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How Do We Keep from Defaulting to White Culture?

Whose culture determines how you do life together? That’s who your community is really serving. I’ve never heard of a church planting team setting out “to plant a white church.” They have no overt hostility toward any particular group. But in the way they structure their community life together, the “language” they’re speaking is white culture.

Mission Central: Introduction

Chris and Alison introduce Mission Central, a new podcast for emerging Christian leaders. Our coming micro-season will feature five thoughtful guests who embody the elements of a faithful leader we focus on this spring: Effective Leadership, Spiritual Fo…

This is Serious. Don’t Be Afraid.

Today was the day it hit home for me. This is serious. It was in an afternoon meeting with my staff team (via Zoom, of course), and my supervisor updated me on the Surgeon General’s recent warning: “This week, it’s going to get bad.” Last week, things were disorienting. I was suddenly

Wrestling with Wrath

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” — Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

God is a jerk, according to

According to Science, Being in A Hurry Makes You a Jerk

I haven’t been sworn at very many times in my life. When it does happen, I find it unpleasant. At the most recent occurrence, I was exiting an airplane. Delayed by several hours already, I was about to miss the second connecting flight to my final destination. As we lingered in the indeterminable moment between the aircraft taxiing to a stop and the finally door opening, I stood at the ready, suitcase on my shoulder and eyes

Dunked in Diapers: A Case for Infant Baptism

“That’s horrible! Why would they splash a baby??”

This was the reaction of my Ugandan friend from seminary when he visited our Anglican Easter vigil. He is not alone. Many throughout the world think that the practice of infant baptism is unbiblical and harmful. Why, indeed, do we dunk (or splash) babies in the waters of baptism? Isn’t this just a product of elevating tradition and abandoning Sola Scriptura?

No, it’s not. In fact, infant baptism is legitimate and vitally impacts

The Incarnation: God’s Commitment

This time of year, if you run in Christian circles, you’re apt to hear what the incarnation has to do with missions. And rightly so: “The Word Became Flesh” is such an earth-shattering, sweet truth. It merits informing our ministry strategy. “Incarnational ministry” is the traditional approach to this topic, harped on ad nauseum. It’s usually synonymous with “embodied” ministry, or models

God is for God

The blazing, burning center of the Biblical story is God. The story of the Bible does not ultimately revolve around us; it ultimately revolves around God. The point of the Bible is not God’s love for humanity, or God’s intention for our good. The point is this: God is the Melody in