Southern Baptists and the Scandal of Church Sexual Abuse by Russell Moore
Sexual abuse is a sin against God and a crime against the civil order. In every case, if there is suspected sexual abuse of a child the church should report the incident to the civil authorities. With the sexual assault of adults, the church should provide a refuge for survivors and should walk with them towards involving the authorities and bringing perpetrators to justice. In all of this, the church should deal openly with what has happened in the church while caring for all those who were harmed. No one who has committed such offenses should ever be in any ministry arena where such could even conceivably happen again.
Why Loving People and Place is the Heart of Missions by Paul House
Jesus was a thoroughly country person thoroughly ready to die for rural and city folks. He loved Bethsaida, Capernaum, Nazareth, the deserted places, and Jerusalem enough to visit and mourn over them all. Citing Moses, he also stressed love of God and neighbor as the heart of faith in God (Mark 12:28–32). Alternatively, the apostle Paul, a thoroughly city person, cared for places small and large, though he seems to have gravitated to the larger ones. Like Jesus, he stressed a whole gospel that encompassed faith in the Lord Jesus that lovingly permeated families and specific communities (see Eph. 5–6).
Magic City Mission by Joel Busby
Whenever you plant a church in one of America’s most churched cities, you feel the need to explain yourself. I always imagined becoming a church planter in a difficult place, with rocky and hardened soil, laden with spiritual darkness, log-jammed with missional obstacles. What follows are a few thoughts on some of the unique missional challenges of church planting in the Deep South. To be clear, that there are unique missional challenges is not the same thing as saying things are bleak or hopeless. Quite the opposite. Great opportunity is laden within these challenges.
All Loves Excelling: How Romance Inspired Charles Wesley's View of God by Jeffrey Barbeau
The story of Charles Wesley reminds us that the goods of friendship and romantic affection are no passing fancies to be discarded in favor of a future disembodied life. Love is part and parcel of the promise of our total salvation. In the warm embrace of another, I come to know the love of God, on earth as it is in heaven.
