American depiction of Jesus turns 100

The president of Asbury University has been thinking about what he saw a year ago when students stayed to pray and praise God for two weeks in the chapel at his school: the cure for casual Christianity.

Worship leader Aaron Ivey, husband to podcast host Jamie Ivey, was fired from Austin Stone over a pattern of inappropriate texts and manipulative behavior.

Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages gets examined by psychology researchers.

Recent wildfires in Chile have destroyed at least eight churches and nine pastors’ homes.

Experiencing God author Henry Blackaby has died at age 88.

The British Post Office, its priest CEO, and a massive miscarriage of justice: CT explains how a tragic and ruinous accounting scandal has raised questions for the Church of England.

We’ve got some practical advice for small groups that have run into issues with childcare, member commitment, or people dominating conversation.

Behind the story

From ideas editor Kara Bettis Carvalho:

When I was preparing to get married, I asked my husband-to-be to take a “love languages” quiz based on Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages. He was skeptical.

And he was right, according to a new psychology paper, which claims that while Chapman’s love language method can be a helpful tool, it doesn’t necessarily lead to more successful relationships or mean that everyone has one or two main ways of communicating or receiving love. The study argues that everyone should learn all forms of showing love to their partner, which made me laugh, because that was my husband’s argument too. He didn’t want to be limited to one!

When I profiled Chapman a few years ago, I asked him about the criticism. It doesn’t bother him much when people suggest that there are more than five ways. “I’m not dogmatic,” he said, “but I’ve never heard one that did not fit as a dialect of one of the love languages.”

Ultimately, I think it can be helpful to learn about your own tendencies and others’ preferences. It’s not scientific, but it is well-worn advice. And as Christians, we should know that a personality test isn’t going to completely cure relational woes. For that, we have more eternal counsel.

In other news

Off-duty officers at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church shot and killed a woman who entered the church firing a long rifle.

Charges have been dropped against an Ohio pastor who took in homeless people. The church has agreed no more people will spend the night in the building.

A Facebook group that posts photos of abandoned buildings in Buffalo apologized for sharing photos of a church that isn’t abandoned.

The most famous American depiction of Jesus turns 100.