Podcast: Who has the Authority to Baptize Others?

Ashamed/Unashamed March 9, 2013

Toni Blay via Compfight Rachel Held Evans posted this astounding reflection on her blog this week. Normally, we post a short excerpt of the blogs we link to, but this one MUST be read in it’s entirety. It reminds us of what is both ugly and beautiful in the church and ourselves and calls us…

Lighten Up: A Seeker-Sensitive Church Naming Committee March 27, 2015

The Problem with Mixing Church & Government April 23, 2015

Image by fusion-of-horizons via Flickr Some people insist that the only reason that neither Jesus nor anyone else in the first several centuries of the church tried to dominate the political system of their day was because they were a small minority of people living in a nondemocratic and hostile environment. By contrast, the argument goes,…

The Problem with “Church” February 1, 2016

Many people think of church as a religious building people attend once a week to sing, hear a sermon, take an offering and perhaps participate in the Lord’s Supper (or “take Communion”). Many refer to the church as “the house of the Lord,” imagining that God is more present in this sacred building and during church…

A Brief History of Political Power and the Church August 11, 2016

The history of the church has been largely one of believers refusing to trust the way of the crucified Jesus and instead giving in to the very temptation he resisted. It’s the history of an institution that has frequently traded its holy and distinct mission for what it thought was a good mission. It is…

The Purpose of the Church June 11, 2015

Concerning the preaching of the Gospel, Paul wrote that God’s intent was that “through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places … in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord”…