My Declaration of Faithful Obedience by Wang Yi
As a pastor, my disobedience is one part of the gospel commission. Christ’s great commission requires of us great disobedience. The goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world.
Must We Obey? At What Cost? Reflections on John Allen Chau by Steve Saint
Christ clearly told his disciples to take his offer of forgiveness to everyone everywhere, and to make disciples in all nations (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 6:15-16, Luke 24:44-46, and John 20:21 NLT). We Christ-followers are told by Peter to live as free men but not to use our freedom as a pretext for evil (1 Peter 2:16). Christian missionaries have caused harm to people they should have served. Christian missionaries have lorded it over tribal peoples. We have at times unwittingly infused our culture into Christ’s Gospel. We should repent our mistakes and determine not to repeat them. But do our mistakes release us from Christ’s command to make His gospel available to everyone everywhere? The answer is NO!
Good Books Make Good People by Karen Swallow Prior
Jesus himself affirmed the power of stories by telling parables, little stories that cast a real-life truth alongside the fictional one. In the Old Testament, Nathan used the form of a story to confront King David with the truth about his sin. The wisest people in history have always known that good literature is a school of virtue. In rediscovering the art of reading well, we can recover our sense of virtue, too.
Why Baptists Can Follow the Church Calendar by Matthew Wireman
As a church we know Christmas is coming. We know Epiphany is on its way. We know that we will have to reckon with our sin at Lent. We relish the divine light of hope at the Resurrection. We know we can’t do it so we tarry until his Spirit descends. We mark week after mundane week as we consider our call as his disciples. Not a straight jacket. Not a coercion. Not a drip of guilt. The Church Calendar provides anticipation and expectation and prepares our hearts every season as we wait and continue to wait for our redemption.
