A Church Is Not an Audience

A sharp distinction ought to be made between a church and an audience. An audience is a group of unrelated people drawn together by a short-lived attraction. ...

Looks Are Deceiving

Our modern church is filled with many people who look pure, sound pure, and are inwardly sick of themselves, their weaknesses, their frustration, and ...

Church Growth, Church Depth

I heard of a preacher the other day who was asked, "What's the size of your pastorate?" he said, "Twenty-five miles wide and one inch ...

The True Need of the Church

Somehow we have to make disciples instead of inspiration junkies.

Repentance in the Early Church

Repentance was an involved process in the early church. Sin was seen not as a personal matter but as something that destroyed the unity of the church. ...

Dry Rot and Worms in the Church

An English vicar with his mind on decaying buildings announced one day that the offertory about to be taken would be devoted in its entirety to the extermination ...

Church Hospitality

Singer John Charles Thomas, at age sixty-six, wrote to syndicated columnist Abigail Van Buren: "I am presently completing the second year of a three-year ...

Growing the Wrong Direction?

[American Christianity] is more Petrine than Johannean; more like busy Martha than like the pensive Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus. It expands more ...

When Good Business Is Bad Business

The church appears to be adopting the principles and practices of big business and finding these practices very effective.

Now there is nothing wrong with ...

The Tongue Is ...

Sometimes I think the whole Christian world is made up of just two groups: those who speak their faith and accomplish significant things for God, and ...