Andreas Kostenberger writes about the mission of the church : The church’s mission–in both belief and practice–should be grounded in the biblical theology of mission. Reflection on the church’s mission should be predicated upon the affirmation of the full and sole authority of Scripture. The church’s mission should be conceived primarily in terms of the church’s faithfulness and responsiveness to the missionary mandate given by the Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in Scripture. The church’s understanding of its mission should be hermeneutically sound. The church’s mission...

Tim Chester, co-author of Total Church, was interviewed over on the Desiring God blog. Check it out. Good stuff.  I’ve been reading the book and am challenged on a number of levels. My soul and mind resonate with the subtitle: “A radical reshaping around Gospel and community.”  A helpful quote from Chester: One of our catchphrases is “ordinary people living ordinary life with gospel intentionality.” It means doing the chores, having meals, watching sports, and so on with an intention to talk about Jesus, to pastor one another with the gospel, and to share that gospel with...

Only a few dozen pages into the new Total Church book. It arrived this week in the mail — 4 weeks before it’s official publishing date — and I was hoping to dig into it this weekend if possible. Last night I couldn’t put it down. Looking forward to interacting with the UK authors’ concepts, as they try to unfold what they mean by the subtitle: "A radical reshaping around Gospel and community." The publisher gives a summary: "As two pastors outline the biblical calling to make both the gospel and community central in the Christian life, they apply...

Perhaps the most influential voice in America, stakes her claim as a spiritual leader and denies the identity, work and exclusivity of Jesus the Christ. How can millions of so-called Christians in the U.S. watch her every day, read her recommended books, and follow after her so blindly? I’m not asking for Oprah to affirm the true vision of Jesus (as she’s not a genuine believer, she cannot), but please don’t muddy the waters and consider one’s self a Christian and then say these nonsensical things. Oprah has more influence than she could ever realize. Audio of Oprah’s...

Last night we continued our series in our Foundations class at Foothills on The Church . We had a great time studying some of the metaphors for the Church in the New Testament, like: the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23 ) with Christ as our Head, the flock of God (John 10 ) with Jesus being our Good Shepherd, the family (household) of God, the building of God and temple of the Holy Spirit, and the bride of Christ (2 Cor. 11:2 ; Eph. 5:25-33 ). As we do each week, I stated our over-arching goal for the lesson: That we learn to know, love and enjoy God more than we know, love and enjoy anything or...

This past summer I read a short little book by Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? It was a quick, good read, and I highly recommend the book. Recently, permission was given to New Attitude to post the first chapter of the book, free to read and download (PDF). Find it here. Much of Dever’s ministry is emphasizing and developing nine marks of healthy churches. I have grown in my understanding, appreciation and devotion to the local church. God had to tear down my pride, humble me by painful circumstances and bring confusion before allowing me to see the light of the beauty of His Bride,...

Here’s a portion of what we sent to our extended family, inviting them to Dutch’s baby dedication (which will take place this Sunday morning): Why Dedicate the Dutcher? We wanted to share with you, our family, why we do what we do. It may seem that a baby dedication is merely a religious ritual, a tradition to follow. In some ways, it is. We see the value of traditions that celebrate and affirm Dutch. We want him to know that he is valued, loved, and celebrated. We will spend our lives affirming him and this is a first step. But, this is really the secondary reason we are having him...

I ran across this quote from a book I hope to one day read. Charles Drew in his new book A Journey Worth Taking, writes: “Church” is not an event. It is people–people whom God calls us to love. What is more, it is in a very important sense an involuntary community of people: we don’t choose our brothers and sisters–God does. And sometimes (oftentimes) those people are not terribly compatible with us–not the people we would choose to hang out with. But it is this very incompatibility that is so important, for at least two reasons. First, learning to love the...

“A local church will only be as great as its conception of God. An individual Christian will be a success or a failure depending upon what he or she thinks of God. It is critically important that we have a knowledge of the Holy One, that we know what God is like.” – A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God, pp. 41-42. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Knowledge of the Holy One", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2007/10/12/knowledge-of-the-holy-one/" });

Justin Buzzard (normally found here) has written a piece, “Three Pastoral Concerns in 800 Words” on the New Attitude Blog, dedicated to raising up a God-centered, Gospel-living, Bible-saturated generation of men and women who display Jesus Christ is in all their lives. Good stuff, especially the reminder that the Gospel is not just the entrance to the Christian life, it is also the imperative of all the Christian life, to be related to Christ and live in Him, at all times, in the Gospel. (Or, to use a metaphor I came up with, the Gospel is not merely the diving board into the pool,...