The kerfuffle over Jonathan Merritt’s phone interview with Eugene Peterson was predictable. The back-and-forth, including threats of recrimination from the likes of LifeWay, followed by an apparent stream of retractions from Peterson only muddled the core issue.
Opioid abuse is a tragedy, crack cocaine use is a crime. Why?
Maybe our more usual careless naiveté about the similarities in the addictions and the differences in our response is a symptom of an even more insidious sickness.
Beware these four kinds of spiritual sickness in the church
Most churches do a decent job responding to physical illness by visiting the hospital, bringing casseroles and praying. But few churches know what to do about spiritual sickness, when neither a hospital visit nor a casserole fills the bill.
Letters to the Editor
The latest from our readers: That intriguing St. Augustine quote, by Robert Nystrom
The irony of being told you aren’t invited or welcome at a celebrating cooperation banquet
God is waiting outside the banquet hall to catch the poor soul who is about to be thrown out for being so real and refusing to play the game. God is waiting for the brave souls that refuse to put on the costumes that hide who they truly are.
The Scopes Monkey Trial and global warming: Same playbook, different football
It’s been nearly a hundred years since The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, but for many, science (or the Bible — depending on your perspective) remain on trial.
Crazy parallels: Reformations then and now
Five hundred years after the Reformation, our world again echoes with a plethora of similar tensions, prickly personalities and transformative technologies.
Donald Trump stole my old church
I am not going to defend my old church any more. If you are acting like a racist, homophobe or misogynist in 2017, then you are a racist, homophobe or misogynist.
Combating intolerance (and other sins) with a little ‘shadow work’
“If they [Muslims] can’t dress like we do, then they should just go back to their own country,” spewed the church member. As that morning’s guest preacher, I watched with interest as the church dynamics played out in this small…
Redefining evangelism: It’s not ‘us versus them’
Recently, BNG has had several stories about evangelism (here, here, and here). The word evangelical comes from the Greek euangelion, and it means “good news.” Christians have good news to share. But sharing does not mean converting. Why do we…
The gift of mentoring: Making the unbreakable chain stronger and wider
A mentorship relationship is a gift that makes us better people because it involves sacred moments of trust, belief, generosity and empowerment.
The problems with ‘Second Coming’ theology
We don’t need more Christians to believe in some end-time cataclysmic shake-up. What we desperately need right now is more Christians to see the possibilities of Christ in glory here and now.