So here we are. We’ve got an overdeveloped parachurch and an underdeveloped local church in relation to the college campus. Where do we go from here? Well, I’m not the answer-man, but I will take a crack at this. I would suggest that the primary need we have is for a pastoral corps that has been trained to love people, to preach the Word faithfully and powerfully, and to engage the thought and practice of the culture. If our local... Read more
The body of secularist water that washed over the American academy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was no mere wave. It was a tsunami. At one point there were many schools that educated students from a unapologetically Christian perspective; at another those same schools had utterly abandoned all commitments to Christianity and Christian education. For more on the rapidity and scope of this trend, see George Marsden’s excellent text The Soul of the American University. As I noted yesterday,... Read more
The twentieth century was hard on evangelicals in many ways, despite our rise to some level of cultural prominence as the century wore on. Ecclesiastically, on matters of the local church, we ran up against some rocks. In short, we ceded much ground to the parachurch. Possessing too narrow a vision of church life, many of our local churches retracted from many areas of national life and gave that territory to fledgling organizations and ministries. Many of these entities did... Read more
Here’s the link roundup for this Friday–I’ve got some gems for you: 1. Make sure that you go to the website of the New England Center for Expository Preaching. If you have not heard of this vital ministry, well, here’s your introduction. NECEP is doing an important work in New England. Essentially, future pastors training for ministry come to New England to preach for many weeks in various churches. The idea, according to Dave Ricard, the program director, is to... Read more
Wow. Read more
You can imagine my shock when I looked up at the news channel and saw the headline, “Maine School to Give Contraception to Middle-Schoolers.” I was initially surprised to see the word “Maine” on a tv newscast. This is not a common occurrence. Unfortunately, the headline was not a happy one. Apparently, a middle school in Portland, ME wants to be able to give contraception to middle-school students through its health center. According to state laws, such transactions can be... Read more
I recently read evangelical historian Mark Noll’s masterwork, America’s God. Published in 2002 by Oxford, the book traces the relationship between Christianity and political life in America from a theological perspective. Or, to put it differently, America’s God is theological history, albeit theological history of an entire country with a special emphasis on the intersection of Christian doctrine and political life. Noll’s central point is that Americans married Christianity and republican political philosophy to such an extent that it is... Read more
Many of us struggle with evangelism. I’ve talked about that on here before. It’s not a new topic, either on this blog or in the life of the Christian. But that hasn’t stopped me from thinking about it in recent days. A recent chapel message by Southern’s Dean, Dr. Russ Moore, hit me hard on this subject. Dr. Moore is a punchy preacher, and he landed a few. His message helpfully addressed a number of subjects but none more so... Read more
Well, I’m being a little fascetious there. But you can excuse me, I think–it was too fun to pass up. This is a fun discussion, and I’m thankful for everyone who’s chimed in. Very stimulating stuff. Essentially, I think that all who have commented essentially agree. No one really wants to slam a church youth group for playing Halo 3, while all are quick to affirm that the primary focus of the youth group and the church itself should be... Read more
Note: I am leaving this piece up for today (Wednesday) because of the response it has attracted. I’ll continue my commentary on the issues it raises tomorrow. The New York Times published a piece yesterday on how church youth groups are using the video game Halo 3 to attract young people, specifically young men, who are just about the hardest group to reach of them all. The article prompted an opportunity for reflection on reaching youth and the lengths to... Read more
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