When the Church Confuses "Me" and "We"

Last updated on: May 23, 2014 at 8:40 am By Brad Vaughn

In Christian Political Witness, the authors repeatedly lament the divide between “public” and “private.” Why? It is often thought that freedom is only possible by parting the political seas. In order to enjoy the “miracle” of American democracy, we must separate politics from Christian faith. However, in CPW, it is argued that common notions about the church-state relationship have an adverse effect on God’s people. Christian Faith is Personal not Private Jana Bennett (chapter 6) explains some of the practical... Read more

PLEASE teach pastors to do this!!

Last updated on: August 13, 2015 at 4:12 am By Brad Vaughn

I consistently hear the criticism of Chinese preaching (though I know it’s true of many pastors around the world). What is the problem? I often hear something like this: “The pastor’s preaching is all over the place!” Pastors seem to jump around from text to text and never make a clear point. Listeners are left confused. No wonder many people think Christianity, sermons or theology are not very practical. This is why I’m grateful for a good post from... Read more

What Chinese taxi drivers can learn from "More than Words"

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 at 8:25 am By Brad Vaughn

Have you heard any jokes about the Beijing taxi drivers? Here’s one. Question 1: How many taxi drivers are in Beijing? Answer: Around 65,000 Question 2: According to missionary reports, how many of them are Christian? Answer: 150,000 (That last number is totally made up.) I wonder how many times missionaries have listed the same taxi drivers on their statistical reports as “making a decision for Christ.” Any taxi driver will “believe” as long as you pay the meter. (more…) Read more

Why does a seminary accept Muslims but fire women?

Last updated on: May 20, 2014 at 2:06 pm By Brad Vaughn

Are you Muslim? No problem. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary may be the school for you. It was recently reported that the man who led to “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has now decided––contrary to admissions policies and without trustee approval––that SWBTS would enroll a Muslim student. Wade Burleson, a former trustee for the SBC’s mission board, recently wrote a blog post exposing this not so conservative breach in policy. Here is an excerpt: “In a faculty meeting... Read more

A “Social Gospel” Worth Preaching

Last updated on: August 14, 2015 at 7:40 am By Brad Vaughn

In Christian Political Witness, how might McKnight and Gombis’ chapters practically shape the church’s ministry? (For a summary of their chapters, see my previous post.) 1. A “Social Gospel”? These two chapters should alert people that the gospel does indeed have a social aspect. Too many people hear the word “gospel” connected with politics, serving the poor, etc. and then immediately get suspicious or even defensive. Conservatives worry that such a “gospel” is too this-worldly to be any eternal good.... Read more

Is the Gospel “Political”?

Last updated on: August 14, 2015 at 7:14 am By Brad Vaughn

In Christian Political Witness, Scot McKnight and Tim Gombis unpack the theology/politics of Jesus and Paul. In this post, I’ll recap their train of thought in order to apply it in my next post. I thoroughly enjoyed their chapters. This does not surprise me since McKnight’s book The King Jesus Gospel is one of the most important books I’ve read. It greatly influenced my book Saving God’s Face, for which Gombis served as my outside reader when it was in... Read more

Even Demons Believe the "Plan of Salvation" . . . and Shudder

Last updated on: August 14, 2015 at 6:42 am By Brad Vaughn

In the last post, I began to distinguish the “plan of salvation” from the gospel itself. I focused on one part –– the content of the gospel and our response to the gospel are not identical.In this post, I want to address a similar but different problem. I’ve read a lot of tracts and heard a lot of evangelistic messages. And I’m seeing a troublesome pattern. Ask yourself a question. In a typical “plan of salvation” presentation, what is a... Read more

What has the Bible to do with Beijing?

Last updated on: August 14, 2015 at 7:11 am By Brad Vaughn

Noll identified some of the ways people misuse the Bible to justify their political ideas. McBride urged Christians to see repentance as a political witness. What are some practical implications, especially in a Chinese context? I’ll list five. Theology Wars are Neither Just Nor Inerrant 1. Church Division Noll forces us to reconsider how theological wars over “infallibility” and “inerrancy” influence the church’s ministry. For instance, these battles have fueled church division and thus undermined the church’s ability to... Read more

Do We Need a Collectivistic Gospel?

Last updated on: August 12, 2015 at 7:11 am By Brad Vaughn

What do you think of this graph? Scot McKnight posted this over at Jesus Creed and found it confirming of a few points I often write about. Two things stand out to me from this graph. (1) Religious and Ethnic Identity Those in the top four religions listed above tend to closely link ethnic/national identity with religious faith. Thus, “To be Indian is to be Hindu.” The tendency should ring a warning bell once again for church. For example, in... Read more

Do We Sacrifice Politics By Settling for the Bible?

Last updated on: August 13, 2015 at 2:56 am By Brad Vaughn

What does politics have to do with our doctrine of Scripture? Mark Noll, one of evangelicalism’s premier historians, takes up this question in Christian Political Witness, which I reviewed previously (see Part 1, Part 2). Noll points out a phenomenon that should trouble to us all. In essence, the church compromises its Christian political witness when it settles for what is merely true, biblically speaking. In other words, Christians too frequently justify their political activity (or inactivity) on the basis... Read more