Church

From Russia With Love

I spent the morning worshiping alongside Russian brothers and sisters at St. Petersburg Christian University at a time when relations between Russia and the West seem to be growing more tense every day. During the worship service, I was struck with the reality of how and why it is that Jesus Christ alone can bring peace to this world, both now and in the world to come.

We Are A Medieval Church Again

It was Martin Luther, the great reformer, who said that printing was God’s “highest and extremest act of grace.” After all, the printing press finally allowed widespread access to the scriptures, giving fuel to the Reformation along the way. But in our time, when every translation of the scriptures travels with us on our phones and tablets, are we any more Biblically literate than our medieval counterparts? We are in danger of becoming the medieval church all over again, where the clergy are the only ones that read and interpret the scripture for us. No wonder our understanding of key doctrines is commonly distorted, and our teaching reduced to pithy statements and superstitious sayings.

Size Matters: Sunday Assembly Branches Out

Often times the reason we give for expanding our ministries to galactic proportions is that we are doing it for God. But what if we discovered that our Western mindset pushes us to expand our footprint in the world — even when we have no belief in God? Observing atheists gathering together allows us to examine how a group of people who profess no belief in God behave following the successful launch of their first church plant, and sheds light on how closely our behavior mirrors theirs.

Atheists Meet Together in London “Church”

What does it say that atheists in London have formed their own “church”?

Several news outlets have recently featured stories about Sunday Assembly, a “church” comprised of atheists who meet each Sunday in a deconsecrated London church. According to one report from the Spring 2013 volume of Leadership Journal, “it looks a lot like Christian churches around the corner — just without God” and features a welcome, announcements, a message brought by a guest speaker, readings, and of course, the congregation singing to hit songs by Queen and Stevie Wonder. . . .