Bible and Mission

In  Ephesians, Paul has an interesting turn of phrase when he speaks of ‘learning’ ( manthanō ) Christ and being ‘taught’ ( didaskō ) ‘in’ Him: Ephesians 4.20-24 "But that is not the way you be  learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." The power of Paul’s language can be better appreciated when we see how he is using it over against the alternative in Greek philosophy.  When Paul speaks of learning Christ, his concern is ethical.  His ethical concern involves not only what the righteous and holy life should involve; it also concerns how a corrupt person with deceitful desires might be renewed and put on...

The calling of Christian counsellors and pastors is a spiritual calling and a missionary calling, rooted in the very Great Commission of Jesus to 'teach [disciples of Christ] to obey everything that He has commanded [in the Word of God] (Matthew 28.18-20).  This calling for nurturing ministries such as counselling and pastoring is increasingly difficult in a post-Christian culture that rails against the commandments of God.  Yet nothing is more important than that the Church gives a clear witness to God in such a culture. There has been a trend in the United States to ban sex change therapy for minors since New Jersey was the first to do so in 2013.   The current list of states doing so is: New Jersey (2013), California (2013), Oregon (2015), Illinois (2016), Vermont (2016), New Mexico (2017), Connecticut (2017), Rhode Island (2017), Nevada (2018), Washington (2018), Hawaii (2018), Delaware (2018), Maryland (2018), New Hampshire (2019), New York (2019), Massachusett...

Answering this question is full of challenges, but I would like to suggest that there is such a thing as ‘right’ music for congregational worship.   The question is, ‘Will I, or anyone, convince anyone else about this?’   After all, if ‘beauty’ is in the eye of the beholder, and if worship is one’s gift to God, who is to be so bold as to say that this or that is ‘right’?   We might note that this sort of discussion was even arose in the discussion of laws for society in antiquity!  Cicero, following Plato, argues that there is a connection between the music played and sung and the values and virtues of society.  The words should match the music, and both should contribute to the definition of society ( Cicero, On the Laws 2.38). Perhaps the best way to proceed in a discussion of Christian music in worship is with a series of questions that others might explore further.   My own understanding of what ‘right worship music’ is will, I hope, become apparent b...