Church & Ministry

Thom Rainer: A lot has changed in our world over the past 10 years. Today, we highlight some major shifts in the church.

Ron Hamilton never set out to be Patch the Pirate. A serious composer of formal church music, Hamilton never dreamed he’d become a children’s musician wearing the uniform of a ship’s captain and talking about scurvy and doubloons. But he lost his eye to cancer in 1978 and children began to see him as a pirate, so he became one and sold a boatload of records.

“Tim Keller steps down as Redeemer senior pastor, Family Christian closes its 240 stores, Eugene Peterson retracts same-sex marriage comments, and more.”

“Fallout from the vote is what Mason calls ‘the biggest misjudgment of my ministry.’ Clarifying, Mason explained he was shocked by ‘the consequence of the number of people for whom this would be a decision they could no longer remain in the church.’… the church counted its losses: About 250 members left, taking $700,000 of annual giving with them,”

Doug Wilson: Those who wear soft clothing and who speak soft words are found in king’s palaces … and in the mouth of modern evangelicalism. And so it is that a gospel preached by snowflakes is incapable of offering snowflakes what they so desperately need—which is to get over themselves.

“Two months after the Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner, leader of the second-largest congregation in the Presbyterian Church USA, declared that Christianity is not the only way to Heaven, popular internet preacher Greg Locke is firing back” CPost

“Robert Jeffress, pastor at First Baptist Dallas, committed himself to Donald Trump and his presidency in 2016, positioning himself as the evangelical face of Trumpism. This year, for better and worse, Jeffress has reaped the consequences of that commitment, repeatedly finding himself at the center of the Trump universe” Dallas Observer

“The text has its origins in the ‘O Antiphons’—a series of refrains sung on each day from December 17-23 during the evening Vespers service. Each one focuses on a different name of Christ in anticipation of the Incarnation.” Ref21

Roger Olson: Creedalism definitely (to my way of thinking) appears when an extra-biblical statement of faith (doctrinal statement) is elevated to belief beyond mental reservation or question.