Church

If we're awake, we will have a keen sense of the powerful undertow of a culture that has discarded almost every reference to, or value of, Jesus Christ. To the world, the church is too often considered an obsolete community with little to say and even less to offer by way of 'relevance'. Given room...

In the Nicene Creed we confess that the church is "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic." Of these four marks, the third mark--the catholicity of the church--is probably the most susceptible to misunderstanding among evangelical Protestants. The catholicity of the church, according to common...

How does the world get inside the church? The prince of this world is not modest in his schemes or unambitious in his aspirations: his attack on the Son of God reveals the insane over-reach of his pride. Sometimes he might use subtle and insidious means, but he is just as capable of attacking the...

How does the world get inside the church? The prince of this world is not modest in his schemes or unambitious in his aspirations: his attack on the Son of God reveals the insane over-reach of his pride. Sometimes he might use subtle and insidious means, but he is just as capable of attacking the...

I begin every semester in my Church and Sacraments course with the following quotation from Martin Luther, which Karl Barth used "In Place of a Foreword" to introduce Church Dogmatics , volume 1.2. The quotation says so much about the relationship between Christology and ecclesiology in Protestant...

The month of October has been designated Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The goal of this month is to raise public awareness about domestic violence and to educate communities and individuals on how to recognize, prevent, and respond to domestic violence. This article is the first in a series...

The month of October has been designated Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The goal of this month is to raise public awareness about domestic violence and to educate communities and individuals on how to recognize, prevent, and respond to domestic violence. This article is the first in a series...

Biographical description many pastors write for the web site of their church: "Married to the most beautiful woman in the world." "We have the best youth pastor in the country." "He's the smartest guy in every room..." I often joke that the most beautiful woman in the world must be getting very...

Have you ever been hit just below your chest in thatsweet spot that knocks the wind right out of you? It's scary. What has reallyhappened is that your diaphragm got its clock cleaned and is now having aspasm. Until it calms down, that tight contraction leaves you gasping for air.In that moment, you...

Have you ever been hit just below your chest in thatsweet spot that knocks the wind right out of you? It's scary. What has reallyhappened is that your diaphragm got its clock cleaned and is now having aspasm. Until it calms down, that tight contraction leaves you gasping for air.In that moment, you...