Tag: Discipleship
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Spiritual Formation Beyond Decency
We must stop using the fact that we cannot earn grace (whether for justification of for sanctification) as an excuse for not energetically seekng to receive grace. Having been found by God, we then become seekers of ever-fuller life in him. Grace is opposes to earning, not effort. The realities of Christian spiritual formation are…
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Danger of Christian Complacency
It may defy common wisdom, but sound doctrine is important to the renewal of the contemporary church. While many view doctrine as divisive and unecesary trivia, recent studies by Thom Rainer, Ed Stetzer, and others, reveal that sound doctrine is a hallmark of churches that are the most effective in evangelism. Further, both writers, in addition…
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Global Missions is Not For SuperChristians
Missions is not just for Super Christians. The Great Commission will be accomplished by ordinary people, who posess a heartfelt faith in Jesus Christ, and who are faithful to follow Jesus’ instruction to go into all the world to make discples. Simple, right? Well, the concept is simple. Even the decision to oby or not obey is…
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Cats & Dogs and God’s Global Glory
First among the Core Values at Walnut Hill Church is God’s Global Glory. This is the recognition that we do not exist, as a church or as individuals, primarily for ourselves, but for God and for his glory. Expressing this as a platitude is one thing. Getting newcomers to agree with this premise is something else. And getting people to…
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The Jesus Pledge
What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? What does it mean to be Gospel-driven? I think my friend, Paul Miller, expresses it beautifully in The Jesus Pledge: I pledge my life to Jesus and the Gospel. I want Jesus not to be just part of my life or something that…
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Following Jesus in Different Directions?
I’ve been pondering the following assertion from Ron Sider‘s Living Like Jesus: “Still, the modern church prefers to accept only half of Jesus. They willingly accept him either as model or as mediator – but not both. Some urge us to follow his example of love and social concern, but they forget about the cross. Others…
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Cat & Dog Theology
It seems to be going great. Our church is in the middle of hosting the Cat & Dog Theology seminar as part of our missions conference. And despite those reservations that would usually be expected when a conservative church hosts a seminar with such a preposterous sounding theme, those in attendance seem to be benefiting…
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True Spirituality
This is the third of four posts in a series titled Two Contents, Two Realities. These posts are slightly edited excerpts of a paper delivered by Dr. Francis Schaeffer as part of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. ******* The first reality is spiritual reality. Let us emphasize again as we have before: we believe with all our…
