There’s all kinds of crazy crap out there on the internet these days. Egads! In one recent blog post, Bob Cargill suggested that people should disagree agreeably and possibly even share a beer afterwards! More than that, he claims it’s happening! I’m not sure how trustworthy such a fellow could possibly be. In another blog, [...]
Spurred by my friend, John Armstrong (his thoughts, his questions) I have been offering some ruminations on house church over the past few days (part 1, part 2, part 3). We attend a house church in San Francisco, something that we backed into rather than pursued from any idea that house church “gets it right.” [...]
John Armstrong invites what he calls “the home church movement” to reflect on a few of its potential pitfalls. The first question is whether or not the home church movement can thrive if there is not more emphasis on preaching and teaching the word. Instruction is important, but here are a few thoughts in response. [...]
I want to clear up a few things about my own participation in a house church. First, I’m not doing it because I love that small group experience. Honestly, the “small group experience” has posed the greatest difficulty for me in this setting. I tend to prefer to sing songs with a hundred or two [...]
My friend (and not just on Facebook!) John Armstrong has posted a couple of thoughts about “the home church movement”, the first listing some of its draw and the second outlining some of his concerns. Since I attend a house church, I thought I’d weigh in on his thoughts with some of my own thrown [...]
I was heartened to day to read the Church of the Nazarene’s statement on Emerging/Emergent churches. This is one of the most balanced responses I have seen, and coming from a somewhat conservative ecclesiastical body I am even more impressed with its balance and winsomeness. The statement acknowledges those among the church’s number who are [...]
My engagements over the past couple of days (one here, another here) with issues raised by Brett McCracken’s Hipster Christianity work has raised a complex of issues that dovetail nicely with the course I’m teaching this summer on the cross in the New Testament. Recently, my students have been responsible for engaging with the atonement [...]
Yesterday’s post on Brett McCracken’s Wall Street Journal article created some good conversations both online and off. These got me thinking about the question of relevance, or appeal to contemporary culture. What I found missing in McCracken’s assessment of current movements, as he dismissed them all as being beholden to contemporary culture in a manner [...]
In Friday’s Wall Street Journal there was an article by Brett McCracken entitled, “The Perils of ‘Wannabe Cool’ Christianity.” It’s not often that I see a Baker press author turning his book (Hipster Christianity) into a mainstream media editorial, so I was intrigued to see what the article would say. I left hoping that the [...]
The interwebs have been all a tizzy over the past day or so, as Anne Rice declared on Facebook that she was renouncing Christianity. For the sake of Christ. My take on it: chill out, people. First, it seems that she is couching some things provocatively (and it’s working, people are provoked). Given how she [...]
