Sometimes I think that we Episcopalians consider evangelism a social faux pas, or a quaint relic of a bygone era in the life of the church. After all, everyone knows one should refrain from talking about politics and religion in polite company. All the same, Jesus commands his followers to go and talk about politics and religion, for as his disciples we proclaim him Lord and Savior.
Evangelism and discipleship, then, ought to inform relationships between Christians and our unbaptized neighbors, those people who in former times were known as “the lost.” Instead, a pernicious counterfeit of Christian love has usurped the place of witness and evangelism. In the Episcopal Church, love has come to mean acceptance and affirmation of ourselves and others without repentance and transformation. We are encouraged to privilege inclusivity without asking uncomfortable questions and without asking the Holy Spirit to convict us and our neighbors of our sins. Where, I wonder, does this so-called love lead? Or, more properly put, what is the end (telos) of this so-called love? I cannot say, because I find this counterfeit love unintelligible and a perversion of the gospel.
The Unchurched Next Door: New Tools and Insights to Really Reach Them
Join Thom and Sam Rainer on Thursday, July 16, at 1:00 PM Eastern for The Unchurched Next Door: New Tools and Insights to Really Reach Them. In this free webinar, you’ll discover why the mission field around your church may be larger and more receptive than you realize. Learn about the five levels of unchurched receptivity (U1–U5), uncover where your greatest outreach opportunities exist, and see how The Unchurched Report can help your church better understand and engage the people in your community. Save your spot today!
Built for a Church That No Longer Exists
The crisis facing the Archdiocese of Detroit isn’t really about what’s happened in the last decade — it’s about an institution still reckoning with the massive population exodus of the mid-to-late 20th century. The infrastructure, the parish footprint, the number of churches — all of it was built for a city and a Catholic population that no longer exists at that scale. The most recent Mass attendance data makes clear that the reckoning isn’t over.
Was the Multiplication of the Early Church a Miraculous Movement?
When missionaries have compared the rate of multiplication in traditional proclamation-centered, church-planting missions to the supposed rate of multiplication in the Early Church, many have come to the conclusion that the way we have been doing missions is all wrong. The fruit doesn’t seem to match what we’re supposed to see, what the Early Church saw, so there must be something fundamentally wrong with our methods and approach. This historical assumption (often paired with conversion rates compared negatively to population rates) is one reason why we’ve seen such radical attempts to rework missions into methodologies of rapid multiplication such as CPM, DMM, 4 Fields, POP, T4T, Insider Movement, etc.
But what if this historical narrative is wrong? What if what we find in the early Christian movement is instead a modest but steady rate of growth that leads to exponential gains over a long period of time?
Why Most Christians Shouldn’t Move Overseas as Missionaries
Like many Christians, I assumed that radical obedience meant moving overseas. I read David Platt’s book Radical years ago, and it deeply impacted my walk with the Lord. Since then, I’ve been trying to leverage my life to make Jesus known everywhere.
But that doesn’t mean every Christian needs to move overseas as a missionary. In fact, most Christians shouldn’t move overseas as missionaries. But every Christian has a role to play in making Christ known.
Christian Witness Ten Years Ago vs. Today
Gavin Ortlund shares four ways evangelism, apologetics, and Christian witness have changed from 2014 to 2024.
Three things to remember when evangelism is dispiriting
Church can be a very dispiriting place sometimes. Just this week I was speaking with someone about yet another person who had professed faith and seemed to be seeking to engage the gospel who then turned round and jacked it all in. Our church has also seen a fair share of Iranian brother and sisters join with us who, for a range of different reasons, end up drifting away.
These things can be quite discouraging when we see them happen again and again. The question is, how do we respond to them? What should we think about it? Here are some key things to bear in mind.
The sower in Jesus' Parable of the Sower does not confine himself to one part of rhe field. He scatters the seed over a wide area. God also employs us in different ways--to prepare the soil, to sow, to water, and to reap. We may water where others have sown, and others may reap where we have sown. One of the important things in evangelism is to see each person, not as a project, but someone for whom Jesus gave his life and whom God cares about.American Dominion traces deep roots of Seven Mountain Mandate
Those who share in Christ’s resurrection “will reign with him for a thousand years,” says Revelation 20:6, but some believers want Christians to exercise dominion right now.
That’s the heart of author Keri Ladner’s message in American Dominion: The Rise and Radicalization of a New Christendom.
Cyclosporiasis
Cyclosporiasis is an illness you get from the parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis. It causes watery, and sometimes explosive, diarrhea and other stomach problems. It usually spreads from contaminated water or food. Treatment typically includes antibiotics.
According to news reports, health officials are warning consumers about lettuce and other salad greens as they race to identify the source of a multistate diarrhea outbreak caused by the parasite Cyclospora. Nearly 7,000 Americans are dealing with the stomach parasite Cyclospora and the terrible symptoms that go along with it. Cyclospora is one of the hardest foodborne pathogens to trace, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, due to its lengthy incubation time. As well as from contaminated fruits and vegetables when eaten raw, Cyclospora can be contracted from contaminated water in swimming pools, water parks, rivers, lakes and other bodies of water like backyard wading pools and gravel pit swimming holes.Why the Roman Centurion’s Faith Amazed Jesus in Luke 7
It’s not just that this centurion’s faith is utterly extraordinary. Jesus adds this comment that He has not found so great a faith even in Israel! Why did Jesus say that?
To understand that, we need to go back and catch up on what’s been going on up to this point in Luke’s Gospel. A text without a context is a pretext—isn’t that the saying? And the context for this story is what has already taken place in Luke’s Gospel, and even what will take place later. We don’t go first to Matthew or to Mark to understand what’s going on here. We also know that Luke didn’t stop with Jesus’s earthly ministry but continued the story in his book of Acts. Luke and Acts are a two-part story that serves as the larger context for everything we read within their pages.
Lay Preacher Training Informational Webinar
The role of lay preacher has been an important part of the church from its earliest days. As the clergy shortage grows and churches are under increased financial strain, the need for licensed lay preachers grows each year.
Have Praise Teams Replaced Black Church Choirs?
In many churches, they have. But the choral tradition is finding enthusiastic advocates elsewhere.
AI will make war worse, Pope Leo warns
Technology, detached from ethics and responsibility, will make wartime decisions about life and death more rapid and impersonal, the pope writes.
How to Reach Generation Alpha by Equipping Their Parents
If we want to reach Generation Alpha, in addition to being strategic about ministering to children and students, we must focus on the parents.
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