Tag Archives: Church culture

Responding to the Arguments Against Divorce and Remarriage

The plot thickens since I have for years held to the no divorce position. Writing the critique of the “pro-divorce” side revealed a number of hidden crags in the rocks of Scripture I hadn’t seen before. But now I have … Continue reading

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Responding to the Arguments for Divorce and Remarriage

Having already set the table with the basic arguments for two major positions regarding divorce and remarriage, I am going to try to step fully into each perspective and refute the other from its vantage point. Taking on the glasses … Continue reading

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Arguments Forbidding Divorce and Remarriage

Having briefly listed the arguments allowing for divorce and remarriage, we proceed to an annotated summary of the arguments against divorce and remarriage. This post is longer because of the observations about the exception clause, but I’m trying to treat … Continue reading

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The Pastor Who Preached in Boxer Shorts

A parable for all those missional types Once upon a time there was a pastor of a church somewhere just above smallish. Living and preaching outside the city of Coolumbus for over a decade had given him plenty of time … Continue reading

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The Average Church in Southern Africa

Even though the speaker is using Venda, you can figure out the gist of the message pretty easily. This happened at a village in our district. On the ground at everyone’s feet are South African Rands. The pastrix (Thanks Ken … Continue reading

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How to Unite a Divided Church

Surprises lurk in the most unexpected places in Scripture. Sometimes in familiar passages. Last week I preached from 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 and discovered an unexpected tool to unify Christians. If you’re in a rush, at least skip to the end … Continue reading

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There’s More to Worship Music Than Propositions

Saved in my digital library are a collection of about 10 songs that I formed into a playlist for running in the background as I am working at my desk. Now, I think the whole idea of running songs in … Continue reading

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Why Our Rural African Church Remembers Reformation Day

Yesterday morning in the village where I live and minister, I preached to and prayed with a smaller group than usual, but there were still three African languages present. Most of the people live without running water and very few … Continue reading

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A Church’s Silent Messages Cannot be Ignored

My teammate and I pastor small churches in a pair of rural villages in South Africa. At a service where both churches were present, the same question came to my mind on two occasions as I sat, sang, watched, prayed, … Continue reading

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Marks of an African Indigenous Church

Beginning somewhere around the early 1900’s Africans began forming their own congregations outside of the official denominations of the Europeans. Historians and missiologists now classify this group as the African Indigenous Church (AIC). These independent assemblies have become the most … Continue reading

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