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Why This Spiritual Readiness Research? Understanding Apologetics in the Church So We Can Help It Grow

Why This Spiritual Readiness Research? Understanding Apologetics in the Church So We Can Help It Grow

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The Spiritual Readiness Project is asking apologetics-interested lay people, students, professors, writers and speakers to join in our Apologetics Interest survey. If you haven’t filled it out already, please do so as soon as possible. But you might wonder why, and where this is heading. It’s a good question; thanks for asking! Our main purpose is to discover what has sparked people’s interest in apologetics, so we can help create or collate ways to spread that around, and see more…

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Apologetics in Your Teaching: Four Ways You Can Aim Your People Higher The Most Frequently Emphasized Theme in the New Testament Is ... ?

Apologetics in Your Teaching: Four Ways You Can Aim Your People Higher The Most Frequently Emphasized Theme in the New Testament Is ... ?

I’ve been writing on how to bring apologetics into your teaching without scaring people away. (The series got interrupted by a string of unexpected events here. All is well, just a lot busier than I’d planned on.) There’s a fine line between challenging people and scaring them. Of course I use the word “scare” advisedly. I’m talking about what happens when people get pushed beyond their comfort limits — which could happen in all kinds of ways in church. Talk…

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Do You Enjoy Apologetics? Then Take Your Pastor to Lunch!

Do You Enjoy Apologetics? Then Take Your Pastor to Lunch!

April is “Take Your Pastor To Lunch Month!” for Christian apologists. I don’t mean pros, I mean everyone who enjoys apologetics, who wants it to become more of a ministry in your churches, and who’d like it to grow across Christianity. Why take your pastor to lunch? Two reasons. From the Spiritual Readiness project page: Relationship. The key to building apologetics ministries is to be connected with your church’s overall ministry. That takes relationships with leadership. And as you’ll see when…

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9 Practical Ways To Build Discipleship of the Mind in Your Local Church

9 Practical Ways To Build Discipleship of the Mind in Your Local Church

I’ve been writing about the question of “keeping the cookies on the lower shelf” in Sunday morning sermons. Here are some ways you (as pastor) or your church can raise the level of discussion, and build discipleship of the mind, without leaving any listeners behind. These are just seed thoughts; I’m sure the entire list of possible ways could number 900 or 9000. Ask during sermon prep, “Who might have a problem with this message I’m preaching? What might they…

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Wake Up, Church! Be Grieved, Be Angry, Be Free To Act

Wake Up, Church! Be Grieved, Be Angry, Be Free To Act

Just published at The Stream, one of my more important articles ever: “A Time for Anger, A Time for Grief.” The Western world is in spiritual crisis like never before. Persecution of Christians is on the rise. Spiritual apathy is increasing. The LGBT movement is literally attacking Christian faith through charges of its being hateful and homophobic — and that attack is successfully turning many away from life in Christ. And the Church still won’t wake up. Much of the reason…

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John Loftus’s Bad Reasons for Not Going To Church, and a Few Good Ones For Going

John Loftus’s Bad Reasons for Not Going To Church, and a Few Good Ones For Going

John Loftus, the affable hat-wearing atheist who loves to poke quasi-informed fun at Christians, posted this on Facebook yesterday: Except for extremely rare circumstance I don’t go to church. For one thing, I don’t need to be reminded to be good. For another, I find a deity who commands people to worship him egocentric, regardless of whether he deserves it or not. For yet another reason, I can get more things done by actually doing something rather than by praying. Then…

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Erstwhile charge of atheist pastor Vospers, Port Mouton United Church, N.S., Canada
What’s So Wrong With Being An Atheist Pastor, Anyway?

What’s So Wrong With Being An Atheist Pastor, Anyway?

Port Mouton, N.S. United Church Stand with your atheist pastor friends! That’s the example being reported this week on Canadian wire services (I picked it up at The Globe and Mail). This is not a parody story. A retired United Church minister has asked to be formally defrocked as a protest against the potential firing of a colleague for her atheist beliefs. In a scorching open letter, Rev. Beverley Burlock asserts the church has lost its way…. “Never ever was I subjected in…

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