Show Notes
While many think of the apostle Paul primarily as a theologian--someone who talked and wrote about what Christians believe--he also gives us a powerful example of Christian discipleship as a matter of taking the gospel seriously, and living out what we understand by faith. In this conversation, we'll explore how Paul's life story, journeys, and writing give us a glimpse of the kind of life we are called to as well!
More from Crazy Faith Talk
In a culture where everything is for sale and everyone is a customer, how can Christianity offer itself as an alternative? What happens when the Christian faith gets reduced to a product, or our churches are seen as competing "brands" angling for "market share"? How could we be different? That's what we'll explore in this episode of our series exploring some of the greatest hurdles facing the church in the 21st century.
Somewhere along the way, many people came to see the Christian faith as primarily "head" knowledge--the things you know and believe about God--as opposed to a way of life that includes our hands and hearts. And from there it's easy to think that the "point" of Christianity is simply to get people to learn enough correct information about God to "get into heaven." But it's about so much more--it's about following Jesus, being shaped by his kind of character, and becoming more and more Christ-like, which turns out to make us more fully alive even now. How did we miss that, and how does the lost notion of discipleship speak to our situation today?
In the not too distant past, many church folks assumed their congregation would always have a full-time pastor attending to their spiritual needs, and that they could expect the same in any church they ever attended anywhere in the world. Of course, in many places today, that's not the case any longer. Many congregations cannot afford to support a full-time pastor, and many pastors of an earlier generation are retiring without the same number of new pastors being trained to step into those roles. How do we face an era in the church in which there seems to be a shortage of pastoral leaders, and what can we gain from the history of the church to put today's situation in perspective? Join us on this week's episode looking at another "hurdle" facing the contemporary church, here on Crazy Faith Talk!
In a new series for this fall, we'll be exploring some of the biggest issues and challenges that we see as hurdles for the church in the 21st century. In this first episode, we'll explore the challenge of "Christian nationalism," including what it even means, how we can love our country as Christians without building religious empires or theocracies, and why it can be so tempting to wed Christianity to political power. Join us for an important conversation about a real issue in our lives today!
In the midst of the COVID pandemic, many churches scrambled to offer an online way of staying connected to the congregations for worship, often with whatever resources, skills, and technology they had. In the wake of that experience, many congregations are still continuing to offer online streaming versions of their Sunday services, even though the immediate needs of a pandemic are no longer pressing. So in this post-COVID world, what is the purpose of online worship, how does it work, what are its limits, and how do we still speak of the need for gathering in person with one another as God's people? Join us for this concluding episode of our Worship Matters Q & A series!