salt and light

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Serving Outside the Church

Last week was our church’s annual SERVE Gala. The staff went all out to let our church volunteers know they’re loved and appreciated, and each of our church’s five campuses singled out a Volunteer of the Year. It was fun, heartfelt, an excellent way to say thank you for all the time and effort members of our congregations invest in our church.

Pete and I were there because we, too, are church volunteers, helping out in a variety of ways. I believe that every churchgoer should serve their church body, according to their gifts and abilities. (Check out Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12.)

But there was something missing, something I rarely see mentioned when it comes time to talk about serving: while helping out at church is important, not all serving should happen in the church.

Continue reading →

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Cool Christianity, Part 2

As I mentioned last week, I recently read an article titled “Meet the Woke Young People Trying to Make Christianity Cool Again.” (I’m a bit confused by the “woke” in there, but whatever.) The article bemoaned the gap between public opinion and the opinions of evangelical Christians. To quote: “It doesn’t help that Christian communities can be out of step with the rest of the country when it comes to certain issues.” Furthermore, the authors insist that it’s the Christians who need to change.

Last week I visited the article’s first premise—that Christianity is supposed to be cool. Today I want to consider the notion that Christians should align themselves with our culture’s values. Continue reading →

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Losing the Culture War

I read a lot of articles about religion, and Christianity in particular. Even if I don’t read every word, skimming the various headlines helps me to grasp how faith is fairing in our culture. As you might guess, God isn’t very popular at the moment.

Among those touting tolerance as the highest form of morality, the one exception is tolerance of Christianity. For a while it has been fun and “cool” to make fun of Christians, and the snarkier you are, the better. Now the articles have gotten incredibly insultingly, in-your-face rude. Reading them, I feel spit upon, ridiculed, and dismissed into obscurity with a smirk. Continue reading →