Articles for tag: Opinion

July 22, 2009

Christian Standard

Choosing My Focus, Protecting My Ministry

I told a friend about the book we”re excerpting this week, Anne Jackson”s Mad Church Disease. “The author paints a pretty bleak picture of pain and dysfunction among those serving in local churches,” I said. My friend travels more and visits far more churches than I do, so I wanted his opinion. “Is it really that bad out there?” He answered without hesitating. “Oh, my, yes.” Some time later I listened as three Christian college professors talked about their graduates who had tried professional ministry and then left it. The details of the stories varied: unreasonable elders (or one unreasonable

May 17, 2009

Christian Standard

The Point of Christianity 2: Racial Reconciliation

  By Douglas A. Foster Racial division continues in Christ”s body””despite the shedding of his blood. To state it plainly, there is a deep and abiding divide between white people and people of color, in society and in Christ”s church.  Events in our national and religious history seared racial suspicion deep into our subconscious. Two events serve as illustrations of the evil of racism in its most blatant form.   BAD DECISIONS In 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (in Dred Scott v. Sandford) that the slave Dred Scott remained a slave even when taken into a “free” state. The

May 10, 2009

Christian Standard

A Christian Civics Lesson

  By Rod Roberts On January 9, 2007, the newly elected speaker of the Iowa House gaveled the 82nd General Assembly into session. True to the traditions of the Iowa House, the speaker invited a special guest pastor to bring the invocation that morning. To the surprise of many, the guest invited to pray for the General Assembly was a Des Moines-area Muslim imam. The gesture was, in part, recognition of the election of Iowa”s first Muslim state legislator, who was from Des Moines. In fact, the state Capitol in Des Moines is located in this legislator”s district. The imam

May 18, 2008

Christian Standard

New Church, New Elders: One Church”s Process

By John E. Wasem On September 25, 1994, a long-awaited new congregation was birthed by the joint efforts of the Chicago District Evangelistic Association and the East 91st Street Christian Church of Indianapolis. As founding minister, I pledged at the grand opening of the Suncrest Christian Church in St. John, Indiana, to provide this faith community with qualified, prepared, dedicated, and “called” spiritual leaders (i.e. elders) before the church occupied its first permanent facilities. Through it all, our experience was characterized by prayer and fasting and reflection on the New Testament model. We consulted with leaders of new churches and

April 6, 2008

Christian Standard

Turn Up the Quiet (How I Learned to Enjoy Solitude)

By Jan Johnson READ THE SIDEBAR: “What Am I Likely to Hear?”     Being spiritual was the last thing on my mind. I needed to vary my workout routine, so I began an arm-swinging aerobic walk in our housing tract. But my daughter was embarrassed to have Mom turning the corner in faded pink shorts, so I retreated to a lonely canyon road, cluttered with garbage and swathed in mud. Dodging gravel trucks, vulnerable to the heat, and miles away from complex thoughts, I found myself alone with God. God showed up in everything around me. The tumbleweeds at

July 10, 2005

LeRoy Lawson

Druthers for the Church

Reflections of Two Vagabonds (Part 2)

After a 20-month RV tour across America, LeRoy Lawson shares several “druthers” for the church—hopes for growth in leadership, worship practices, ethnic outreach, missions giving, and Scripture-centered preaching and teaching.

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