You are at church on a Sunday morning. After some worship, announcements and the reading it’s time for the center piece of the service—the sermon. The pastor stays glued to the pulpit and delivers a three-point sermon with many theological explanations that go straight over your head. You find it difficult to follow the talk…
In Christian circles, calling usually refers to a divine selection for ministry, typically being a pastor, missionary, evangelist, prophet, or apostle. Christians, who are not called to ministry, often speak of a vocational calling, which typically refers to caring or community-focused jobs, such as doctors, nurses, midwives, carers, teachers, charity workers, etc. It has become…
Its subtitle reveals what it intends its reader to achieve: Communicating the Christian Message to People Who Don’t Read. As some of our students work in largely oral societies or among illiterate people, this book is an indispensable guide. The experienced author helps the reader understand oral communicators and contemporary oral communities and explains how…
Our solar panels produce double the amount of needed electricity. Our front door boasts a plaque that designates our property as sustainable, resource-saving, and healthy for living. My wife and I received this award from the Secretary of State for the Environment for outstanding services to protect the climate. Do we fulfill Christ’s commission through…
I must admit that I am musically challenged. Not too long after my conversion at university, I set off to Dijon (France) for an exchange term during my studies as a technical translator. Whilst singing enthusiastically during a service, a French student said to me: “You’re singing out of tune.” I replied: “But God is…
Redemption without the cross, forgiveness without repentance, love without judgment, heaven without hell, faith without church … “We want to become more mature Christians!” Which pastor does not rejoice when his church members voice this desire. (S)he probably imagines that they want to learn how to discern God’s will better, win more people for Jesus,…
