucado to Pat Robertson Urge Action on Gun Safety

Influential Christians want to see bans on certain weapons as well as better mental health resources. Read More

Will arming teachers prevent the death of students from shooting? Or will it just create a false sense of security? There will be the ongoing risk of "collateral damage" - stray bullets from a shootout between teachers and a shooter killing or wounding students. Shooters, denied one target, are likely to shift to another -- school buses transporting students, sporting events involving students, groups of students on field trips, individual students on their way to and from school. They are likely to take advantage of any target of opportunity. The factors behind school shootings are complex. They include a culture that glorifies violence and portrays violence as a reasonable solution to problems and video games that simulate acts of violence and reinforce this culture.

Billy Graham 1918 - 2018

Billy Graham was perhaps the most significant religious figure of the 20th century, and the organizations and the movement he helped spawn continue to shape the 21st. Read More

Also See
9 Things You Should Know About Billy Graham (1918–2018)
Billy Graham, the Great Uniter, Leaves Behind a Divided Evangelicalism

Wednesday's Catch: "Innovation without Compromise: 5 Church Leadership Lessons from the Life of Billy Graham" and More

Innovation without Compromise: 5 Church Leadership Lessons from the Life of Billy Graham

Billy Graham's life and ministry is proof that taking a strong stand for the truth of the Gospel does not have to push people away. Read More

6 Questions I'm Hearing Again from Young People Raised in Evangelical Churches

I heard these questions from young people in the 1980s, but they tended to die down (at least among young people in my denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, who were then in the midst of our conservative resurgence). With no desire to use this post to enter into theological debates, I want to review some of the same questions I’m beginning to hear again—often, among college students raised in Christian homes. Read More

4 Sundays Every Church Leader Should Work on Every Week of the Year

Doesn’t it feel like Sunday is always coming at your church? Every seven days, it just keeps showing up! 😉 This relentless rhythm can lull us into a situation where we see every Sunday as the same in a never-ending line of weekends. But this just isn’t the case! There are some Sundays every year that are frankly just more valuable to you and your church as you attempt to grow and make an impact in your community. You need to focus your leadership disproportionately on these four weekends to leverage them for church. Read More

Easier said than done - especially in smaller churches. This past year Christmas Day fell on a Sunday. However, all of the congregation at my church, except myself, had plans to be elsewhere on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had enough time to plan and advertise a Christmas Eve Service but no volunteers to pull it off, much less church members interested in inviting friends, relatives, neighbors, and coworkers, and showing up themselves.If you are planning on a Christmas Eve Service, you may need to start talking about the service and creating enthusiasm for it a year or more ahead of time.

What Else Did Jesus Believe About the Bible?

In an earlier article, I wrote about what Jesus believed about the Bible. How you approach the Bible determines in large part how you understand and live out the Christian faith. Even more basic, how you read the Bible determines what you think about God, about yourself and about the redemption that is ours through Jesus Christ. Read More

Where Protestants and Catholics Go When They Leave Their Churches

Research shows 1 in 6 US Christians changed their religious affiliation over a four-year span, with nondenominational worshipers leading the way. Read More

Five Strategic Advantages Of Small Churches

For the past thirty years or so, the focus of most literature on local church ministry has been church growth. Whether they offer advice on how to develop a winning vision statement, attract and retain visitors, multiply your small groups, or manage a building campaign, the dominant voices in the most popular ministry literature promise to help you increase attendance in your services and programs. These materials suggest that the small church is somehow deficient, ill-equipped by definition to be stewards of God’s great Gospel of grace and redemption. If a small church wants to be better, it has to be bigger.

Frankly, I disagree. I believe that small churches—which, by the way, make up the majority of churches—are uniquely equipped for ministry success in the twenty-first century. In the following paragraphs, I offer five strengths that I believe are inherent in small congregations. These qualities are not limited to small churches only; they can be found in larger churches, too. But smaller churches can better leverage these characteristics for ministry success. Read More

Smaller Churches Have At Least Five Advantages—do You Know Them? is the same article with a different title and divided into shorter paragraphs. I have included a link to it since some readers may find it more readable.

Push Back the Darkness This Week

It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. — Samwise Gamgee, The Lord of the Rings

J. R. R. Tolkien didn’t have to try hard to imagine a war-torn world filled with evil and darkness. In his lifetime he witnessed two world wars, genocide, famine, dictatorship, economic collapse, and more. Tolkien could write of a world oppressed by darkness because that was the world he experienced. The darkness of Middle-earth was fictional, but it was based on reality. Our sin-stricken world is encompassed by darkness. The everyday stuff of life is stained by the effects of sin.

But it hasn’t always been this way.

A couple pages into the story of the Bible, our attention is drawn to an incredible locale on planet earth: the garden of Eden. Humanity’s story began in a place free from pain, suffering, sorrow, and sin. The kingdom of God and the dwelling place of man overlapped in a real, time-space location. Eden was literally heaven on earth.

Then came rebellion. We were kicked out of the garden—out of that kingdom marked by security, peace, and joy—and we were plunged into a new kingdom dominated by darkness and death (Gen. 3:14–19).

The rest of the Bible is about God’s plan to bring us back to Eden—actually, to something even better. To reinstate his eternal dwelling place, and to once again welcome humanity back into his kingdom.

But we’re not there yet. Read More

8 Reminders for Believers in the Bible Belt

I live in the Bible Belt, but I spend a lot of time ministering to church leaders in more pioneer areas of our country. Every time I do, I’m reminded of how much I don’t often think about ministry outside the Belt.... Read More

The photo shows a reproduction of an early pioneer log cabin at Fort Boonesborough State Park in Madison County, Kentucky. The park site has been rebuilt to look like a working fort. The original Fort Boonesborough was established in the the late 1700s after the frontiersman Daniel Boone lead a group of settlers through the Cumberland Gap, carving what would be called the Wilderness Road.

Your Church's Culture

The latest edition of the Harvard Business Review spotlights "The Culture Factor." No, not the culture at large but organizational culture.

"Strategy and culture are among the primary levers at top leaders' disposal in their never-ending quest to maintain organizational viability and effectiveness," the lead article begins. "Strategy offers a formal logic for the company's goals and orients people around them. Culture expresses goals through values and beliefs and guides activity through shared assumptions and group norms."

And what is organizational "culture"?

"Culture is the tacit social order of an organization. It shapes attitudes and behaviors in wide-ranging and durable ways. Cultural norms define what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted or rejected within a group. When properly aligned with personal values, drives and needs, culture can unleash tremendous amounts of energy toward a shared purpose and foster an organizations capacity to thrive."

Oh how I wish more church leaders understood this. And, even more, how to create a positive, biblical culture, and then how to protect it.

Here are some thoughts that might serve.... Read More

When Your Friend Is Raped or Beaten

The very week last fall that the #MeToo campaign began to dominate my social media relationships, a woman in my community told me that she was being physically hurt by a family member. Of course I immediately did everything I could to help her. But I also remember thinking at the time:

Would most women in the church know how to wisely respond to a friend who is being physically and/or sexually assaulted?

Having worked as a Christian mediator for over twenty years, and having taught thousands of women at conferences and retreats during that time, I have many examples of responses that make things worse, and of responses that make things better.[1] Let me share just three of each.... Read More

The Missing Word in Our Modern Gospel

Every Christian loves the gospel. By definition, you cannot have a Christian who isn’t shaped by and saved by the gospel.

So three cheers for the gospel. Make that three million cheers.

But let’s preach the gospel the way Jesus and the Apostles did. Theirs was not a message of unconditional affirmation. They showed no interest in helping people find the hidden and beautiful self deep inside. They did not herald the good news that God likes you just the way you are.

Too much “gospel” preaching sounds like a slightly spiritualized version of that old Christina Aguilera song:

You are beautiful no matter what they say.
Words can’t bring you down.
You are beautiful in every single way.
Yes, words can’t bring you down.
So don’t bring me down today.

I don’t doubt that many of us feel beat up and put down. We struggle with shame and self-loathing. We need to know we can be okay, even when we don’t feel okay. It is good news to hear, then, that God loves us in Christ and that we are precious in his sight.

But the gospel is more than positive self-talk, and the gospel Jesus and the Apostles preached was more than a warm, “don’t let anybody tell you you’re not special” bear hug.

There’s a word missing from the presentation of our modern gospel. It’s the word repent. Read More

Studying Scripture and Doing Theology

It’s been said that everyone is a theologian. But can every Christian be a good theologian? The biblical answer is a resounding yes.

Building a sound theology from Scripture is not only possible—it is every Christian’s calling and privilege, because the God whom we would know has first spoken of Himself to us. In addition to revealing Himself through creation (Ps. 19:1–6; Rom. 1:20), God spoke “at many times and in many ways . . . by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1–2). This self-disclosure by God is recorded for us in Holy Scripture. With Bible in hand, then, we know that God’s words through Isaiah apply today: “Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret” (Isa. 48:16). As the creator of language and the very first speaker (Gen. 1:3), God is quintessentially able to make Himself known to those He has made in His image (vv. 26–27). Nothing can thwart His communicative purposes.

Rightly considered, the very word theology (joining the Greek logos, or “word,” with theos, or “God”) reminds us that if we “do theology” at all, it is because theology—literally, a word or knowledge concerning God—has been delivered by God to us first. Even when considering how to build a theology from Scripture, then, we must believe what God says in the Bible, because all true theology is done before the face of God (coram Deo), in whom we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Read More

The 3-5 Method: Studying God’s Word When You’re Tired and Busy

If you clicked on this article, you’re likely struggling with consistent time in God’s Word.

In any given season, a myriad of factors can keep us from reading the Bible: limited time, guilt, a lack of discipline, a lack of desire, unrealistic expectations of what time in the Word should look like, a lack of mental energy, or utter exhaustion.

What is it for you?

• Maybe you’ve never really read the Bible, and the idea of starting is intimidating.
• Maybe you’re a young adult transitioning out of a flexible season, and your former Bible study method isn’t working anymore.
• Maybe you’re a young mom whose mental energy and time are limited by a lack of sleep and an unpredictable schedule.
• Maybe your New Year’s resolutions included completing a Bible reading plan that you now feel completely overwhelmed by.

Maybe you are grieving or hurting and feel like you can only swallow Scripture in small doses. Whoever and wherever you are, be encouraged, my weary friend, that the Word of God has something for you in this season and your unique circumstances and limited abilities don’t disqualify you from accessing it. Regardless of the amount of time and energy you have or the amount of guilt or shame you feel, you can consistently engage with and be nourished by the Bible. Read More

7 Reasons Your Church Needs a Safety and Security Team

I don’t need to write about the risks that churches face in our crazy world. On the other hand, I’ve seen far too many churches not making preparations for the possibility of trouble. They know they need to do something, but they keep putting it off. Here are some reasons EVERY church needs a Safety and Security Team.... Read More

Five Dangers of Designated Funds

If there is a topic that reaches me with frequency, it is the topic of church members designating funds. And the common theme is one of regret. The pastor or other church leader wishes the door of designated funds had never been opened.

For clarity, I am not speaking of designated funds approved by the church body as a whole. Many churches have excellent stewardship approaches that encourage members to give to a building fund or a mission fund, as two examples.

Instead, I am referring to those designated funds given to the church by a single or few members with guidelines not approved by the church as a whole. For example, one pastor shared with me about funds the church received with the strict stipulation that the church had to use them to buy stained-glass windows. The only problem is the church did not want to purchase stained-glass windows.

In another example, a pastor shared with me about a member who would only give designated funds to the youth ministry. The problem is that the youth ministry already had funds in the church budget, but these designated funds gave the youth ministry disproportionate funding compared to the other ministries. To make matters worse, the youth ministry was encouraging the donor to make the designated contribution.

So designated funds are not an intrinsic problem themselves. But they can become a dangerous precedent for several reasons. Here are five of them.... Read More

What Does it Mean to Abide in Christ?

The exhortation to “abide” has been frequently misunderstood, as though it were a special, mystical, and indefinable experience. But Jesus makes clear that it actually involves a number of concrete realities. Read More

Why Do Some Pastors Deliberately Avoid Teaching Their Church Doctrine?

I have been involved in leading churches for four decades, with an emphasis on church planting in the last few years. I’ve also visited and addressed hundreds of churches around the world and have had the privilege of meeting thousands of Christian leaders. Through this time I’ve watched an unintentional doctrinal imprecision on the part of many pastors become intentional. In other words, I have witnessed a new “conventional wisdom” emerge. Simply stated it is the “wisdom” of attempting to circle in more people for our churches by unashamedly minimizing, or perhaps nearly eradicating, the restricting influences of doctrine. What pastors used to do (because of being poorly taught perhaps), they now do by intent, all for church growth.

The problem is, it works.

For instance, I just visited with one friend concerning a large church in our area that has grown exceptionally well. The directional pastor of this church is a smart man who has some distinct beliefs he holds personally. I can talk with him about doctrine when alone. He reads and knows the Bible. But in his leadership and preaching he fully intends not to go beyond the most elementary issues, and appears (appearances are about all we can go on) not to be that concerned that his people differ on major doctrines, some of which are most significant. Outside of an expression of the gospel and some “how to’s,” there isn’t much to get your teeth into in his preaching. He has created a birthing station but not much else.

Doctrine does narrow things. And we don’t like that word, “narrow.” Where you will find one person who is attracted to sound doctrine, you will find a hundred who want to allow all sorts of beliefs to be tolerated. I have been in such churches where great heresies were listened to as if it were perfectly permissible to hold such views as “your opinion.” And I’m not talking about the guest’s view, but the member’s view.

This happens on the mission field as well. Preparing for a mission to Mozambique soon, I’ve been reading the reports of a good missionary doctor who has attempted to plant churches. Because he cares about doctrine, there are some real pains in building a church. He knows that because of the communal nature of the people, an apparently large church could be built easily. Whereas he may find only a handful of believers in most churches in his area, there may well be ten times as many who just attend, believing themselves to be Christian only because it is their custom to be joiners. If he were to avoid doctrine in favor of shallow evangelism, he would build a large unregenerate church. Is that useful for the kingdom? He does not believe so. But he is the exception. Read More

Two Personal Areas to Which Pastors Must Pay Careful Attention

We pastors are constantly looking at things through the lenses of shepherding. We think about how certain events or happenings will affect our congregants. The longer we pastor the more ingrained this becomes in us. This is a good, even necessary, thing in order for us to be good pastors to our people.

However, as the apostle Paul is speaking to a group of pastors and elders from Ephesus, in what will probably be his last time to communicate with them or see them, he begins with another emphasis. In addition to having them focus on the flock God has given them to shepherd, he tells them one more group to keep watch on: themselves. In Acts 20:28 Paul tells them,

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Notice what precedes the call to watch the flock. He pleads with them to pay careful attention to themselves. They are called to keep a close eye out on their own hearts and lives. In order for shepherds of God’s flock to faithfully shepherd they must first keep a close eye on themselves.

What does it mean to pay careful attention to yourselves? It certainly entails the importance of walking with the Lord daily in personal devotions. It includes keeping a close watch on our doctrine and theology. It means we seek to be obedient to the Lord and His commands in all we do. But I have discovered two areas of my own heart where I need to pay careful attention to myself. I doubt that I am alone in these two areas. I want to be completely transparent in hopes it will help other pastors as well. I must pay careful attention to myself in the areas of 1. being in the inner-ring and 2. platform envy. Read More

Reaching the Other Half of the Church

What does it cost us when half the church’s gifts go untapped?

I’ve wrestled with this question quite a lot.

Conversations are stirring in the church world about our inability to engage the 21st century female.

“I don’t know where I fit in the church.”

“I feel like I don’t belong because I’m a single woman, and everything the church does is for wives and mothers.”

“I don’t want to just serve in the nursery or kids’ ministry, but I don’t know how to get involved in other ways.”

These are statements that I hear repeatedly. Read More

Pastoral Transition: A Very Personal Note

Changing chairs after 25 years as lead pastor at the same church is so unusual that we never could have planned it.

It’s Sunday evening as I write this blog post.

And I’m feeling a huge flood of emotions.

Strong emotions are normal for pastors on Sunday afternoons, no matter how Sunday services went. But today is different for me.

Plus, there's the added quirk that I’m writing this on a flight from California to Belfast, Northern Ireland.

First I’ll tell you about the emotions, then why Shelley and I are flying to the UK. Read More

How Google, Amazon, and Facebook Shape Your Mind

Long ago I read the fable about a boy who discovered a magic spool of thread. When he pulled the thread, the “boring” days and weeks and months of his youth sped by as if they were mere seconds. Thrilled that he no longer had to experience the mundane, he began pulling on the thread more and more so he only experienced the most exciting, meaningful events. But one day, the thread ran out, and the boy—suddenly an old man—realized he had lived an empty, thoughtless, and ultimately meaningless life. While the magic thread had let him breeze through his years with no uncertainty, pain, or reflection, it had robbed him of those immaterial things that make life rich and valuable.

Consider the possibility that in 2017, the “magic thread” goes by another name: the internet. Such is the thesis of journalist Franklin Foer in World without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech. World without Mind advances a sharp but increasingly compelling proposal, that the digitization of Western life—especially the digitization engineered by tech giants Google, Amazon, and Facebook—represents not just an epochal landmark in accessibility and convenience, but an outright assault on things that matter much more.

Like the spool of thread in the fable, Foer believes the internet age has collapsed our lives in the name of streamlining them, and that surrendering more power in the public square to massive technopolies, in exchange for innovation and ease, will have grievous consequences in our culture. Read More

Saturday Lagniappe: "The 5 Things Growing Churches Do That Most Others Don’t" and More

Rich Birch On The Church Growth Flywheel – The 5 Things Growing Churches Do That Most Others Don’t [Podcast]

Rich Birch has interviewed over 200 leaders from the fastest growing churches in the US, and he’s taken good notes. He’s boiled down their best practices to 5 common strategies almost every growing church uses and shows you how you can implement them in your church, too. Listen Now

3 By-Law Changes Needed to Break 100, 200, 400 and 600

There are a number of factors that contribute to a church’s inability to grow beyond the 100, 200, 400 and 600 barriers. The last place anyone looks when diagnosing the problem is the first place I go: the church’s by-laws. Read More

10 Questions I Wonder If Churches Ever Ask...

I’m just thinking aloud here today as I wonder if many churches in North America ever ask these questions.... Read More

The One Person Who Cannot Be Themselves in Our Culture

We don’t give the Jesus the one thing we demand of others. We refuse to accept Jesus without trying to change Him more to our liking. Read More

Why Do Christians Still Die?

I was recently standing at the graveside of a dear Christian friend when the question crossed my mind: Why do Christians have to die? Why can't they just live and then go to heaven without passing through the experience of death? Although the wages of sin is death, and believers have certainly sinned, has Christ not paid the full penalty for our sins? So, why do Christians have to die? Read More

Pastoring Millenials, Gen X-er’s and Boomers with Pete Greasley [Podcast]

We are joined by our good friend, Pete Greasley. For those who might be new to the podcast, Pete is the pastor of Christchurch in Newport, Wales where he has served for 23 years. We have had the privilege of having him on the podcast twice before and are excited to have him back! Pete and Dave discuss what it means to be specifically aware of generational characteristics and how, as pastors, biblical application needs to be given to each generation accordingly. Listen Now

8 Insights from the Coaching World for Pastors

While it is not a perfect analogy, I think there are a great many lessons that we can learn as pastors from coaches in professional and college athletics. Read More

Do We “Bring” God’s Presence When We Worship?

The following is, I submit, a theological course correction necessary for Worship Leaders and Pastors who lead in settings that intentionally welcome the Holy Spirit to be “manifest” as we engage in worship. It is for those who love when the presence of the Holy Spirit is experienced, at all levels, by a community who has gathered to worship. Read More

5 Dangers for Missionaries in Honor-Shame Contexts

Ministry within honor-shame cultures is a widely discussed topic today. The majority world and especially the East, as we’ve come to realize, doesn’t think the way we do. In a sense, they work on a completely different operating system, which means Western missionaries must adapt their default language and coding when presenting the gospel. Read More

History's Biggest Food Fight: What Catholics Believe about the Eucharist

They escorted him to the pulpit of St. Mary’s University Church in Oxford, for one last time before his execution, to read out his recantation of his Protestant faith. Instead, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer made this ringing declaration:

As for the sacrament, I believe as I have taught in my book against the bishop of Winchester, which my book teacheth so true a doctrine of the sacrament, that it shall stand in the last day before the judgment of God, where the papistical doctrines contrary thereto shall be ashamed to show their face.

Pandemonium ensued. Cranmer was hauled down and dragged to the stake to be burnt, one of hundreds of martyrs in Queen Mary’s Counter-Reformation.

What was this “true doctrine of the sacrament” worth dying (and killing) for? What were the “papistical doctrines” that Cranmer was convinced would not stand before God’s judgment seat? Read More

Also See:
The Reformers’ Doctrine of the Holy Communion
Thomas Cranmer’s ‘True and Catholick Doctrine of the Sacrament’
A Defence of the true and Catholick doctrine of the Sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ: with a confutation of Sundry errors concerning the same

Six Keys for Corporate Worship i a Replant - Revitalize & Replant #028 [Podcast]

In a replant or revitalization, everything needs to have a purpose—including corporate worship. Today Mark Clifton, Thom Rainer, and Jonathan Howe unpack six key reminders about the importance of corporate worship. Listen Now

Have You Noticed This Subtle Trend in the Fastest Growing Churches in the Country?

Church leaders who are wanting to make a difference in their communities are always studying what is happening at prevailing churches. I’m sure you’ve taken time to learn from the church across town that is trying some new stuff and seeing what you can apply to your church. At unSeminary, a huge part of the reason we host the podcast every week is to expose you to church leaders from growing churches.

In fact, we’ve focused on the fastest growing churches in the country because we want your church to grow more. 94% of the churches in the country are losing ground against the growth of the communities they serve. [ref] We’ve taken a keen interest in the 6% of churches that are bucking this trend and we spend a lot of time and energy talking with you about what they do because we want all of our churches to learn from them.

Over the last 10 years, I’ve noticed a subtle trend in the fastest growing churches in the country. These churches mobilize their people to get out of their seats and serve on the streets of the community. Prevailing churches take the mass engagement of people towards acts of service in their community very seriously. More than just simply “social justice”, these initiatives are getting high percentages of people directly involved in making a difference.

Rather than just a fringe dynamic in a few churches, you can see this trend in all kinds of churches that are making a huge difference. In fact, recently I just flipped through a list of the fastest growing churches in the country and did a quick dive onto their websites to see if I could find this trend, and sure enough, it just kept coming up time and again; below are some examples of what I found.... Read More

In What Sense Did Christ Die for the Non-Elect? [Podcast]

Well, the apostle Paul says Christ died for all people, even the non-elect, and of course that raises delicate questions for us Calvinists to answer. How does Christ’s atoning sacrifice apply to the non-elect? The question comes from an anonymous listener to the podcast: “Pastor John, many times I have heard people say, ‘Yes, Christ died for all people but not all people in the same way.’ I know Reformed theology teaches that Christ’s atonement is particular in that the extent of the atonement to save souls is limited to the elect only. However, I am having trouble adequately explaining how Christ died for all people but not in the same way. For what tangible reason did Christ die for the non-elect?” Listen Now

Recovering the Cure of Souls

From my ministry vantage point at Midwestern Seminary and in getting to travel quite a bit and meet young and aspiring pastors around the world, I have been greatly encouraged by the increasing sense of what I can only call the “pastoral temperament” I sense among the younger generation. What I mean is, I sense—and I hope that I’m right—that something that has come alongside the gospel recovery movement is not just a recovery of theology, expositional preaching, missional church planting, and the like but also a recovery of the active and intentional shepherding of the people of God.

Our ancestors used to call this intentionally relational shepherding “the curing of souls.” Read More

Why Your Pastor Isn’t as Good as Those Professional Speakers

On a website devoted to professional speakers, the author gave advice about “that great killer story you love to tell,” and then “the heart-rending windup.” I imagine every speaker wants one each of those in his messages.

Then, the blogger dropped the bomb.

“After you get your speech down pat and you’ve given it a number of times and feel you’re effective, it’s time to start working on speech number two.”

I laughed out loud.

Speech number two?

These guys have one speech? One??? And then, when all is going well, they add one more?

Pardon me while I sit down. Read More

What is a “Gospel” Anyway? A Few Thoughts on Gospel Genre and Why it Matters

When it comes to reading (and interpreting ) the Gospels, one of the fundamental questions pertains to the kind of document we are reading. What exactly is a “Gospel”? And did the earliest readers of these books know what they were reading?

Such questions may seem pedantic to the average reader, but they matter more than we think. Right interpretation is built on (among other things) correctly assessing the literary genre. We don’t read parables like historical narrative, nor do we read poetry (Psalms) like apocalyptic literature.

An example of confusion over “genre” in our modern world (though in a different medium) pertains to the growing practice of making internet ads look like internet content. In other words, some companies are positioning their ads to look like a news story.

This is quite controversial for an obvious reason: people read and interpret ads differently than news. People expect one thing from ads, and expect something very different from news. One is viewed as propaganda, the other is viewed as fact (though that distinction itself is subject to dispute today). Read More