Book Review of The Compelling Community: Where God’s Power Makes a Church Attractive
A constant temptation for us as pastors and church leaders is to do something that we think will make our church more appealing to those in our community. This desire is good, since we should all want to see our churches grow. But we must ask ourselves: At what cost? Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop remind readers of The Compelling Community that the gospel, not our creativity, is ultimately what makes a church attractive. Dever and Dunlop...
Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: A Review
My first significant exposure to historical theology occurred during college in a course that covered the creeds and councils of the early Church. I was astonished by the brilliance of these early Christian pastors, theologians, and philosophers as they wrestled with important theological truths. They often did so in response to various heretical teachings from influential teachers such as Arius and Marcion. Reading primary and...
Pastoral Ministry in the COVID-19 Season
I often think of pastoral ministry as occurring in seasons. Each season of the year creates a unique dynamic in the church calendar. Yet we could also think of seasons as times of sowing, watering, and reaping. That Scriptural principle describes the world of agriculture. But I mean “season” in a broader sense. During most seasons of ministry, pastors do the normal work of praying for others, studying for sermons, leading meetings,...
The Church and the Coronavirus Challenge
by The Commission for Theological Integrity By now it’s fair to say that not a single church has escaped the impact of concerns over the Coronavirus. Churches have been urged to consider measures to ensure people’s safety, along with schools, businesses, and virtually every other assembled group of people. Governors and public health officials have called for certain forms of activity to be suspended, especially when they involve even...
The Midwife’s Baptism: Thomas Helwys and Believer’s Baptism
The Free Will Baptist Treatise defines baptism as the “immersion of believers in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”[1] For this reason, Free Will Baptist churches cannot accept candidates for membership who have not received believer’s baptism by immersion. During my years in ministry, people occasionally have asked why we would not accept the infant baptism of someone who had clearly accepted Christ as...
A Case Against Classical Liberalism
by Brandon Presley The classical liberal (libertarian) perspective on government is intriguing. On the surface, a person having complete freedom to do what he or she wishes as long as they are not harming others (the non-aggression principle) seems complementary to the American ideals of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For example, in a 2018 speech before the Christian Student Leadership Conference, the junior senator from...
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