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A recent conference on the future of evangelicalism raised some interesting questions about a longstanding, if sometimes controversial, aspect of the Christian faith: denominationalism. Blogger Trevin Wax liveblogged much of the conference; his recaps are well worth reading to get a sense of how the question of denominations is being approached by the church today.

At the core of the issue of denominationalism is a simple question: is it a good or bad thing that the Christian church is split into so many different denoninations? Answering that question requires addressing many other issues as well, such as how a denomination might help or hinder individual churches’ ministries, and how members of different denominations should (or should not) work with each other.

Responding to the discussion raised by the conference, this post at Blogotional puts forth an interesting reason that denominations can be useful: they bring balance to individual churches’ tendency to “over-specialize” in just one area of ministry.

…congregations, regardless of size, tend to only take on part of the total ministry that God intends for the church. They tend to “specialize.” Evangelical churches in general tend to specialize in, unsurprisingly, evangelism. And while necessary, that’s not church, that’s para-church. There is something a bit wrong when something that chooses to call itself a church is acting more like Young Life than anything else.

Narrow definitions and limited experiences do not stretch us into the people that Jesus came to make us into. Even though we are all called at different points to different specialties (gifts, ministries, vocations – insert your word here) in the church, God has also called us to be first His in ALL aspects of life. We need to experience others who are specialists in aspects that we have, but may not concentrate on. We need their perspective, and we need to learn form them.

Is your church part of a denomination, and if so, has that association been a help or a hindrance to its ministry? Do you see a tendency to over-specialize in individual churches, and does a connection to many other churches under a denominational umbrella help to keep that in check?

Share your thoughts!

Has God ever rebuked you for defending or serving Him? You might have had the best of intentions, but sometimes our intentions and convictions don’t align with God’s truth. The following devotional from My Utmost for his Highest discusses how sometimes our convictions don’t align with God’s convictions. Sometimes God needs to rebuke our good intentions so that we can serve Him in the way we should:

God has to destroy our determined confidence in our own convictions. We say, “I know that this is what I should do”-and suddenly the voice of God speaks in a way that overwhelms us by revealing the depths of our ignorance. We show our ignorance of Him in the very way we decide to serve Him. We serve Jesus in a spirit that is not His, and hurt Him by our defense of Him. We push His claims in the spirit of the devil; our words sound all right, but the spirit is that of an enemy. “He . . . rebuked them, and said, ’You do not know what manner of spirit you are of’ ” (Luke 9:55). The spirit of our Lord in His followers is described in 1 Corinthians 13 .

Have I been persecuting Jesus by an eager determination to serve Him in my own way? If I feel I have done my duty, yet have hurt Him in the process, I can be sure that this was not my duty. My way will not be to foster a meek and quiet spirit, only the spirit of self-satisfaction. We presume that whatever is unpleasant is our duty! Is that anything like the spirit of our Lord— “I delight to do Your will, O my God . . .” (Psalm 40:8).

Read the rest of the devotional at RBC ministries.

Has God ever shown you the error of your ways? Has God ever rebuked you for a belief that you had thought was in keeping with His will?

If you’re planning to tune into the Super Bowl next week, you’ll have more than just a good game and a few funny (or risque) halftime ads to look forward to. Focus on the Family plans to run a pro-life ad during the game. GetReligion has an excellent rundown on the back-and-forth over the ad and suggests some good questions journalists ought to be asking about the issue.

Do you think a pro-life ad during the Super Bowl is a good idea? Why or why not? Does the Super Bowl’s massive viewing audience make it a good place to bring up important religious and cultural issues, or does that spoil the fun experience of gathering with friends to cheer on your favorite team?

Share your thoughts!

Whenever you step out in faith into an unknown situation, there is fear. Missionary work is no exception.

When God calls you to travel to a new place to spread His word and help the hurting, it tends to raise certain questions in the back of your mind. Is God really calling you? Maybe he meant someone else? You start to wonder if you really have something to offer on the mission field—what if you’re just a waste of space or of someone’s time?

On the Youth Specialties blog, Adam McLane has announced that he and several other youth workers are headed to Haiti to help in the relief work. He writes openly about the fear he’s experiencing:

When I was presented with this opportunity I had a lot of fears to work through. “Would I somehow be in the way?” “What if I get hurt?” “What if I see stuff that is emotionally traumatic?” “How can I serve people when I don’t speak their language or understand their culture?” On and on, I listed my fears.

And then it hit me. God had presented me with this challenge. I’m not going to call it a test, but more like God was calling me on the carpet about many things I say I believe. I’ve talked all this game about social justice, mercy ministry, and living in a way that Christ lived… but was I willing to literally put that talk into action?

I swallowed hard and came to this conclusion.

The fear of doing nothing far outweighs the fear of something going wrong.

I really appreciate Adam’s reflections on fear. Whenever we go somewhere new or do something difficult, we must rely on the fact that there’s something bigger than our fears—namely, God.

In college, I went with a group of fellow students on a spring break missions trip to Mexico to build houses. Only a few of us knew anything about construction. I had plenty of fears about the trip (“what if I get lost in the middle of Juarez at night?” being chief among them). If I had listened to those fears, I would have never gone, and would’ve missed out on an opportunity that God had provided for me.

What about you? When you’re faced with an unsure situation, what do you do to combat the fear that comes along with it? How do you rely on God when you’re stepping out in faith?

Are there any sinners in your church?

Of course there are—no matter how well-dressed they are or how sincere in their worship, everyone in the church struggles with sin in their personal lives. Lust, anger, greed, jealousy… we know for a fact that these sins plague us all, and yet it’s all too easy for us to look at the congregation gathered around us and imagine that there’s nobody out there who has these “issues”… or even worse, to feign shock and surprise when sin comes to light in the church.

This devotional from Delve Into Jesus asks us to imagine how our churches would respond if the congregation knew all of your secret sins:

If all those gathered at your church on a Sunday morning knew of these sins, would they be as gracious as their Lord who suffered and died for these very sins He forgives?

There would certainly be a great deal of hushed whispering between friends in empty hallways, but most of it would consist of feigned disgust and manufactured outrage. We all know from personal experience that sin remains an ongoing problem after we give our lives to Jesus, yet many remain incredulous that anyone at their church could be battling any given particular sin. It makes them uncomfortable but at the same time it’s interesting and curious. And so, in order to maintain the pretense that everyone in their own circle of friends, at least, would never indulge in that particular sin or vice, they reassure one another that it’s a heinous sin to which none of them would ever fall victim. When this phenomenon gets really bad, as I’ve seen on a few occasions, the whispers escalate into staring glances and loud talking which halts abruptly when the person who is the topic of conversation walks into the room. The people being stared at and talked about are not oblivious – they know exactly what’s going on and what’s being said about them behind their back. It won’t take long before these people move on to another church where they can battle their sin in loneliness and anonymity.

There is only one acceptable motive for talking about someone else’s battle with sin, and that is to ask, “How can I help?” If there is something tangible which we can do to help, then we have an obligation to offer that help. An offer of help does not in any way suggest that we condone the sin. It’s entirely possible to demonstrate great love and compassion even as we let the person know that what they’re doing is at odds with God’s will for their life and that we want to help if we can.

Read the full devotional at Delve Into Jesus.

The proper response to sin when it crops up in the church is to offer love, prayer, and help—not disgust, outrage, or smugness. When sin appears in your church, which reaction is more common?

Who do you influence? Today’s devotional, from Our Daily Bread, draws on Nehemiah 1:11-25. It compares the stories of William Adams—the first Englishman to become a samurai—and Nehemiah. Because of their service, both men found themselves in positions to influence the leaders above them:

William Adams (1564–1620) is believed to be the first Englishman to reach Japan. Taking a liking to Adams, the ruling Japanese shogun made him his interpreter and personal advisor concerning the Western powers. Eventually, Adams was presented with two swords with rank of a Samurai. This showed just how much the Japanese revered Adams. Because William Adams served his foreign king well, he was also rewarded with greater opportunity for influence.

Centuries earlier, another man in a foreign country also had great influence over his king. Nehemiah was a cupbearer to Persian King Artaxerxes (Neh. 1:11). In the royal court, the cupbearer would test the wine before it was given to the king to protect him from poisoning. But this position also meant he had the king’s ear as a trusted advisor. Nehemiah’s integrity, administrative gifts, and wisdom made him a confidant to his ruler, which paved the way for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

Read the rest of the devotional at Our Daily Bread.

The author makes a point toward the end of the devotional that we all have a sphere of influence, even if it seems smaller than Adams’ or Nehemiah’s. How do you positively influence those around you for Christ’s Kingdom?

My last small group ended in a mutual break-up. Everyone’s life circumstances were changing, and as a consequence, we were finding it harder to find time to get together. It was a bittersweet ending, and I don’t regret my involvement with the group.

Over the years, I’ve been in and out of a lot of small groups. Some have been wonderful, others have—on occasion—seemed like a chore; however, they’ve all been worthwhile. To me, there’s just something wonderful about a group of people committing to spend time together because of Christ.

What about you? Do you think small groups are valuable? What makes small groups worth it?

Share your thoughts!

Efficiency, practicality, productivity… these are the keywords of modern society, and the traits we hope to see in careers, businesses, and governments. But should they be the defining characteristics of Christians’ attitudes toward the world around us?

This Wonder of Creation devotional argues that in our attitude toward God’s Creation, we have adopted a utilitarian perspective that doesn’t fit with the Bible’s teachings:

I believe we modern followers of Christ have also become somewhat blind followers of science and have adopted the same utilitarian view toward God’s good creation that we see in much of science and industry. The utilitarian approach, however, is really the worldview of the Enlightenment and the subsequent Industrial Revolution, and not of a true understanding of the theology of nature.

Interestingly, two of the most significant Reformers, John Calvin and Martin Luther, had been quite successful in framing a sound biblical theology of nature in the 16th century that corrected the faulty dualistic theology of the Middle Ages that saw the material world as something low and degraded that needed to be escaped from (a view that goes all the way back to Plato and is also foundational to Eastern religions). Sadly, however, their followers became the champions of the “Protestant work ethic” that in part led to the Industrial Revolution and the ultimate devaluation of the creation that Calvin and Luther had helped to free from mysticism and dualism.

The full devotional has links and quotes from Calvin and Luther to ponder.

Do you see traces of this utilitarian perspective in the way Christians today talk about Creation? Do Christians put too much emphasis on productivity and efficiency in other areas of life as well?

Makoto Fujimura is a celebrated Japanese-American artist and a Christian. His work is on display around the world, and he’s recently been commissioned to create an illustrated manuscript for the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible.

He recently gave an interview in which he talked at length about the relationship between his faith and his art. Here’s a quote that jumped out at me, particularly given the various discussions we’ve had here about Christianity and art:

What aesthetic elements or themes — if any — do you consider uniquely Christian?

MF: I suppose only ones that have the experiential knowledge of God’s grace in salvation can be thankful for that, and let their art speak of that thankfulness. We see works like “Amazing Grace” as an example of such a uniquely Christian work. But, when we speak of “uniquely Christian,” that assumes we know for sure who belongs in the Christian category and who does not. Jesus’ parable on the wheat and tares from Matthew 13 makes it clear that we do not know for sure. Only God knows our eternal destiny. So what is “uniquely Christian” may not be something we have the discernment for.

All human beings are created to be creative, and yet we twist the good gifts of God and turn them into idols (to worship ourselves). So the question is, what art truly glorifies God. But then even if there is to be such an art (pure art that glorifies God), the uses of such an art may turn into idolatrous error, such as Moses’ bronze snake (a uniquely Christological art indeed) being used in King Hezekiah’s time as an object of idol worship. So this is a hard question to answer.

In some sense, though, I believe, because of Common Grace, that all art is uniquely Christian, in that we cannot have art apart from the conviction of material reality and the reality of communication. Art is at least spiritually neutral to have the potential of being used, or misused (I also argue in my recent Refractions that the main function of the arts is not to be “used” at all, but that’s for another conversation). But material reality has significance, and potency, because of the Gospel of incarnation, the fact that God became a man. God pours his Spirit in all people: from our cave days to our fog of post-modern time, art is full of signifiers that point to the Reality of God.

(Hat tip to Joe Carter at First Things.) See also an older interview with Fujimura at Challies.com.

It’s an insightful question and answer. It’s common for Christians to wonder how they might use a particular artistic medium to give voice to their faith; or to try to define a Christian approach to their art. Do you think Christians bring something utterly unique to art—and are there artistic activities that are uniquely Christian?

To ask it another way, are there types of art, or approaches to art, that a non-Christian simply cannot express?

Share your thoughts!

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the human condition? Centuries of literature and theology have presented wildly different perspectives on what it means to be human. Some writers paint a rosy picture of humanity and human potential, while others look at the evil and sin around us and declare that to be human is to wallow in worthlessness and futility.

Or perhaps neither of those extremes sits well with you. Jill Carattini, writing in the Slice of Infinity devotional agrees, and describes Christianity’s more balanced approach to the meaning of human life:

In deep contrast to such severe or optimistic readings, the Christian view of humanity adds a nuanced dimension to the conversation. Christianity admits that while there is indeed an error of a serious sort, the error is not in “humanness” itself. Rather, something has gone wrong. Thus, the great paradox of humanity can be rightly acknowledged: we find in being human both a deep and sacred honor and yet a profound disgrace. This inherent recognition of imperfection is simultaneously a recognition that there must indeed be such a thing as perfection. Here, the Christian’s advantage is not that they find themselves less fallen or closer to perfection than others, nor that they find in their religion a means of escaping the world of fragility, brokenness, guilt, suffering, or error; the Christian’s advantage is that they are aware of their own broken humanity within a broken, fallen world because they are aware of the one perfect human.

Read the full devotional at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.