Nazarene Caffeine

  Dear Reader, If you are reading this letter, you may have walked away from the church at some point. I understand, because I have been there, too. I once left the church, and later came back. Today, I am glad that I gave the church a second chance. If you have walked away from the church, I want to meet you where you are at in this letter. At least, I want to do this for as many of you as possible. The reasons why people have left the church are varied, and it is not possible for me to talk about everything in a single letter. It is my hope that the conversation that I am trying to start does not end at this letter. It is my hope and prayer that this little letter simply serves as a beginning to a bigger, and longer, conversation. Some of you grew up in the church and walked away when you reached adulthood. Some of you came to church as an adult, but left after a short time. Some of you may have attended church once and never looked back. No matter what your situation is, I want ...

  In modern times, when we speak of the work of the Church, we often think of several things: Evangelism, Preaching, Pastoral Ministry, and Christian community. These are all valid ministries of the Church, and we should focus on these things and do these things well. However, I want to propose something that we often do not think about: the Church as the guardian of truth. Let me explain what I mean. We, as the Church, have been entrusted with a truth that the world does not have. Namely, we know Jesus Christ, who He is, what He has done for us, and we are striving to live in a manner that honors Him. Namely, we have the Gospel and strive to live our lives in accordance with it. This is significant, because the apostle Paul commanded his young protégé, Timothy, to guard the deposit of faith that had been handed on to him (2 Timothy 1:14). This command should be understood to extend to us today. It is important to define my terms. By Church, I am talking about the Church universal,...

If you live in the United States, you may have noticed that we are more divided now than we have perhaps ever been. The vitriol runs thick with almost every conversation about almost anything. You don't have to spend more than two minutes on the internet seeing people argue over something, often something that should not be argued over. There are even memes that make fun of this fact: People will argue over politics and other hot topics, sure. But they will also argue over whether Christian music videos should have a Christian message (Yes, I have seen this exact argument go on over the last couple of days.) It is simply ridiculous that we are so divided, often by things that should not divide us. The Church is no exception. If you have been following what has been happening at the Southern Baptist Convention, for example, you will see what I mean. Sometimes there are issues that should cause a break in the Church, such as when it becomes necessary to remove or excommunicate a pers...

  Dear Church, It is hard to believe that you are another year older. Not just any individual Christians that may have been born on this day. No, I am talking about the Church as a corporate body. On the day of Pentecost approximately 1988 years ago, you were born. The Holy Spirit came down and baptized your spiritual forefathers, and amazing things followed. You grew rapidly against unbelievable odds. Yet it wasn't you that accomplished this. Anyone looking back through history can plainly see that you would not have made it without God's grace. Early Contention Consider, for example, the early heresies that you had to contend with. Sabellianism denied the personhood of each Person of the Trinity, relegating them to different faces that God takes on at different times. This early heresy was a threat to you in your theological infancy, but by God's grace, you overcame it. Not long after this, you had to deal with Arius. This was probably the biggest threat to you in your ea...

  Financial realities hit everyone and every organization. The church is not exempt from this. So what can you do if you find your church struggling to make ends meet? In this article, I explore some suggestions for pastors and other church leaders. How To Raise Funds For Your Church 1. Tithing At first, this may seem like an obvious answer, but tithing is a biblical principle that, if followed, should provide more than enough funding for any church. The problem is that only an estimated 4% of those who identify as "born again" donate 10% or more to the church. This does not mean that the other 96% aren't giving anything, or that this statistic is true across every denomination. It simply means that, on average, the average Christian is not following through on the biblical principle of tithing, which creates financial problems for the church. What can church leaders do about this negative statistic? In order to encourage more individuals to follow the biblical principle ...