How should the church respond to a professing Christian man who wears an earring and wants to become a member of the assembly?

C. D. Cauthorne Jr.

Poll Results

How should the church respond to a professing Christian man who wears an earring and wants to become a member of the assembly?

Let him join and fully participate in the ministry. Votes: 24
Let him join, but limit his participation in the ministry (no leadership or teaching rolls). Votes: 5
Deny him membership. Votes: 0
Deny him membership and continually confront him about his sin until he either gets rid of the earring or leaves. Votes: 2

Discussion

"An eruption in one of the fault lines sets of... a great deal of disagreement within the larger Southern Baptist fellowship."

SharperIron
Will SBC ‘fault lines’ lead to division or unity? “Using the term ‘fault lines,’ Lemke wrote that the SBC landscape includes such points of contention as greater Baptist identity vs. lesser Baptist identity; smaller churches vs. larger churches; anti-Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) vs. pro-GCR; majority Baptist theology vs. Reformed theology; association and convention advocates vs.

Discussion

Social Involvement without the Social Gospel

Joel Shaffer

social250.jpgRepublished with permission from Baptist Bulletin May/June 2011. All rights reserved.

Can churches create compassionate social ministries in their communities without inadvertently becoming sidetracked from their essential gospel motivation?

The question is not new—a promising young German seminarian slipped down this path in the 1880s. “The idea came to me that I ought to be a preacher, and help to save souls. I wanted to go out as a foreign missionary—I wanted to do hard work for God,” Walter Rauschenbusch said in 1913. “Indeed, one of the great thoughts that came upon me was that I ought to follow Jesus Christ in my personal life, and die over again his death,…and it was that thought that gave my life its fundamental direction in the doing of Christian work” (Rauschenbusch, “The Kingdom of God” in The Social Gospel in America, 1870–1920).

Rauschenbusch, who began his ministry with an orthodox view of salvation, would later become known as “the father of the social gospel.” Regrettably, once he became pastor in the Hell’s Kitchen district of New York City, he preached a different gospel, altering his Biblical message to address social ills such as poverty, unemployment, and malnutrition. In the process, Rauschenbusch lost his emphasis on Christ’s atoning sacrifice for the sinner.

Even today Christians tamper with the gospel message, as Rauschenbusch did, applying his ideas to our modern problems.

Discussion

How Much Influence Does A Church's Stand Have On Divorce?

Ed Vasicek

Poll Results

How Much Influence Does A Church’s Stand Have On Divorce?

Much influence; people who attend a church in which the leaders emphasize marital commitment are much less likely to divorce. Votes: 3
Some influence that might have an effect in a few cases. Votes: 2
Most unhappy Christians bent on divorce are going to divorce no matter what we preach. Votes: 2
Churches that talk tough have no better stats that those who do not Votes: 3
Other Votes: 2

Discussion

Qualifications For Para Church Board Members

Bill Green
I am currently working with my camp board on establishing criteria for new board members. We have discussed using the deacon as the biblical comparative. At present we are kind of stuck. What criteria do other groups use? Are they higher/lower/same as for church officers? Does your church look at the makeup of a organizations board when partnering with them? What would cause your church to decline partnering or dropping a group with regards to the board?

Discussion