As a college student, Charles Simeon had to attend chapel services. Like all mandatory chapel requirements, this one ran the risk of being an open invitation for students to go through the motions, with no real mental or spiritual involvement. To make matters worse, the chapel services Simeon had to attend were also events at which the ministers themselves seemed to be going th...
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The history of the church is filled with great pastors and teachers. Even if you skip over the church fathers, the medievals, and the reformers, confining yourself to recent times--say these past two and a half centuries-- there are more than enough great theologians and devotional writers to keep you busy, well-fed, informed, and inspired. Now and then some clever blogger ma...
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Featured Essay
Last year I wrote a blog about the “Year of the Priest” called by the Roman Catholic Church that began on June 19, 2009. I suggested that it would be a good idea for evangelical pastor-priests to also take a year to reflect on their calling and commitments as “servants of the servants of God” (Gregory the Great). The official “Year of the Priest” ends this week, on ...
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The Edinburgh 2010 conference concluded last Sunday, and I offer here a few brief snapshots of the conference:
Biggest question:
Edinburgh 2010, as much as 1910, was cognizant of its own self-importance. It was a media event, and the reminders of 1910 never ceased. But to not become too self-congratulatory, it is worth mentioning that Edinburgh 1910 was, ironically, n...
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Every now and then I run across a book where I say, "Wow, that will be really helpful for members of my church." Gerald McDermott's The Great Theologians: A Brief Guide (InterVarsity, 2010) is one of those books. As a theologians trained in church history I think that every Christian needs to know the history of the church as well as the main personalities of that history. The ...
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The Edinburgh 2010 conference begins today (June 2-6, 2010), marking the centenary of the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference (June 14-23, 1910) which was considered the “Birthplace of the Modern Ecumenical Missions Movement.” [For more about the landmark 1910 conference, see the recently-published book by Prof. Brian Stanley, director of the Centre for the Stud...
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John Piper and Rick Warren are probably two of America’s three most well-known pastors (the other being Tim Keller). I am a fan of both—which might surprise people, since they are so different. What might surprise more people is that Piper just invited Warren to speak at his annual “Desiring God” conference! Piper has received a lot of criticism for this (see this vi...
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Featured Essay
People of faith are right about one thing, there are more things in Heaven and Earth than Richard Dawkins’ is capable of dreaming, but that does not mean they are right about everything. All atheists are wrong about something by definition, victims of limited experiences and a simple minded ontology, but atheists don’t have to be wrong about everything.
Having faith is a...
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The Tokyo 2010 conference just ended and, while it’s impossible to mention everything that happened during this past week, here are some highlights and observations.
Most strategic move:
Holding this conference in Japan. Most people have a stereotype that missions is only to poor countries, and thus ignore Japan, one of the wealthiest but least Christian nations on e...
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So it begins. 100 years ago, the landmark Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference (often called the “Birthplace of the Ecumenical Missions Movement”) was held, and it marked two things: 1) the end of the “Great Century of Missions” (as identified by the renowned Yale church historian Kenneth Scott Latourette), which began with the publication of the Magna Carta...
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In Adolph Saphir's classic book The Hidden Life, he passes along a piece of perfect evangelical advice: "for one look at the self, we ought to taken ten looks at Christ."
Saphir is exactly right: Too much attention to the state of your spiritual life can be poisonous for a Christian. Precisely in examining your own condition, you will see little evidence of anything but...
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Abraham Lincoln knew it and many of us have lived it. Prayer works, and a nation that punts on prayer has disarmed itself for no good reason.
The sensible religious majority of this nation should do all it can to avoid offending their secular neighbor, but good manners must give way to good policy. Prayer is good policy.
Some may object that prayer cannot possibly manipu...
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