Series: Featured

Beyond Information

By Tom Lawson We”re still living with the aftermath of the Protestant Reformers who cleansed worship spaces of every piece of art. But doesn”t the Bible give us examples and a mandate to use all the arts in worship? In 1524, the great GrossmÃ¼nster cathedral in ZÃ¼rich was just a shell of its former glory. The statues had been smashed and all the artwork had been removed. Initially, even congregational singing had been discarded, along with the statues and frescoes. What was left was a nearly empty room, except for a towering pulpit, for plain and unadorned Christian worship. In

December 11, 2015

Book Reviews Reviews

A Book for Those Who Make Art

By Tim Neuenschwander For the Beauty of the Church:Â Casting a Vision for the Arts Edited by W. David O. Taylor Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010 For the Beauty of the Church brings together a collection of noted voices of art making (the craft of making art) and art makers (the people who create art) from religiousÂ settings, churches, and forums. There is something in this collection for everyone who is looking for ways to manifest arts in his or her religious venue. While some chapters held little interest for me, others were spot on and I gleanedÂ much from the encouraging and

December 11, 2015

Meditating on Hope: December 11

By Becky Ahlberg Friday, December 11 Read 1 Timothy 4.Â In this well-known passage, the apostle Paul shares his wisdom with young Timothy and reminds him his behavior is critical to his credibility as a leader. It”s always good for leaders to remind themselves of these important truths. And right in the middle of it is this nugget, “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God” (v. 10). Ours is not hope built on quaint stories or wishful thinking. The incarnation wasn”t magic. It was the purposeful, powerful behavior of the

December 10, 2015

Art in the Worship of the Church

By Paul M. Blowers Worship in the church”s context has never been artless, any more than it was artless in Israel”s ancient temple. Worship is already, in one sense, a ritual “performance.” The biblical revelation is our ultimate “script,” and Christian believers are both the “actors” and “spectators” who, through various formal actions””such as singing, proclaiming, praying, confessing, offering, blessing, and eating””remember and replay the mighty deeds of God. Indeed, we join ourselves to a “cast of thousands,” the “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) who have come before us as players in the living drama that is the Christian faith.

December 10, 2015

Meditating on Hope: December 10

By Becky Ahlberg Thursday, December 10 Today brings another atypical Christmas passage, 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 16-18. This “jars of clay” passage is one of my favorites for lots of reasons, but maybe never more so than today as I ponder a new thought: Jesus chose to become a jar of clay himself! Fully man, fully God. Now that is a treasure in a jar of clay! What could illustrate the fragility of the life Jesus embarked upon more poignantly than a newborn baby? What life on earth ever embodied the images in this passage more than Jesus? “Pressed . .

December 9, 2015

Christian Standard Updates News & Updates

Standard Publishing Group LLC Announces Its Corporate Name Change to Christian Standard Media LLC

Christian Standard Media LLC Will Continue to Produce and Market Christian Ministry Resources Such as Magazines, VBS, and Missions Kits Cincinnati, OH ““ December 9, 2015 ““ Standard Publishing Group LLC, following the recent sale of its Standard Lesson CommentaryÂ® series, Sunday school curriculum, and several other church resources to David C. Cook, is pleased to announce its corporate name change to Christian Standard Media LLC. The company”s highly esteemed Christian StandardÂ® monthly magazine and The LookoutÂ® weekly magazine, as well as the popular Vacation Bible School program and other ministry resources such as the Kids Serving Kidsâ„¢ missions kits

December 9, 2015

Meditating on Hope: December 9

By Becky Ahlberg Wednesday, December 9 Start your thoughts this morning reading Romans 5:1-5. Perseverance and character“”these are two strong words, but we usually don”t think of them as the stuff of Christmas. And yet, they are at the heart of it. When you come right down to it, Christmas is a pretty rough story. Think of the cast in this play, and how those two words made Christmas possible: Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, Anna, Simeon, and Christ. For all of them, there could easily be a focus on shame and suffering, and yet each of them experienced and understood

December 8, 2015

Meditating on Hope: December 8

By Becky Ahlberg Tuesday, December 8 Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? Have you even started? How many parties and gatherings do you have on your calendar? How many Christmas programs or Christmas Eve services have you scheduled this year? Sometimes just thinking about these things can make a person weary! Now add to this list the hurting members of your congregation who find the holidays depressing or wounding, and who need your wise counsel and pastoral touch. Maybe you find Christmas depressing and wounding, and it becomes a weary ordeal as you try to find the Christmas spirit

December 7, 2015

Storytellers: Worship Beyond Music

By Laura Dingman Everyone loves a good story. We live for the intrigue, the action, the surprise, the mystery. We love a valiant hero, a triumphant underdog, a liberated prisoner, a conquered villain. Hearing good stories never grows old. God wired us to love story. He reveals his character in the stories of the patriarchs and moves the plot forward in the books of history. He discloses his compassionate and just nature in words contained in the poetry of the Psalms. Jesus, a masterful storyteller, taught in parables, explaining new truths to his listeners in accessible, everyday forms. God authored

December 7, 2015

Meditating on Hope: December 7

By Becky Ahlberg Monday, December 7 It”s Pearl Harbor Day”””A date which will live in infamy,” as Franklin Roosevelt so memorably said. On December 7, 1941, America”s naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy. When the smoke cleared, 2,403 Americans had been killed and 1,178 were injured. Christmas 1941 came barely two weeks after that attack. Families tried to go about their celebrations in the usual ways, but the worry over war and the unsettled affairs all over the world clouded the usual lighthearted and warm celebrations. American families were already mourning the loss

December 6, 2015

An Interview with Randy Gill

By Jennifer Johnson Randy Gill is the worship and creative arts minister at Otter Creek Church, a noninstrumental church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also a songwriter and arranger for the ZOE Group. He talked with us about worship as spiritual formation, why exuberant worship experiences aren”t enough, and how the use of instruments makes worship planning more difficult. Let”s start by talking about some big-picture values for corporate worship before diving into the specifics of different artistic forms. You”ve said that worship is not about emotional catharsis or having an “experience”; it”s actually about spiritual formation. There

December 6, 2015

Meditating on Hope: December 6

By Becky Ahlberg For many, especially church leaders, Christmas is more chaos than celebration. Besides the extra programs and parties, family responsibilities and expectations also expand. These short meditations (starting today and continuing with a new, early morning post each day through January 1) are designed with leaders in mind. Take a few minutes each day to ponder these thoughts designed to help you find the wonder of the incarnation in the midst of your responsibilities. Advent is simply a time to prepare for the celebration of Christ”s birth. In liturgical settings, Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas and centers

December 4, 2015

Christian Living

Disrupted

By Jeff Ahlberg A world changed. You could even say it was disrupted. The course of humanity would never be the same because of one tiny baby born to humble beginnings. We all know this story, but do we really live our Christmas season as though it will change the world? This year Amor Ministries is challenging you to do just that. Join us for 24 Days of Disrupt this AdventÂ season to help Christmas have an even greater impact on your family, community, and the world around you. We created 24 Days of Disrupt to help families and individuals better

December 3, 2015

Church Leadership

16 Ways to Make Your Minister Happy at Christmas

By Jennifer Johnson 1. Say the following to him in November: “What”s the biggest need for the Sunday before Christmas? What about Christmas Eve? I”m on it.” 2. Give him a gift card (or just some cash!). Do not give him a plate of cookies, an inspirational wall hanging, or a Bible. 3. Encourage him to take off the weekend after Christmas (or, even better, the entire week), and enthusiastically attend services that Sunday even though he”s not preaching. 4. Give extra money to the church. 5. Do not expect him to be at all three performances of the children”s

November 30, 2015

Culture & Public Square Race

Why White Christians Just Don”t Get It

By Brian Jones If you”re angrier with rioters for looting and pillaging than with the event that preceded it””the killing of an unarmed black man by police officers””there”s a really good chance you just don”t get it. Let me explain. One of my favorite memories growing up was going to the police station with my grandfather, who was a Franklin County sheriff in Columbus, Ohio. He pretended to lock me up in cells, fed me prison food, introduced me to all the guards, and allowed me to sit in his cruiser and turn the siren on. My grandfather was a

November 29, 2015

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Pastoral Transitions & Succession

Moving On

By Bob Mink I had the privilege of planting DiscoveryÂ Christian Church (originally Moreno Valley Christian Church) in 1984 in a small butÂ rapidly growing distant suburb of Los Angeles. I was 33 years old at the time,Â and our family moved from the Greater Philadelphia area. On our 30th anniversary in 2014, I stepped down as senior pastor. Looking back, I now realize the transition began in 2011, when one of our associate pastors left our church to become campus minister at his alma mater. I was fully supportive of the move, but after almost 27 years, I was worn down and

November 27, 2015

Care & Counseling Grief & Suffering

Unexpected Encounters

Two days in the life of Â a volunteer hospital chaplain By Charlie Maloney One way I have served our community through the years is as a volunteer chaplain at our local hospital. When the hospital asked our ministerial association for volunteer help, I gladly accepted. I have the gift of compassion, and the hospital was only a mile from my church. Camarillo is a small, everyone-knows-everyone type of town. So this was a perfect way for me to contribute to the spiritual well-being of the place I have lived for 35 years. Stray Puppy One morning, as I was preparing

November 23, 2015

Mission & Evangelism

Back to the City

By Kendi Howells Douglas Our increasingly urban world requires a commitment to embracing diversity and pursuing reconciliation as we plant churches in cosmopolitan environments. Our world is more urban than rural for the first time in history1, and in addition to rethinking how we prepare people to minister in an urban world, we must look at church planting efforts in light of this new reality. In researching the history of the Restoration Movement in urban areas, I have discovered some factors that have kept many of our churches out of cities in the past. One issue was failure to be

November 22, 2015