Category: Clergy and Laity Dualism
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“Reimagining Church” – Book Review
Obsessions with buildings. Churches run like corporations. Command and control hierarchies with professional Christians dispensing services to passive spectators. Are these endemic to our contemporary church culture? Frank Viola thinks so, and he believes they are without biblical warrant. Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity is Frank Viola’s follow-up to Pagan Christianity. The…
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Paul on Money, Ministry, and Work
Ben Witherington: Paul on Money, Ministry, and Work (The following is an excerpt from a book I am working on, on Money in the NT. Enjoy…..but take off your bling while reading it 🙂 ) CHAPTER SEVEN: PAUL—ON WORK, REMUNERATION, AND THE LOVE OF MONEY “The rule is not to talk about money with people…
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Household: Deconstructing the Laity
The Household of God metaphor envisions God as the paterfamilias of the household, with each of us as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Some siblings are more mature than others in their faith. Some are newly adopted. But we are all siblings. I've had the opportunity to talk about the concept of the Household…
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A “Commissioning Service” for Everyone in Every Line of Work
Vanguard Church (Bob Robinson): A "Commissioning Service" for Everyone in Every Line of Work It is my contention that we need to get beyond the false secular/sacred dichotomy that is so prevalent in the church today. One glaring way we create this false dualism is in saying that pastors and missionaries are the ones "called"…
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Miroslav Volf on Theology of Work
I'm presently reading Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theology of Work by Miroslav Volf. The book is divided into two sections. The first section deals with the contemporary world of work, and the second deals with developing Volf's theology of work. I loved these opening paragraphs from the second section (all emphases in the…
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Reflecting on the State of the Church
I am taking a break from my Other Six Days posts to offer something interesting to reflect on. I want to place two quotes side by side. On Monday, I linked a post by Eugene Cho about pastoral health in which he gave the following statistics: 80% of pastors say they have insufficient time with…
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On Work and Vocation
Every Square Inch: On Work and Vocation Andre has some good quotes about vocation in this post, including this one by Tim Keeler of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. You can't just disciple people on how to be Christians in their private lives (e.g. prayer, witnessing, Bible study). Center-city people don't have much…
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Leaps of Faith: What business execs are learning as they lead Christian nonprofits
Christianity Today: Leaps of Faith: What business execs are learning as they lead Christian nonprofits Having worked in both for-profit and nonprofit ventures and having served on the board of several nonprofit corporations, I think this article hits several issues squarely on the head. At the same time, many baby boomers are looking to move…
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Resolving the Faith Work Tension in Christian Professional Practice
Workplace Spirituality: Resolving the Faith Work Tension in Christian Professional Practice by Mike McLoughlin Christian Professionals have real problems resolving the faith work tension in their professional practice. They ask, Is faith welcome at work? Is work valuable to God? What do I do when faith conflicts with work? Where is the balance between faith…
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“What is He?” D. H. Lawrence
What is He? D. H. Lawrence What is he? -A man, of course. Yes, but what does he do? -He lives and is a man. Oh quite! But he must work. He must have a job of some sort -Why? Because obviously he’s not one of the leisured classes. -I don’t know. He has lots…