With Paul looming on the horizon, Philip moves further on and evangelizes another person outside the flock of God: an Ethiopian eunuch. No doubt, a Gentile and probably not a proselyte. No doubt, from the ends of the earth. No doubt, castrated, and eunuchs are unfit for the Temple and, therefore, they have a lower status. Never mind these obstacles with the work of God in this world: the eunuch bumps into God’s grace and his life, as well as... Read more
The third installment in a series by Michael Kruse about Christians and economics. I think many of us make remarks about economics on the basis of the Bible, but do we understand the economic theory at work in our statements or in our world? Do you know how to make a no. 2 pencil? If not, don’t feel bad. Nobody (no one body) else does either. Consider how a pencil comes to be. Raw materials are extracted to create graphite.... Read more
Amanda Berry Smith, a six foot African American woman who dressed like a Quaker, exemplifies how to live in the midst of racism and do so with boundary-breaking grace: “In Amanda Berry Smith,” Chris Armstrong tells us, “we have someone who could easily have nursed anger and resentment against those who throughout her life put her down — for her race, her class and her gender. Having been treated poorly throughout her life, she could have descended into bitterness… Smith... Read more
Recently we had a conversation about the pastor’s time schedule, and Jim Martin, a friend, posted a comment I thought deserved a separate post. So here it is… This is such an important concern. Working with a church can eat you alive without the kind of boundaries talked about in the above comments. A couple of suggestions: 1. There is not end or completion to this work. Consequently, you must set boundaries. You may work all day and then it... Read more
Saul’s persecutions led to the scattering of the gospel agents who were caught up in the mission of God through Jesus Christ. One of those who were scattered was Philip (->). As is clear in Beverly Gaventa (The Acts of the Apostles (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries) ), Philip’s story is about encountering religious outsiders — read the whole story if you have time: 8:4 Now those who had been forced to scatter went around proclaiming the good news of the word. 8:5 Philip went... Read more
While much of the furor over the conflict between science and faith centers on the question of origins and evolution – it is not limited to these questions alone. The sciences also impact our understanding of human behavior and human response and this can also lead to increased understanding or to conflict. The September 2009 issue of Discover Magazine has an interesting article on the Seven Deadly Sins (the magazine has a website at discovermagazine.com – but this article is... Read more
Jim Belcher’s right about this, and it is one of the deep characteristics about the emerging movement and it emerges from a suspicion about how evangelism works, about how the gospel works, about how conversion actually works: “What do people have to believe before they belong? What is the role of doctrine? What is the role of community in bringing people to and nurturing them in the faith?” (94). The mantra one can hear at times is “belonging before believing.”... Read more
This post is from Jen Bradbury, and I read this on her blog through a “tweet”. This is one of the very few posts or reviews that have talked at all about the outcome-based education I talked about in The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible , but more importantly, Jen takes it to the next level by asking what those outcomes might look like for her youth group. Youth ministers: What are your outcomes? What are your... Read more
Enter Saul, soon to become the apostle Paul. This is where we pick up the thread of our series on the Book of Acts as we enter into chp 8: 8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing him. Now on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. 8:2 Some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. 8:3 But Saul was trying to destroy... Read more
Some fifteen or so years ago I read a wonderful book on preaching by John R.W. Stott (Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today ). In that book, Stott frequently referred to someone I knew very little about but who was obviously a significant figure for Stott. The preacher’s name was Charles Simeon. I never chased anything down about Simeon, but over the decades I’ve seen his name mentioned plenty of times. So I was pleased to see that... Read more
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