Building a Volunteer Culture in Your Church

The Year in Liturgical Cinema: Epiphany
The Avas and Samanthas of our world—the technological avatars—cannot replace the power of fleshly presence.
Joel Mayward
Bodies are gross. At least that's what I learned growing up in a conservative evangelical environment, where I heard numerous warnings about the dangers of sex, the importance of modest attire, and the apparent biblical equation between "flesh" and "sin." A quick reading of Romans 8 or Galatians 5 drives the point home: flesh = bad. Many evangelicals seem deeply uncomfortable with the human body. So perhaps it's not surprising... continue reading >>

Gleanings Ed Cash Leaves the Gathering, Citing 'Troubling Allegations' Departure comes after the cult-like group's founder, Wayne Jolley, was accused of spiritual and sexual abuse. Bob Smietana

Gleanings The 10 Most-Read Stories of the Persecuted Church China removes 400 crosses, the US deports Iraqi Christians, and ISIS beheads dozens. Josh Wood

Interview Noonday Collection: Where Fashion Statement Meets Mission Statement One of the fastest-growing companies in the country supports global artisans and funds Christian adoptions. Interview by Kate Shellnutt

Her.meneutics The Pro-Life Call to Remember our 'Old Acquaintance' Seeing the aged as a blessing rather than a burden. Karen Swallow Prior

The Exchange Building a Volunteer Culture in Your Church It can be difficult, at times, to recruit volunteers at church. How might we create a volunteer culture in our churches? Ed Stetzer

The devil’s favorite sin

The devil’s favorite sin

December 29, 2015 Leave a Comment

The following comes from a December 28 Catholic News Agency article: It has been nine years since the Dominican priest, Father Juan José Gallego, was appointed as exorcist. In an August interview conducted by the Spanish daily El Mundo, the priest said that in his experience, pride is the sin the devil likes the most. […]

Biblical Archaeology's Top Ten Discoveries of 2015

ARCHEOLOGY

Biblical Archaeology's Top Ten Discoveries of 2015
A glimpse at the important work that took place at excavations this year.
Gordon Govier
Archaeological discoveries made public in 2015 have given us new information about biblical events and people. Below are the Top 10 findings of the important excavations taking place in the lands of the Bible.... continue reading >>

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016

Joe is with Jesus now.

Girzone, author of 'Joshua' novels, still wants to tell you something about Jesus

By Michael Leach

All he ever wanted to do was tell people about Jesus. That got Fr. Joseph Girzone in trouble with the church. It also brought him millions of dollars that he gave away like the chocolate bars soldiers handed to children all over Europe during World War II. Joe knew life was a field hospital before Pope Francis said those perfect words, and he wanted to do what Jesus would if he were still on battlefield earth: let everyone know that God forgives.

Joe is with Jesus now. He died on the afternoon of Nov. 29, the first Sunday of Advent, surrounded by 40 family members and friends. He was 85 years old.

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Reflections for a Laudato Si' film festival

Reflections for a Laudato Si' film festival    By Sr. Rose Pacatte        Pope Francis' prophetic environmental encyclical could be a very fine guide indeed to a family film festival or school, parish or group.   Read More   Or paste this link into your browser: http://ncronline.org/node/116376

After Paris Agreement, climate activists see next step in mobilizing the people    By Brian Roewe        Thirteen days of negotiations -- and on at least two occasions, around-the-clock sessions -- at COP21 culminated in the first global framework for all nations, rich and poor, to collectively address climate change.   Read More   Or paste this link into your browser: http://ncronline.org/node/116366

NCR eBook: Caring for Our Common Home    Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical on the environment has captured the attention of millions of people all over the world. One of the most important documents of this century, the encyclical puts the Catholic Church firmly behind the environmental movement, calling the world to a conversion that will have a huge impact on how we live, how our economy works, and how governments operate. In the eBook Caring for our Common Home: A Readers' Guide and Commentary on Pope Francis' Encyclical on the Environment, National Catholic Reporter Senior Analyst Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ provides an introduction, thoughtful questions, in-depth analysis and prompts for discussion.   Read More   Or paste this link into your browser: http://ncronline.org/node/114681

Top 20 Most-Read Christianity Today Articles of 2015

ECONOMICS MATTERS

Five Poverty Busters You Should Know
Why? Because research shows they are making a real difference.
Bruce Wydick
As a developmental economist, people often ask me, "What can I do as a Christian to really make an impact on world poverty?" Especially as people consider giving and charitable donations during the Christmas season, the question has inspired me to create a list of five of the most dedicated and innovative Christians I have discovered in my work and research in international poverty alleviation.... continue reading >>

People Died: Ed Dobson, Pastor and One-Time Moral Majority Leader After he was diagnosed with ALS in 2000, Dobson spoke and wrote on how to die—and live—well. Morgan Lee

This is Our City Ed Dobson: How God Uses My Lou Gehrig's Disease for Good The seasoned pastor connects Kim Newlen's story of battling breast cancer to his own battle with ALS Ed Dobson

Gleanings God Rivals the Gym Among New Year's Resolutions LifeWay Research shows Americans also want to use their time better and improve relationships with family and friends. Lisa Cannon Green - Facts & Trends

Book Review Death Is For Real Amid a flurry of bestsellers promising firsthand proof of Heaven's existence, Ed Dobson takes a brutally honest look at the pain of terminal illness and the difficulties of dying well. Rob Moll

Her.meneutics How It Became So Easy to Ignore the Poor Growing income inequality and economic segregation have insulated our privilege. Dorcas Cheng-Tozen

Movie Review 45 Years When the ground beneath a marriage is shaken, can it hold up? Alissa Wilkinson

The Exchange The Importance of Teaching Kids the Hard Stuff of Scripture Teaching the tough, gross stories of the Bible to kids is hard, but it needs to be done. Ed Stetzer

Movie Review Sisters Good for fans of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, but not for much else. Jessica Gibson

Gleanings The Top 20 Most-Read Christianity Today Articles of 2015 The Supreme Court decision, C.S. Lewis' secret life, loving my sister-brother, and more. Josh Wood

Her.meneutics Best of 2015: Duggar Scandal, Beth Moore, and the Yoga Pants Debate We rank the top 10 posts of the year. Kate Shellnutt

The Importance of Leading Kids to Love Jesus

MOVIES & TELEVISION

Why Pop Culture Is Obsessed with 'Identity'
2015 was a year when many movies and TV shows showed characters searching for their 'authentic self.' What Christians can learn from that search.
Alissa Wilkinson
Last spring, after seven seasons of women, work, two wives, and a lot of whiskey, Don Draper reached the end of his journey to define himself. And a record 3.3 million Americans settled in to watch how it would end. The broad appeal of Mad Men was surprising, given that the show's protagonist—an affluent, straight, white male working on 1960s Madison Avenue—epitomized everything that social media pundits... continue reading >>

Interview Meet the Christian Doctor Who Changed How We Play Football Bennet Omalu, played by Will Smith in the new film 'Concussion,' says it's time to ban children from playing high-contact sports. Interview by Katelyn Beaty

Gleanings The Top 20 Most-Read Christianity Today Articles of 2015 The Supreme Court decision, C.S. Lewis' secret life, loving my sister-brother, and more. Josh Wood

Gleanings Bible on Demand: What 160 Million People Searched Scripture For in 2015 Bible Gateway offers year-end analysis of the most-popular verses and chapters, and whether anyone finished their Bible-in-a-year reading plans. Andy Rau

Gleanings The Top 20 Most-Read Gleanings of 2015 The 50 countries where it's most difficult to be a Christian, 'The Boy from Heaven' retracts his story, Elisabeth Elliot passes through gates of splendor, and more. Josh Wood

People Died: Vonette Bright, Co-Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ Bright, 89, was known for her love of prayer and her faithful witness. Bob Smietana

CT Classic Bill and Vonette Bright's Wonderful Plan for the World Evangelicalism's power couple closes in on their radical mission. Wendy Murray Zoba

Her.meneutics Best of 2015: Duggar Scandal, Beth Moore, and the Yoga Pants Debate We rank the top 10 posts of the year. Kate Shellnutt

Book Review Dispatches from the Wondrous, Terrifying World of Bible Scholarship Why studying Scripture professionally can bring great joy—but also great pain. Andrew Byers

Tarantino's Incarnational Aesthetic Quentin Tarantino is an unlikely contributor to the theology of Incarnation. Brett McCracken

Recent Studies True Grit in the Face of Poverty Economists are showing that hope makes a real difference. Bruce Wydick

The Exchange The Importance of Leading Kids to Love Jesus I recently asked #kidmin leaders how they help children love Jesus for themselves. Ed Stetzer

Movie Review Joy The film is uneven, but Joy knows just who she is. Alissa Wilkinson

Fresh Take on Allah and Jehovah

Grace and the Christmas Flick "Finding grace in holiday movies ... is a field ripe for harvest—it's the stuff of all great stories," writes Stephanie Phillips over at Mockingbird. She finds it hard to cram them all in, especially now that she is a mother. But she is a determined woman and tries to watch them all—or most of them—over the Christmas season. And for good reason: So I watch the kid who gets lost, and then found, by family. I watch the investment banker who falls in love with the children and wife he never had. I watch another man find what the world would have looked like without him, and that he was never alone. I watch an oversized elf find his place and purpose. Then I behold what they all somehow manage to point to: the baby in a stable, the unlikely becoming true, home becoming a person. I can't disagree—my wife and I watched A Christmas Story once again last night. But if you don't have time for a full-length feature film, check out this one-and-a-half minute Christmas commercial (with Kleenex at the ready).

Fresh Take on Allah and Jehovah Commentary continued to bubble up after the Wheaton College controversy last week (see here and here for CT's summaries)—especially on whether Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Unfortunately, comments about Wheaton College practicing bigotry (versus practicing theology) continued. Yet I hadn't seen anything from the perspective of Karl Barth or Thomas Torrance, until this. I was looking for such a piece because I knew their theology would put the question in a different light altogether.

What Ever Happened to Winter? Those of us in the northern latitudes (I live in Chicagoland) may be getting a taste of what global warming may be bringing. It's been an unseasonably warm winter so far, and some wonder if various weather patterns might make this is "the year without winter." Whatever your views on global warming, there is no doubt about the year of global cooling: 1816, which is known "the year without summer." This piece summarizes that fascinating story, which comes from a book of the same title.

The Worse Know-It-Alls in Church History A narrative about critics of the Christian faith goes something like this: Christians are dogmatic about what they believe; heretics are more open to wonder. Not quite, says Steve Wright in this blog post. He says the problem with heretics is that they act like know it all, and that "The orthodox tradition maintains the tension between the knowable and the unknowable." Arius, for example, is certain that the Son is not divine, because it's not logical to be fully man and fully god. The orthodox agree: it does not make sense, but we believe the mystery. (FYI: The blog post begins with a lesser-known heretic named Eunomius; he was a radical Arian.)

Five Mistakes to Avoid in Christmas Sermons Do you really need anything more to want to read this?

Grace and Peace—and Merry Christmas,

Mark Galli Editor, Christianity Today

What exactly was this mysterious "star of wonder"?

Interview

What Kind of Astronomical Marvel was the Star of Bethlehem?
And was it even a star? A biblical scholar investigates the mysterious object that guided the Magi to Jesus.
Interview by Greg Cootsona
We know, from the Gospel of Matthew, that these kings—or "Magi," as Matthew calls them—saw something brilliant in the night sky, a celestial body that beckoned them to Jesus' birthplace in Bethlehem. But what exactly was this mysterious "star of wonder"?... continue reading >>

Interview Meet the Christian Doctor Who Changed How We Play Football Bennet Omalu, played by Will Smith in the new film 'Concussion,' says it's time to ban children from playing high-contact sports. Interview by Katelyn Beaty

Watch This Way Why We Get Religious About 'Star Wars' What accounts for our religious devotion—and our need to shoehorn 'Star Wars' into our own theology? Alissa Wilkinson

Gleanings The Top 20 Most-Read Gleanings of 2015 The 50 countries where it's most difficult to be a Christian, 'The Boy from Heaven' retracts his story, Elisabeth Elliot passes through gates of splendor, and more. Josh Wood

COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN in NORTH PARK

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The Mystery of My Healing

Editorial

How We Forgot the Poverty of Christmas
The Incarnation is not a story we can package or market. It is also the greatest story ever told.
Katelyn Beaty
We don't believe in Christmas anymore. We believe in Christmas gatherings, Christmas shopping, and Christmas recitals, of course, and even Christmas outreach events and Christmas acts of charity. If you are reading this issue of CT while fighting tryptophan-induced sleep, you know that Christmas has dominated our mass-mediated imagination since before Halloween. Christmas is the piece de resistance of a year spent hustling from one "big event" to another, anticipating the next holiday as we try to enjoy the present one... continue reading >>

Gleanings The Top 20 Most-Read Gleanings of 2015 The 50 countries where it's most difficult to be a Christian, 'The Boy from Heaven' retracts his story, Elisabeth Elliot passes through gates of splendor, and more. Josh Wood

Her.meneutics Let Christmas Be Complicated We often overlook the tragic backdrop to Jesus' birth. Mandy Rodgers-Gates, guest writer

The Behemoth Virgin Births Happen All the Time Birds do it. Bees do it. Snakes, sharks, lizards, and lots of other animals do it solo too. Ted Olsen

The Exchange Faith of the Candidates: Interview With Marco Rubio (Part 2) In the second part of my interview with Senator Marco Rubio, we talk about "lost" people, and how "President Rubio" would share his faith. Ed Stetzer

The Exchange Christianity and Islam: Evangelicals and Americans Are Not on the Same Page About the "Same God" A lot of debate has swirled around the similarity (or dissimilarity) of Christianity and Islam lately. What do people think? Ed Stetzer

Ponder Christian Soldier Why I'm Not a Conscientious Objector I can't condemn war in the way my Anabaptist friends so quickly do. Matt Moorman

Her.meneutics The Mystery of My Healing Unexplainable relief is a reminder of God's grace, wholeness, and incarnation. Amy Julia Becker