Why We Need the Church

We all know that sometimes things can be difficult in churches. I’ve gone through it, and so have most of you. I experienced it when I was a pastor for fourteen years, and I’ve experienced it in the twenty-two years since.

A Wholehearted Passion for Your Local Church

I love and wholeheartedly agree with this blog post from pastor and author Ray Ortlund. (Check out his blog.) Sure, we’ve all had our bad church experiences. Me too. But I tire of the unending criticisms of local churches, and the cynicism about the body of Christ.

Oswald Chambers: You Are Not Your Own

I appreciated this writing by Oswald Chambers, a Scottish minister and teacher whose teachings were compiled in the classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest.

Free Hugs and Finding Joy in One Another

God delights in his children’s enjoyment of one another. True, Christ alone is sufficient to meet all our needs. Yet, God has designed us for relationship not only with himself but also with others of our kind.

The Church: Don't Give Up on God's Plan

I tire of the incessant church-bashing and endless tales of people disillusioned with their churches. Yes, Christians can be jerks, and we’ve all had rough times in churches, largely because they consist of people too much like us: sinner-jerks in need of grace and truth and growth.

The problem is, Jesus calls the church his bride. He died for her, and says that ultimately the gates of hell won’t prevail against her. So if you give up on the church, you give up on God’s plan.

The Church as a Body

I recently read an interesting book by Philip D. Kenneson: Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999).
Here is an excerpt:

This [the church as a body] is only one important lesson that reflecting on the metaphor of the church as the body of Christ might teach us. Given the rampant individualism that pervades much congregational life, the contemporary church in this country would do well to reflect seriously on this metaphor. For example:

• Bodies are wrongly understood if their parts are considered to be in some ...

Hunger, Thirst and Craving God (Longing Part 2)

Scripture often describes our longing for God as a deep hunger or thirst. Hunger and thirst are basic drives in our bodies, and there is also a hunger and thirst of the soul.