Thoughtful Reflections on Faith and Life
There are many Christian charities all around the world. Whatever criticism the Church may deserve, Christians have had a positive impact on the world. There are hospitals, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, counselling centres, and many other programs designed to meet people’s needs. But what is the ultimate goal of this? Specifically, for evangelicals? I grew … Read More “Why Should Christians Care For People’s Needs?” »
How should someone share their faith? How should a pastor proclaim the gospel? There are plenty of different ideas out there. People do everything from fire and brimstone evangelism to seeker sensitive ministry. And there is not much patience from one end of the spectrum for the other end of the spectrum. What is the … Read More “Proclamation and the Golden Rule” »
Mark 5:1-20 Introduction What does Jesus want us to do? Jesus wants us to follow him. Jesus wants us to love God, neighbours and each other. God wants us to work for justice, especially among the marginalized, and Jesus wants us to grow as disciples. All of that would seem to be plenty and I … Read More “Growing the Kingdom” »
I recently did a Twitter poll that stated that not all Christians were evangelicals. While some people disagreed with me, there were others that misunderstood me. They asked questions such as: “How can you be a Christian and not share the gospel, i.e. do evangelism?” While I was referring to a tradition within Christianity, evangelical … Read More “What’s the Difference Between Evangelicalism and Evangelism?” »
I frequently hear comments that apologetics is not very useful in evangelism and that “no one” comes to faith through apologetics. I’m not convinced that is accurate. In fact I know people who faith journey was greatly influenced by apologetics. So how does apologetics fit with evangelism? One way is what I call pre-evangelism. Just … Read More “What Role Does Apologetics Have in Evangelism?” »
Romans 10:14-15 Introduction If I asked you to at some point today approach a random stranger and share with them the gospel, how would you react? You might respond by saying that you are shy and don’t talk to strangers. Fine, go and share the gospel with a close friend or family member that you … Read More “Sharing God’s Saving Love” »
I often look at various beliefs and topics through the lens of my various church experiences. While I am a Baptist now, I was raised an Anglican and was later a Pentecostal. This is helpful when looking at the “sinner’s prayer.” In the Anglican church, I never heard of the sinner’s prayer. There were prayers … Read More “How Important is the Sinner’s Prayer?” »
I just finished leading my first Alpha. In fact, even though I have pastored for over twenty years, this is the first time I have gone through an Alpha course. Our community did a city-wide Alpha, with as many churches doing Alpha as possible. We wanted to blitz our city with this program. I went … Read More “Thoughts on Alpha” »
One of the things that I have noticed about contemporary Christian ministry is there is disagreement over the purpose and aim of Sunday worship services. The two options for the focus are: Christians who are part of that Christian community. Non-Christians who will hopefully visit the church, either as an invited guest or their own … Read More “Who Should Sunday Worship Services Be Aimed At?” »
Evangelism and apologetics are related activities but they are not the same thing. Evangelism literally means the announcing of Good News and apologetics means giving a reason. There is some overlap between these activities but there are differences. Evangelism is the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the coming of the … Read More “What is the Difference Between Evangelism and Apologetics?” »
If you are involved in apologetics, you will be talking to different types of people. You will talk to Christians who are dealing with doubts and non-Christians who are seeking information. But you will also be talking to angry skeptics. There is nothing wrong with being a skeptic. I consider myself to be a skeptic. … Read More “How to Deal With an Angry Skeptic” »
What?! Am I out of my mind? Pastors and other church leaders have been working hard for decades to get congregations to move from an inward to an outward focus. We have finally made some progress and now I’m saying that it is time to go back to the old ways? I’m not suggesting that … Read More “Churches Need More of an Inward Focus” »
A sermon preached at Queen Street Baptist Church. Introduction We have been looking at the mission of Queen Street Baptist Church. We have looked at our qualities as a welcoming, growing and worshiping church. We are now going to look at what it means to be sharing church. But we should begin by asking if … Read More “What is a Sharing Church?” »
I will admit that I approached David Stark’s new book, Reaching Millennials, with a bit of caution. It all came down to the subtitle: Proven Methods for Engaging a Young Generation. I am always hesitant with such grand claims that make it look like you can insert ministry into a formula and get the desired … Read More “Reaching Millennials” »
All Christians should be interested in seeing the Church grow and people come to faith in Jesus. A helpful resource in this conversation is Growing God’s Church: How People Are Actually Coming to Faith Today by Gary L. McIntosh. The book is divided into three parts: Church Today, Faith Today and Evangelism Today. The first section … Read More “Growing God’s Church – Review” »
I am an apologist and a teacher by nature but I am by no means an evangelist. I have friends who can share so easily but it is hard work for me. That does not mean that I get off that easy. In my own journey I have come across four books about evangelism that … Read More “4 Books on Evangelism You Need to Read” »
I was shocked to hear that this past week, a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses were stationed at one of the exits from our children’s schoolyard. They were giving away copies of their book, What Does the Bible Really Teach? Little did they know that I have written a book in response to that very book. … Read More “Proselytization and Children” »
The Great Commission commands us to make disciples, not just converts. But how we make disciples is going to be influenced by how we do evangelism. How do we try to bring people into the kingdom? We present all the benefits of being a Christian. We talk about the quality of the fellowship, the joy … Read More “Cheap Discipleship” »
In this episode of my video blog, I look at some of the concerns that some people have about apologetics. Should we be involved in apologetics, either on the evangelism or the discipleship side? I look at two of the objections that I often encounter. For more episodes of my video blog, go to this … Read More “An Apologetic for Apologetics” »
I had a friend recently tell me that they heard a highly educated Christian define apologetics as trying to reason oneself to God. What?! I have no problem with people not liking apologetics. But if they are going to reject apologetics, they should at least understand what they are rejecting. Isn’t that a fair request? … Read More “Is Apologetics Trying to Reason Oneself to God?” »
One of the most important discussions concerning religion these days are about the nones. These are not women living in convents but those when asked about religion, indicate that they belong to none. What is interesting is that this group is the fastest growing segment on religious surveys. There is a lot of confusion about the … Read More “Rise of the Nones” »
You can’t argue people into the kingdom of God. This is one of the most common reasons why people do not want to get involved in apologetics. I would want to ask what is meant by an argument. If you mean yelling and screaming because someone has a different opinion, I would be the first … Read More “The Non-Arguing Argument” »
When I first became a Christian, one of the hardest things that I had to deal with was not persecution but how to deal with Genesis 1. I always hated reading that chapter. It was not so much the question of evolution but the age of the earth. The Christians I knew expected me to … Read More “Creationism and Evangelism” »
In my spiritual journey I went from being a nominal Christian to an atheist to a theist to a Christian. For this post, I want to focus on the time that I was a theist. Even though I had regained faith in God, I did not want to become a Christian. In no way am … Read More “5 Reasons I Didn’t Want to Become a Christian” »
Many people, Christian and other, acknowledge the impact of Billy Graham’s life and ministry on the world. But few people would point to him as one of the world’s great apologists. I would like to argue that he is. It is true that Billy Graham does not have a PhD in the philosophy of religion, … Read More “Billy Graham – Apologist” »
I have not been blogging much lately because I am at Acadia Divinity College, taking my last two courses for my Doctor of Ministry degree. The course I just finished was “A Theology for Holistic Mission and Ministry” taught by Ronald Sider. This was a great course that reinforced the idea of the church being … Read More “Wholistic Apologetics” »
Romans 10 Introduction Pastors are well aware that there are certain subjects that congregations do not like to hear sermons on. One of those topics is that of hell. The entire concept of hell is extremely unpleasant and few people want to hear about it. That does not mean it should not be preached on, … Read More “Preach the Gospel” »
One of the things that some people do not like about conservative Christianity is the focus on converting people who are not Christians. The attractive thing about liberal Christianity is that it can focus on the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus, encouraging us to better people, without taking the offensive step of conversion. I … Read More “When It’s Wrong to Be Right: Conversion” »
I must confess that I hate the word “evangelize.” It is not that it is too “churchy” of a word. Nor is it the part about evangel. Evangel is based on a Greek word for “good news.” We have Good News, and we should share the Good News. The problem I have is the “ize” … Read More “Evangelicious” »
One of the problems with conservative Christians is that they are intolerant of other religions. The religious right insists that their beliefs are correct and all the other religions are wrong. In our pluralistic society, that is unacceptable. This makes Christianity dangerous and creates some anger on the part of Christianity’s critics. It is true … Read More “When It’s Wrong to Be Right: Other Religions” »
I recently listened to an audio course on Apologetics and Outreach by Jerram Barrs of Covenant Theological Seminary. It was quite good and I recommend it for others. Despite the title, it is more about outreach than apologetics. He does not spend much time on the history of apologetics, how to defend the Bible or … Read More “Jerram Barrs on Apologetics and Outreach” »
