What do you get when you mix up a megachurch sex scandal, a Reformed pastor in a fistfight, an ambitious blonde TV reporter, a zealous but slightly misguided youth worker who likes Brandy (a girl, not a drink), an officiously small-minded middle-ranking accountant, a seasoned detective and an ageing ex-Christian New Ager called Mystic Union? The answer is Evangellyfish, a web novel by American author and pastor Doug Wilson. (more…)
Category Archives: Church
The unease of the next generation
Up front
There seems to be a restlessness—an unease—among younger evangelicals. Something is wrong with the way we do church. How can we fix it?
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Wesley, charms and church planting
Pastoral Ministry
For some reason (now lost in the fog that descends regularly on my neural pathways), I was reading the words of Wesley’s ‘O for a thousand tongues’ the other day. I don’t remember why I was reading, but I do remember being struck by what I read: “Jesus, the name that calms our fears …” I was sure that it wasn’t quite right. Sure enough, it wasn’t; Wesley actually penned “Jesus, the name that charms our fears”.
I thought to myself, there’s a church planting lesson in that.
Making singleness better
Life
There are those who say that singleness is better, but unfortunately that is not the experience of many who have been single long-term. Tim Adeney looks at why, and what we can do to love and serve the single people in our churches. (more…)
Keeping the main thing the main thing: Churches and building programmes
Pastoral Ministry
Every now and then in the life of a church, its facilities may need to undergo significant renovations to accommodate its expanding membership and changing activities. Luke Tattersall shares some of his wisdom and experience on how to stay focused on the important things. (more…)
The clarion call of the gospel: An interview with Phillip Jensen
Tony Payne speaks to The Briefing’s founder (Phillip Jensen) about Evangelicalism, church, preaching and the essentials of the Christian life. (more…)
Regulative or normative?
Pastoral Ministry, Sola Panel
The discussion following my last post on church meandered around to the question of how Scripture should shape our congregational meetings. This question has often been cast as a debate between the Normative Principle and the Regulative Principle. Putting it very simply, the Normative Principle says “You’re allowed to do this thing in church so long as Scripture doesn’t forbid it”, whereas the Regulative Principle says “Only do this thing in church if Scripture gives clear warrant to do so”. (more…)
This is not a real church
Thought, Sola Panel
Some years ago, an elderly relative visited our church. She was a churchgoer herself—of a rather traditional kind. Afterwards, I asked her whether she had enjoyed church that morning—at which point, she looked straight at me and said with characteristic bluntness, “This is not a real church”. (more…)
Making trainees of all people
What is training and what does it involve? As David Shead argues, it is all about discipleship. (more…)
Sunday school gone postal
Pastoral Ministry
I’m the children’s worker at St Mark’s Anglican Church in Oakhurst, in Sydney’s western suburbs. I don’t see my role as a job; I see it as a wonderful God-given opportunity to support the other people in our children’s ministry team and to share the gospel with people in my parish. (more…)
The reluctant evangelist – Interview with Mark Dever
Pastoral Ministry
Is church for evangelism?
Interchange
I wonder if Tony Payne has created a reductionist focus in pointing the church to act like a “fellowship of the redeemed” when it gathers (Briefing #362, ‘Is church for evangelism?’). In the descriptive ministry of Jesus, he turned effortlessly to the mix of his listeners (Luke 12). Paul could ask his readers to “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor 13:5). (more…)
Traditions old and new
Being old is neither right nor wrong. Being new is also neither right nor wrong. Therefore, being either a conservative or a radical is silly: it is neither right nor wrong to want to preserve the past or explore the latest innovation. (more…)
Is church for evangelism?
Up front, Sola Panel
Apologies for posing what, at first glance, may seem an obvious and even silly question, but it’s one I’ve been pondering lately: is evangelism a key purpose of Christian assemblies (or ‘churches’)? I am not asking whether God’s people should evangelize—the answer to that is as clear as the need is urgent. I am asking whether evangelism is a primary purpose of our regular ‘Sunday’ gatherings. (more…)