Tag Archives: church

Lessons from Church History 1600's to Today

At NLF a few weeks ago, we had a one day course with my good friend, Scott Sunquist a global church historian from Pittsburg Theological Seminary. He focused on implications and lessons from the past for today, beginning with the Protestant missionary movement of the 17th century and then moving to the church in Africa and the Pacific. It was an outstanding day, one that left us with much to ponder as we consider our mission for Christ. The following were my top applications: 1. Earliest Protestant missionaries were from the margins of the church, that is common people, not professional clergy. The Moravians, the Methodists, the Baptists (e.g. William Carey) were common people with passion and zeal for Jesus.Their stories filled me with great excitement and vision to challenge our own people to “Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.” 2. One of the applications that came out of. Read more.

Disneyland, the Church and our Success

I am wrestling. Wrestling with I observe and experience in the North American church. I, along with many of you, am passionate for people to know Christ as well as for the church to be the church – i.e. healthy, growing into adulthood, mature, full of the life of Jesus per Eph. 4:11-16. I love the church. More importantly Christ does also. When I visit with other traditions (e.g. Orthodox, Roman Catholic, monastic), part of my tension is their lack of cultural relevance to communicate Jesus Christ into our culture. I see few young people. When I visit evanglical churches, the over-concern for growth in numbers seems to overshadow any time for genuine formation. Shallowness prevails. Dr. David Wells, a professor at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary recently published a book The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World. While I am not in agreement with everything he says or writes (I actually had. Read more.

A Wonderful Benediction for You and Your Church

My 21 year old daughter picked up a lovely benediction while in New Zealand as an exchange student, one I have prayed for our own people. You may want to pray this over the people around you, your family, your small group and your church. You are God’s servants, gifted with dreams and visions, Upon you rests the grace of God like flames of fire. Love and serve the Lord in the strength of the Spirit. May the peace of Christ be with you, The strong arms of God sustain you, And the power of the Holy Spirit strengthen you in every way. Amen (Diane Karay Tripp)

Lakeland and Todd Bentley

One of our staff asked me recently my view on what is happening and if I had seen the meetings on YouTube. I have not and do not know too much about it. But I do believe and affirm Paul’s counsel to the Philippians: “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in very way, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice” (Phil.1:15-18). I have had the privilege to participate in many of the streams of God in His mighty river called the church – from the Reformed tradition of my seminary (Gordon-Conwell) to the. Read more.

"Madness" as Our New Christian Identity

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and whey they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘Your are mad, you are not like us’” (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Benedicata Ward, SLG, 5). Imagine the Body of Christ choosing to live a contemplative life of Daily Offices, Sabbath keeping, meditation on Scripture throughout the day, simplicity of life, a commitment to purity of heart (watching our intake of information/media/etc. for the sake of seeing God) – yet all the while activing serving others and making Christ known to others. Imagine the impact of our evangelical churches around the world filled with people who are not consumers of religion for a better life but men and women filled with passion for God and delivered from this present evil age! How can we escape the illusory Christian identity proposed by the world (that is our present worldly church mindset) and choose. Read more.

New Monasticism and the Community of Transfiguration

I just finished reading Community of the Transfiguration: The Journey of a New Monastic Community by Paul Dekar. It is the story of a 25 year journey of a small, missional, evanglical Baptist church in Australia moving from a church to a community to a monastery within their denomination! Can you imagine an intentional monastic community within an evangelical denomination today in North America? Paul Dekar, the author, is a professor at Memphis Theological Seminary. He presents a strong argument in his opening chapter that every 400 years in the West there is an upsurge in monastacism, and we are now living in the beginning of such an new movement. What makes this unique, in his opinion, is that it seems to be emerging within Protestantism and not Catholicism or the Orthodox church. I am not sure about these trends of church history, but I am sure that something radical is desperately needed and that monastacism holds a. Read more.

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