Compare and contrast

On Christian meditation Specimen 1: Sit down. Sit still with your back straight. Close your eyes lightly. Then interiorly, silently begin to recite a single word – a prayer word or mantra. We recommend the ancient Christian prayer-word "Maranatha". Say it as four equal syllables. Breathe normally and give your full attention to the word…

Healthy Church Growth

… or how to shrink your church. This blog post by Tim Suttle on Huffington Post has spread like wildfire amongst my Facebook friends—and quite right, too! I would not phrase everything quite the same way, but the basic point is spot-on: The church's task is to be faithful, not to grow—to be, not to…

Beauty, not relevance

"Relevant" is another word to put in scare quotes when talking about sermons. For just as I think "practical" sermons do little practical good, I think the attempt to make the gospel "relevant" is irrelevant to someone who knows Christ. It's boring, because it's about an imaginary Christ designed for those who define themselves in…