I often think our modern church is guilty of romanticizing the New Testament Church. And yet it strikes me that we only ever seem to romanticize those warm, cozy moments when believers are hanging out together in small rooms. [Click title to read more.]
Tag: fellowship
Fellowship Is What Happens – Or Should Happen – In Times Of Church Conflict And Disagreement
I fear that, over time, the church has lost its grasp of what fellowship actually is. We've reduced it to a positive, feel-good form of engagement: bonding at a Bible study, chatting over chips and dips, believers going out in kayaks together. And that's surely a part of fellowship, but not the entirety of it. Fellowship is what ought to happen - what needs to happen - at these crisis points when egregious wrongs have been committed and everyone is (justifiably!) angry and hurt. [Click title to read more.]
The Dangers of Being Easily Influenced (By Really Good People)
When we let ourselves be too easily influenced by other Christians - even the really, super-good ones! - we run the temptation of idolizing them. And then we're crushed and brokenhearted when it turns out that they're not perfect after all. [Click title to read more.]
Your “Comfortable” Is Someone Else’s Blizzard
In fact, sometimes - without even intending to - I expect that other Christians will always respond to situations or think the same things or share the same feelings or hobbies or preferences that I do. And that's hardly the case! [Click title to read more.]
The Value of Giving People Space
There is value in giving people the time and the space to work something out on their own. [Click title to read more.]
Dissecting The Church Clique
That word, "clique" - people don't like it. And they don't like being described with it because they associate it with cattiness and backstabbing. But that's not the way I mean it here. When I say "church clique," I'm simply referring to a group of Christians with a shared history whose culture (often unintentionally) is more insular than inclusive. [Click title to read more.]
Encouragement For The Perfectly Fine
But there is a whole other set of people we ought to be encouraging that most of us forget about: the people who seem just fine. [Click title to read more.]
Five Fundamentals For Deep Church Friendships
Over time, I've learned that there are five factors that determine the structure of godly friendships. Where one or more of these is absent, acquaintance-ships tend to reign over anything much deeper. [Click title to read more.]
The Significance of the Letter
The breaking-down of difference simply to celebrate a shared Christian mission, or to work together, is I think much rarer than it used to be. [Click title to read more.]
Marking The Seasons of the Christian Life: A Meditation on Ash Wednesday
For me, the turning of the seasons in Christian life functions the same way the turning of the natural seasons do: it's a reminder to shift focus, to regather my thoughts, to start anew. [Click title to read more.]
Samaritan's Song 