When it comes to Christmas, we really can have it all. Jesus and Santa. Reindeer and shepherds. The North Pole and Bethlehem.
All you need to do is use one simple word correctly:
Pretend.
Santa is pretend.
Jesus is not pretend.
Yes, Your Kids Can Enjoy Santa While Honoring Jesus Read More »
Our church prayed for France, Lebanon and Kenya yesterday.
After church, I was asked a poignant, difficult question.
“How do I answer my non-Christian friends when they ask me why I’m a Christian? They’re telling me that the problem is religion and belief. When I try to tell them Christians aren’t like that, they point out the Crusades and Westboro Baptist Church. I don’t know how to respond to that.”
Here’s what I told him.
When Evil Strikes: A Christian Answer to “Isn’t Religion the Problem?” Read More »
Jesus never wrote a book or erected a building for his followers to rally around.
His trial was a farce, but his torture was real. At his death he hung naked, and bleeding. His flesh hanging in strips from his barely-recognizable body. As he died, he didn’t just feel forsaken by God, he actually was forsaken by God.
Jesus’ ministry was a failure.
Until…
The Next Time Your Ministry Feels Like a Failure, Remember This Read More »
The so-called “good old days” when a person committed to a church, then stuck with it no matter what, have come to an end. Many churches just don’t know it yet. Maybe that’s why I keep hearing ministers harping on the same old complaints. “My church can’t get good volunteers any more!” “People aren’t as faithful as they used to be.” And, my personal [ahem] favorite, “What’s wrong with this generation? You can’t count on them for anything.”
If those complaints sound familiar (as in, you’ve heard them come from your own mouth) please take this in the way I’m giving it – with all the love in my heart. Stop whining about people’s lack of commitment to your church and give them something worth committing to!
People Aren’t As Loyal to Their Church Anymore – Good For Them Read More »
Since the Day of Pentecost, all believers have the Holy Spirit living in us from the moment of salvation, so we carry his presence with us. This means that every act of my life, whether alone or in the company of others, can and should be an act of worship.
But I still go to church every weekend. And I would go every weekend, even if I wasn’t a pastor.
Why?
I don’t go to church to worship Jesus. I go to church to worship Jesus with other people. Because I need to worship Jesus in the company of others. We all do.
I Don’t Go to Church to Worship Jesus Read More »
The point of salvation is not just to give us a get-out-of-hell-free card. It’s so that we can enter into a real, ongoing, loving relationship with Jesus.
And the point of ministry is not to have a job that pays the bills and gets us pats on the back. It’s to lead others into an ongoing, loving relationship with Jesus. And the best way to do that is by being a living example of how to have that relationship.
Relationships need regular communication. Prayer does that for our relationship with Jesus. But I’ve never met anyone who said they were completely happy with their prayer life. Including pastors.
Prayer may be the most overlooked aspect of Christian life and pastoral ministry. Even though we know it’s the most important.
We need to become better pray-ers. But how?
Why Doesn’t God Answer All My Prayers? Because Some of Them are Stupid Read More »
When you’re in business to make widgets, you live and die by the numbers. But we’re pastors. We’re not in business. And we’re not making widgets. As John Piper reminds us, “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals”.
So yes, we need to count people. Because people count. But people aren’t numbers. And numbers aren’t people. People matter more than numbers.
When we overemphasize how many people came to church, we run the risk of devaluing the unique gifts and needs of the individuals who make up the crowd. Jesus never did that.
Jesus and Crowds – An Unhappy Marriage Read More »
Megachurches, we’re with you. You’re our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our partners in ministry. We know that the task of reaching our communities, nations, cultures and world is an enormous one. And an enormously important one. We don’t expect you to do it alone. It’s time for the 90% to come alongside the 10% and get our hands dirty together.
Reaching the World for Jesus is Too Important for Megachurches to Do Alone Read More »
Writing a mission statement should be one of the last things a church does, not one of the first. The only real hope that a church will follow through on their mission statement is if it’s based on what the church is already doing.
Your Church’s Mission Statement: Do It First, Write It Later Read More »
I was in a lousy mood a couple hours ago. I’m in a better mood now. And it’s because of the Oktoberfest Beer Train in Germany. Yes, this will require some explanation. As I write this, my wife and I are on a train from Nuremberg to Munich. It’s the regularly scheduled train between those two cities.
What the German Beer Train Taught Me About Contagious Joy Read More »
