Pastors and Public Servants: Lead Your Neighbor as Yourself
As a pastor, I’ve found one of the main difficulties in leading faithfully and living as good neighbors is that we can’t always choose our neighbors or the context and circumstances in which we lead and live. And in a time of tense divisiveness, global conflicts, natural disasters, and other complex crises, this sense of Read more…
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‘It’s Okay to Say We’re Born Again’
Nowhere on its website or in its founding documents does the new Global Methodist Church call itself evangelical. Perhaps the term is too controversial, too divisive and political. Or perhaps the Methodists are just out of practice. “You know, as Methodists, it’s okay to say we’re born again,” said Asbury Theological Seminary professor Luther Oconer, Read more…
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The Cross in an Age of ‘Spiritual Derangement’
I love the church, but I can’t say I always understand or even like it. And in my more than half a century inside it, I can’t remember a time when the American church seemed less clear about its identity and purpose. The Lord decreed love as our signature characteristic (John 13:35), yet Christians have Read more…
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Don’t ‘Spiritually Bypass’ Your Church-Hurt Neighbor
“Pray, believe, and receive—or doubt and do without” was a phrase I often heard in my Christian circle. And although it was not intended to be a harmful adage, it became one. That is, after I worked at a ministry where I was bullied, isolated, and left to fend for myself. When I finally decided Read more…
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Boomers: Serve Like Your Whole Life Is Ahead of You
Not long ago, I visited my 99-year-old father and 97-year-old mother. My dad had just passed his driver’s test again, and a year before that, he published yet another book. He told me he wants to take up painting again. Then, with a mischievous look in his eye, my dad turned to me, a 60-something Read more…
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