Hello, folks. This here's the new blog. Yes, I'm an addict. Or, as Dan Edelen likes to call me, a were-blogger.
Actually, I'm closing down two places to merge their aims with a larger one and thereby morph my blogging efforts into what you will see here. But more on that later.
I am undoubtedly a cynic and critic about the state of evangelicalism in America. This thing we've been handed is broken. I'm not sure it's ever been un-broken, actually, but that's a post for another day. The point is that, in the spirit of the Reformers, for whom semper reformada (always reforming!) was an ongoing commitment, I don't think seeing what's wrong should lead us to despair and despondency, and still less should it cause apathy or complacency. I'm a cynic and a critic, sure, but there is something in the air, a prophetic call I guess you could say, that is hopeful and optimistic. This is a grace-driven call to cheerful repentance. It's my hope to contribute, however meagerly, to the growing effort to reform the discipleship culture of the American Church.
Frankly, I'm really excited about the opportunities opening up in the evangelical landscape right now. It's a great time to be doing ministry, because we are in a peculiar age when the Gospel even scandalizes people inside the Church!
I flat-out love the Church. I just do. I love Jesus, and Jesus loves His Bride, and I want to love the things Jesus loves, and that means I love the Bride. I love the Church, warts and all. And it is out of this love, the same love Jesus had for the never-quite-getting it, bumbling stumbling disciples, that I am outspoken about the call to the Church to repent of modernism, postmodernism, consumerism, idolatry, mega-mall mentalities, cultural absorption, showmanship, hype, and trendiness, and once again embrace the full Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I would love to see churches repent of the fixation on "success," and start making disciples.
That's enough for now. A more proper introduction is coming Monday.
(Btw, despite sharing a title, this weblog is not affiliated in any way with the book The Gospel-Driven Church by Ian Stackhouse. I haven't even read it; but I bet I'd like it quite a bit.)
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