Category: Christian news

Update: Under James MacDonald, Chicago-area megachurch was in “serious violation” of 4 out of 7 stewardship standards, says Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Update (April 17): Harvest Bible Chapel has lost its standing with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), months after controversy over founding pastor James MacDonald culminated with his firing. The ECFA board voted today to terminate the Chicago-area church’s membership status due to... Read More

Why a growing number of congregations are taking deliberate steps to relearn the habit of talking together. In this age of social media, it is widely accepted that we don’t know how to talk together—and especially with those whose perspective differs greatly from our own. From Washington, DC, where the federal government teeters on the brink of shutdown every time a new budget must be passed, down to the smallest social gatherings, society in the 21st century is marked by an... Read More

Even in the midst of the sorrow, pain, and shame of the cross, Good Friday is still very good. I do not look forward to Good Friday. I’m an upbeat kind of guy. A negative situation is always an opportunity, not a problem. The glass is always half full, and more is probably on the way. But all that changes on Good Friday. Sure I feel down and out other days of the year. The waves of life will do that to you. But Good Friday plunges me into a much darker place. Waves of sadness,... Read More

Current statistics about the secularization of American may come as a surprise. If you take a course in the sociology of religion at any college or university, the professor will inevitably spend some time on what is known as secularization theory. This theory posits that as societies become more economically prosperous and obtain higher levels of education, the inevitable result is a movement away from organized religion and toward secularization. The famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud was... Read More

The celebration of Christ’s resurrection stands in contrast to Christmas joy. Easter joy has been harder to come by this year. Between the growing ugliness of American politics and the acrimony within the church body, I’ve found it harder to anticipate looking up from the broken body of my Lord to rejoice this Sunday in the resurrected and ascended Christ. When I shared my struggle with a good friend, he suggested I revisit a collection of sermons that the 19th-century priest John... Read More

According to the gospel of John, the cross casts us into community. We Americans tend to be a sentimental people. This makes it difficult for us to look directly into the horror, shame, and degradation of a death by crucifixion. When Jesus says to Mary, “Woman, behold thy son” and to John “Behold thy Mother,” we often interpret this saying of our Lord as a sentimental invitation to take good care of your mother. I am a mother, and I definitely want to be taken care of!... Read More

The cathedral’s famous Gothic form, which proclaimed Christ in shape and structure, will never die. Gothic architecture has long reached where Christian missionaries would go but are not permitted: the minds and hearts of the faithless. The world’s grief over the flames at Notre-Dame de Paris revealed its power as far more than architectural style. For the great medieval commentator William Durandus (d. 1296), the Gothic church took the shape of Christ’s body: the chancel the... Read More

Let me give you a recommendation. Choosing a college can be a daunting task. If you are going into ministry, you don’t just have to decide the college, but you have to decide the type of college. You have to consider majors, locations, costs, student activities, school reputation and more in order to make one of the biggest decisions of your life. If God is calling you to ministry, there’s a whole new set of questions you will likely ask yourself. You’ll be considering the... Read More

Four years of political spats on campus have prepared us for partisan divides and controversy. Taylor University recently made national news with its announcement that Vice President Mike Pence will deliver this year’s commencement address—spurring backlash from students, alumni, parents, and faculty. This is not the only recent political clash to put the small evangelical college in the spotlight. Last year, an anonymous newspaper titled Excalibur was created and distributed by... Read More

The short-term outlook appears grim, says scholar Daniel Philpott, but there are grounds for hope. In the West and elsewhere, views of Islam are sharply divided. To put the matter far too simply, one side describes Islam as a “religion of peace,” while the other contends that it is particularly disposed to violence. Similar strife occurs in debates about law, democracy, religious freedom, and other human rights in the Muslim-majority world. In Religious Freedom in Islam: The Fate... Read More