Category Archives: The Church

Four beliefs about ministry that I got completely wrong

Here is a revelation about me: I’m frequently wrong. And I don’t mean every day, run of the mill mistakes either (although that certainly happens too). I mean mistakes on the scale of Greedo thinking it was a good idea … Continue reading

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Hymns for a difficult church: retrospective on Millennials & Church

I have a confession to make… There are certain hymns that I just can’t stand.  These aren’t complicated, hard to sing hymns either. No, I mean that there are classic hymns whose lyrics drive me crazy. Why is my ire … Continue reading

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Embracing the wilderness

I am going to dance for joy when everyone stops panicking and mourning over the death of Christendom. Not because I think Christendom was some great evil that needed to be killed as fast as possible (actually, I think there … Continue reading

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Millennials & Church

Why did you stay in Church? Erik Parker (a Lutheran Pastor in Canada) wrote this article on his blog in July (side note: I recommend his blog… really awesome stuff). While it is not the whole point of the article, … Continue reading

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Strangers and Sojourners Before God

I am usually reluctant to write about theology and politics in the same post. Mostly because, as Oliver Cromwell put it: “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken.” But I have … Continue reading

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Sabermetrics and the Kingdom

How do we know that a Church is succeeding? I was recently asked what “success” in my pastoral ministry would look like. It was actually a hard question to answer. I had to think quickly about all the different measures … Continue reading

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The Lutheran difference

I was at a conference recently and during a sermon the preacher started talking about how all the different denominations have something to give. He said something like “I want the pageantry of the Catholic Church, the theology of the … Continue reading

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Blogging through Barth #2

Last time we talked about how Barth thinks the faithful should be concerned with gospel message instead of all the other things that the Church is often concerned with. This week we will again be talking about the Church, but … Continue reading

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Church has always been this hard

Tom Ehrich wrote an article for the Washington Post entitled “Church Shouldn’t be this Hard.” It has been popping up on my news feed so I felt a need to respond because everything I know about the Bible says that Church … Continue reading

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Blogging Through Barth #1

So Karl Barth is an incredibly important theologian on the 20th century. I’m a fan of the man, but I’ll be honest: I have never been able to finish Karl Barth’s Epistle to the Romans. It is a book that … Continue reading

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