Philosophy of Sunday School

jwolf6589
I have heard Dan Miller compare the European & american models of education in podcasts a number of times. Seems like he prefers the european model instead of the lecture based american model. I would agree.. Living in the south there tends to be a number of Fundamentalist churches around who use the american model of education for Sunday school which is strictly to preach/lecture at you in SS.

Discussion

David Platt & the book Radical

jwolf6589
Ever read this book? From what I gather Platt is loading people with guilt trips to sell all that they have and be a missionary to India, or some third world country. But perhaps the reviews I have read on amazon.com are wrong. However some were quite in depth and were constructive critiques of the book. What do you say?

John

Discussion

The Essence Of The Gospel

BobL
Being too “wordy” can negate a witness. Christians need to speak the essence of the gospel message to get quickly to the point, then they can qualify it thereafter as time permits. Here are a few verses to consider:

> God is holy (Psa.145:17), and no sin can come into His presence (Hab.1:13);

> Man is born in sin so needs a new (spiritual) birth (Psa. 51:5; John 3; Rom.3; Rom. 5:12; Rom.10), and he must realize that and confess it (Lev.10:10; I Cor. 2:14; Eph. 2:3);

> Christ died for the ungodly (Rom.5: 6-8) and rose again (I Cor. 15: 3-4);

Discussion

Do Peculiarities of Church Traditions protect Essential Doctrines?

FredK
Does God use the peculiarities of church traditions to protect essentials of the faith? As a wall of stones protects a city, are countless church traditions with nonessential differences a strong, “Multi-Fort Defense” (MFD) of the essentials? Do these nonessential doctrines, secondary convictions and behaviors keep them apart from other church traditions thus safer from errant, outside teaching?

Discussion

People that break laws to evangelize

jwolf6589
I have little respect for those that walk in restaurants, stores, malls, and other places and preach, pass out tracts and use methods that try and jam the gospel down peoples throats. I am a regular street preacher and evangelist, but I do my work in the appropriate zones which is on the streets, door to door, etc… Nothing wrong with doing it this way. What is wrong is those that go into malls, and restaurants and try and jam it down peoples throats.

Discussion

Christian camp looking for new director

Jonathan Charles
There is an evangelical Christian camp near State College, PA looking for a camp administrator. My kids attend every year and some members of my church volunteer as counsellors. The only things I know are: First, it is a full-time, paid position. Second, they are looking for a graduate of a Christian college. Third, they want a male so he can represent the camp in the pulpits of local churches.

The camp is Camp Kanasatake: http://www.mycampk.com


Discussion

Revisit & Reaffirm Ministerial Ethics

SharperIron

Reprinted with permission from Voice magazine, Nov/Dec 2010.

The associate pastor of Country Bible Church is a multi-talented young man with great people skills. His senior pastor, also a highly gifted ministry servant, values and trusts his young associate. The younger adults of Country Bible are calling for some changes to be made in the worship services and children’s ministries of the church. The senior pastor pays attention to these calls for change, but inclines to move slowly, to allow the church body needed time to adjust to and embrace the changes. The reach and the rate of the initial phase of changes fall short of the younger adults’ desires and expectations. These younger adults begin to voice their complaints to the associate pastor. He commiserates with them, but expresses that he is basically powerless to move things along faster and further.

With frustration mounting several of the young adults begin to voice the idea of breaking away from the larger group, perhaps becoming their own congregation, but remaining under the umbrella of their present church’s organization. As that conversation continues over a period of weeks, the younger adults decide that even that idea would move too slowly and would probably not produce the results they desired. So, they begin to talk about breaking away completely and starting their own church. They approach the associate pastor with the idea and invite him to become their pastor. He finds the idea appealing, but cautions that the discussions of that possibility need to be kept secret until final decisions are made. Secrecy is preserved and the group moves persistently toward forming a new church, gathering more young adults to the idea as the weeks pass by.

Discussion