Next week we will begin a short series on the question of whether or not evangelicals can be universalists, and to help us with that question we will be reading through and blogging about Gregory Macdonald’s book The Evangelical Universalist . Acquire the book if you can — all kinds of used and new formats. The book was originally published in 2006 by Wipf and Stock and is now published in England under SPCK. Are you encountering “evangelical universalists”? How... Read more
Alan Roxburgh and M. Scott Boren are onto something: in their new book called Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One (Allelon Missional Series) , contend there are three central issues and questions and topics at the center of the missional theology of the Church: First, understanding that the West is now the mission field. Second, rethinking the gospel itself in terms of what God’s dream is and what God is doing in this world... Read more
We were with our kids recently, and they reminded me that one of their favorite Jesus Creed posts in previous years is when I offer a gift to a reader who guesses what is in my “to Scot from Scot” gift that I put under our Christmas tree. Every year I buy myself something and wrap it up and put it under the tree. The upside of this, of course, is that I get what I want. The downside is... Read more
One of the richest Advent texts is this one: All of this happened to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!She will give birth to a son,and he will be called Immanuel(meaning, God is with us)” (Matthew 1:22-23). Advent is about “God with us.” It is about Incarnation. But “God with us” is more than simply a proposition about Incarnation, a proposition about God doing the really unthinkable — taking up humanity by becoming... Read more
In his post this morning Scot suggests that missional people are asking folks in their own neighborhood: “How can I help you?” The answers to that question determines what “missional” means in that neighborhood. Given this definition missional campus ministry and missional churches in University communities will meet the University, students, faculty, scholars, staff, on their own terms. Missional campus ministry will not be a safe haven to shelter Christians students from the big bad world, it will equip students... Read more
Alan Roxburgh and M. Scott Boren are onto something: in their new book called Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One (Allelon Missional Series) , they ask the big question: Can your church be missional? [I will provide what I think is the central missional question below.] But they know that there’s a major hitch: “If one wants to lay the missional over or add it to our known ways of being the church,... Read more
I have been saying for about a month now that I wanted to make a proposal with readers of the Jesus Creed blog. Today I would like to announce that I’m asking you to join Kris and me in supporting a CarePoint in Swaziland that could make a life-saving and spiritual difference in the lives of hundreds of underfed and orphaned children. Here’s what we are asking you to do: We want to join together financially, in prayer, and eventually... Read more
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus [Yeshua — YHWH saves], because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Christmas is about salvation and God saves at Advent. Here is a word that has fallen out of favor with many today since it connotes fundamentalism for many. So, let’s take a look at it again. To be saved means to be rescued from something, some condition, or someone. Jesus “saves”... Read more
There’s a tendency on the part of some followers of Jesus to apologize for their faith and for the church. Such persons don’t like the terms “Christians” or “Christianity” and they’re doubly embarrassed about things the Church has done, especially in our modern world. There’s a place for apologizing, though I think both those who do lots of the apologizing do too much of it and those who criticize them tend to be insensitive to some things that really do... Read more
Alan Roxburgh and M. Scott Boren are onto something: in their new book called Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One (Allelon Missional Series) , they liken the “missional church” as a river with three currents shaping it: Mystery Memory Mission Below we give the factors they think are “damming” the flow of mystery, memory and mission. [An important set of insights can be found in those suggestions.] How important are these elements to church... Read more
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