Series: Featured

February 6, 2014

Christian Standard

Deep Impact: The Cultural Challenge of Biblical Illiteracy

By James Riley Estep Jr. You”ll find it in almost every hotel room, usually in the top drawer next to the bed. While most studies indicate a majority of Americans hold the Bible in high regard, those same studies indicate Americans are increasingly ignorant of what”s in the Bible. A lack of biblical literacy is a challenge for the American culture and also the American church. It poses a crucial test for the Christian community”s identity, distinctives, and ministry in the 21st century.   Increasing Unfamiliarity with the Bible George Gallup and Jim Castelli have concluded, “Americans revere the Bible

January 27, 2014

Christian Standard

A Conversation with Jim Tune

By Jennifer Johnson Meet Our Contributing Editors: This month we talk with Jim Tune, senior minister with Churchill Meadows Christian Church in Toronto, Canada, and director of Impact Canada about why he still believes in the Restoration Movement and thinks you should, too. You”ve developed this reputation as “the Restoration Movement guy.” And I”ve always appreciated your balanced perspective on it; on the one hand, you live in a post-Christian country and you”re more interested in telling people about Jesus than engaging in doctrinal battles. At the same time, you have a high value for the movement. What”s the story

January 26, 2014

Christian Standard

To Congregate, or Not to Congregate?

By Don Bennett I”m convinced the sheep should not choose their shepherds. It”s time to get rid of policies and procedures that allow this. I spent my formative years in two Restoration Movement churches that seated their leadership through a voting process that usually occurred at an annual congregational meeting. This was the norm in the 1960s and “70s, with many churches actually allowing nominations from the floor on the day of the vote! As I witnessed this tradition over several years, I became convinced of this system”s flaws. For starters, few if any of those present and voting were

January 23, 2014

Christian Standard

A Conversation with Randy Gariss

Interview by Jennifer Johnson Last time we talked, you”d just finished a sabbatical. How has it changed you and the church? We decided on my six-months sabbatical partly to give me prep time for the next five to eight years, because all leaders need some extended time to study and refill the well. But the other reason is no congregation accidentally gets younger. There are four of us on staff who had been here 25 years or longer, and that wasn”t setting us up for the future. Clearly, we”re not a “throw-out-the-old” type of church. But you only get younger

January 19, 2014

Christian Standard

The Eyes of Jesus

By Danny R. Von Kanel “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things” (Mark 6:34). The essence of love””our Lord Jesus Christ””showed compassion toward people. Can we have such compassion? The answer is an unequivocal YES! Use these tools to nurture compassion and see others through Christ”s eyes. Recognize people as sheep without a shepherd. As we wrestle with the lost condition of humanity, God will quicken our spirits concerning their need of a shepherd (Mark 6:34). Jesus said he

January 16, 2014

Christian Standard

Consumer Christianity: Idol for Destruction

By J.K. Jones It is a plague that seeks to devour our churches, a spiritual disease as old as Adam and Eve. It is a sickness of the soul. It is a sleight of hand, a slick replacement of God with something that resembles him but is not him. Consumerism of the Christian kind is a making of God into our own likeness, wanting him on our own terms. At its most crass level, clearly evident in the North American Christian landscape, consumer Christianity is taking and never giving in return. It is a worldview, a way of living out

January 13, 2014

Christian Standard

Proclaiming Release: Captives Caught by “˜Felt Needs”

By T.R. Robertson Shortly after our arrival at the prison chapel, the two-way radios crackle with the announcement: “Release Christian Campus House to the chapel.” Within minutes a few dozen offenders, as we”re told to call them, come walking across the central prison yard. We actually call them by their first names. We make a point to learn and remember their names, since no one else here offers them that courtesy. The courts have mandated the prisoners” freedom to practice their chosen religion. The weekly chapel schedule is filled with a wide variety of offerings in 10 different “fully accommodated”

January 12, 2014

Christian Standard

Consumer Christians: Bad Bottom Lines

By Jeff Faull We used to call them “church shoppers.” It was often a pejorative term, intended to characterize those who were always looking to be served rather than to serve, to get rather than to give, and to consume rather than to contribute. Ironically, we often end up structuring the church in ways that encourage and cater to that consumer mind-set and behavior. In so doing we run the risk of reducing spiritual things to mere commodities. We dilute the gospel to palatable niceties. We obscure the concept of sacrifice and service. We run the risk of being people-centered

January 11, 2014

Christian Standard

Consuming Fire: Making Room for God

By Laura Buffington It”s absolutely right to consider congregational surveys, meet felt needs, and offer the crowd exactly what it wants. Jesus himself sometimes did this. But what can we learn from the times he did something entirely different? And how do we point church consumers toward the God who wants to consume them? When I was fresh out of seminary and brand new to church meetings, I had a hard time making a distinction between the two environments. In meetings about parking lot flow and service times, my mind was always wandering off to abstract questions about how traffic

January 10, 2014

Christian Standard

Giving Matters

By Rick Chromey While in Africa, I was blessed to worship at the influential Himo church, affiliated with the conservative Evangelical Lutheran Church in Africa. I had never experienced an authentic African church service and found the contrast from my American church background and experience significant. The Himo church is a true megachurch, boasting more than 1,000 in weekly attendance (most African churches are under 100). Rogers Mtui, an ordained clergyman in the African Evangelical Lutheran Church, serves as pastor; his congregation is the largest in the Kilimanjaro district. Of all Protestant denominations, the Lutheran church is the biggest and

January 9, 2014

Christian Standard

Hakuna Matata

By Rick Chromey Like most Americans, I love to spend, consume, and accumulate. But my whole outlook on capitalism and cash was turned upside down by just three weeks in Africa. Americans are addicted to affluence. We love our money. We hoard cash in retirement plans, savings accounts, and safe boxes. We love to spend and accumulate. We buy boats, Buicks, bikes, televisions, toasters, sofas, and super-sized stuff like it”s everybody”s business. We take grand vacations to exotic locales and pamper ourselves with spa treatments. Our garages are so full our driveways display a lineup that looks like a used

January 6, 2014

Christian Standard

The Consumption-Poverty Connection

By Neal Windham As the distance between the haves and the have-nots grows greater, Christians have an obligation and an opportunity to respond. “The good news is the market has won,” remarked well-known religious scholar Martin E. Marty at the close of the 20th century.1 By this, of course, he meant the global market had defeated the many closed antimarket systems of formerly communist countries. “The bad news [is]” he continued, “we . . . have not the faintest grasp of a social philosophy to animate, monitor, and inspire this market.” I could not agree with him more. It is

January 5, 2014

Christian Standard

The Kingdom of Anxiety or the Kingdom of God?

By Ryan Connor Instead of satisfying us, the things we buy can leave us simply frustrated or even afraid. A Christian”s first weapon against consumerism is deciding which master he or she will serve. Are you worried about your life? We Americans are an anxious people. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports anxiety disorders to be the most common mental illness in the United States. From a biblical worldview, anxiety disorders are ultimately a result of the curse God placed upon all of

January 4, 2014

Christian Standard

Living on Less

By E.G. “Jay” Link What does God want us to do with all he”s given us, especially when that is so much more than we need? Deciding on the answer to that question requires some changes in how we view and how we use what we have. Recently I received an e-mail with the subject line, “You can live on less when you have more to live for.” This profound and thought-provoking statement so struck me that I literally stopped my expeditious handling of all my e-mails and just pondered it. This is not a statement about an involuntary “belt-tightening”;

January 3, 2014

Christian Standard

Less Is More: A Suburban Mom Resists Consumer Culture to Increase Her Generosity

By Janet McMahon “I”ve been thinking we should give away our Yukon.” My husband spoke these words early on a Saturday morning. My heart sank and soared at the same time. We had been driving that GMC Yukon for the last eight years. I loved that Yukon, but the truth is, we no longer needed a vehicle that big. With two of our three kids grown and mostly out of the house, we rarely needed a vehicle that could transport all five of us at the same time. Sell it, yes, but give it away, now that was an idea

December 30, 2013

Christian Standard

What the Church Can Learn from My Cult

By Brian Mavis I belong to a cult. I already shave my head, so I thought, why not? (Then I discovered my cult doesn”t require that. Still, it”s cool.) I meet with other members a few times a week. I pay monthly dues. We have a special diet. We have our own lingo. We meet in a place called a box. We have a creed written on a whiteboard in our box. We talk about being part of a family. You know, just regular culty kinds of stuff. I”m not the only Christian who belongs to this cult. Scott Nickell, teaching

December 29, 2013

Christian Standard

Missional Fitness

By Frank Shirvinski We didn”t intend to be missional. In 2007, we were simply a group of guys from the church who enjoyed studying jujitsu and working out together. Our niche was fairly small and limited. However, as word spread, we invited friends to join us, and some of those friends even came to services at Chaparral Christian Church on Sunday. So, as our ranks grew, we began to wonder if we were doing something right. Was general fitness a place the church could connect with an existing need in the life of our community? How could we extend our

December 26, 2013

Christian Standard

A Conversation with Phyllis Fox

Meet Our Contributing Editors: This month we talk with Phyllis Fox, director of church relations and Youth in Ministry at Milligan College in Tennessee, about young leaders, broken kids, and the future of the church. Interview by Jennifer Johnson You wear a couple of hats””let”s start with your role in church relations at Milligan. Church relations is an opportunity for us to be in touch with the churches that support the mission of the college. The money these churches give totally supports student scholarships, so my role is enhancing those relationships, and even more importantly, to serve those churches in significant

December 23, 2013

Christian Standard

The Color of Christmas

By Daniel Schantz “[White] is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black. . . . God paints in many colors; but He never paints so gorgeously . . . as when he paints in white.” “”G.K. Chesterton, from his essay “A Piece of Chalk,” 1905   Although the traditional colors of Christmas are red and green, no color expresses the spiritual essence of Christmas quite like the color white.   Grace “Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). Snow is the perfect

December 22, 2013

Christian Standard

The World in a Stable

By Robert F. Hull Jr. Only the Gospel of Luke gives us a manger scene, and we love it. It has become a standard part of our Christmas decorations. But if our manger scenes were modeled strictly after what Luke tells us, they would be quite sparse. There would be Mary and Joseph, and of course, the baby Jesus in a manger, and some shepherds. That”s it. The nativity scene at our house has only one shepherd, but a couple of sheep have followed him from the fields to the stable, and the shepherd has another one draped around his

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