Christianity Today - March/April 2025

Here are a few articles I enjoyed (I notice articles often have 2 different titles - the one online and the one for the print issue. Below the print issue is in quotes and then the hyperlink title.)

Faithful Remnants or Growth is Good, Survival is Too - Sophia Lee - very informative article on the situation of preaching the gospel in Japan, one of the most unreached and small attendance of Christians in churches places in the world. 81% of churches have fewer than 50 attendees. 75% of pastors above age 60. Very people attending their seminaries. Nerima Church of God is making a difference and starting to see growth in young children attending. Muzuno Akiko pastored a church for 50 years in small mountainous community. 

"Justin Brierley Does the Unbelievable" or Justin Brierley Goes from Unbelievable to Re-Enchanting - Madeleine Darvies - good article on a apologetics guy that rose up in London at a time when many were leaving the faith. Engaged with people well and has a podcast. "Meanwhile, on Sundays Brierley can be found at the suburban United Reformed Church (URC) congregation led for almost 20 years by his wife, Lucy, who was already exploring a call to ordination when they met at Oxford." Desire to speak of renewal of the Christian faith. 

"Invasion Theology" - Andy Olsen - article about weeds and their mention in the Bible, but more specifically the weed Kudzu. History of this weed or vine and how it was promised to help farmers. 

"The Crux of Creation" or Easter is God's Story, Not Ours - Andrew Torrance - God's Story - contrasting the belief that (1) God's primary motive in creating the world and sending Jesus was out of his love for humanity and by extension, God's story is about us and our salvation rather than the truth that (2) God's love, glory, and eternal purposes take center stage, inviting us to find our true meaning and joy in Christ. -- God defines history, creation and we join Him in His story. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. - Romans 11:36" This article contrasts ideas of "Centered on Us" versus "Centered on God" - looking at different ideas in life and how we might define them. I read this on the plane ride to Denver on my way to Oklahoma City on 4/19. The next morning for Easter service, the song, "The Love of God" was sung in church. That song seemed to have a focus on that central idea of God's love. 

Church Kitchens Get Chopped - Daniel Silliman - Church kitchens are not the thing anymore as churches are being designed without them. Women have entered the work force and so nobody to man them. 

"A Certain Faith" or Borrowing Faith When Doubt Creeps In - Stefani McDade - Uncertainty has marked the lives of God’s people for millennia.  “The Great De-churching,” with approximately 40 million former churchgoers no longer attending. “Past experiences with a religious institution” and “the hypocrisy of religious people” 2 common reasons. Deconstructing now an option for people. My husband seems to have a gift of faith. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "God has willed that we should seek and find his living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself."

"A House Deconstructed" or Faith Torn Down to the Studs - Jen Pollock Michel - Son struggled with faith. Went online and found conversations which helped question it more. Deconstruction - once-standard commitments and convictions are taken down to the studs, like Michael Gungor, Joshua Harris, and Audrey Assad. In Toronto, where we raised our children. It was a rare environment, one Nathan credits for his courage to pursue truth wherever it led. At the end of every sermon, time was made—in a large sanctuary, crowded with hundreds of people—for an open question-and-answer period.

Christianity Today - September/November 2024

Here are a few articles from this issue I enjoyed. 

A Vision for Repair by Bonnie Kristian - I have really enjoyed reading Bonnie's book Untrustworthy. This article contrasts 'replace' and 'repair', and the consumerist tendency today is more on replacement. Online there are many videos about repair and yet she knows the repair is not as easy as the presentation shows - edits, retakes, mastering the repair first. An over-focus on replace can even lead to problems in relationships. People quickly punt rather than try to mend. And it isn't enough to talk about repair, which is common for right wing politics when political agendas have often been deconstructed. Even repair in the church is amiss. Thoughts: (1) Repair doesn't mean to stop moving forward. Redesigning may be necessary; (2) It isn't rejecting the new, but making a focus on restoration. It is: repair over replacement, resolve over resignation, conservation over chaos, staying over leaving, and building up over tearing down; (3) repair is sometimes not practical and we need to replace like in a marriage when one spouse is unwilling to resolve or change; (4) Sometimes you must repair parts and replace other parts. Remember God redeems, revives, recapitulates, and reconciles us -- 2 Cor. 5:16–21. 

Making Space for Yearners (Not None, not Done) by Daniel Taylor - People who live between fully committed and disbelief. Some say these are doubters, people taking a hard stance on them often to get over it and just believe. The mind vacillates (Ja 1:8 - double-minded) and choosing God and faith in God involves will. Committed yearners state faith though may have doubts. Uncommitted struggle committing despite belief in God. Mark 9 presents a man begging Jesus to heal his Son - “If you can” and Jesus heals as the father states, “Help me with my unbelief.” The rich young ruler was uncommitted prizing his wealth over following Christ. Modern example - poet Anne Sexton. She rowed toward God with God as the goal but never arriving. She attempted suicide often and then had success at age 45. We need to let people search. Listen to yearners sympathetically. Thomas in the Bible stayed committed even as he had doubts; Peter to a degree as well.  

The 'New Christian' Era (Some of Christianity’s Biggest Skeptics Are Becoming Vocal Converts) by Nathan Guy - In the 70s, with the Jesus Revolution, people accused of having subjective faith but now the shift is to intellectual Christian’s tethered more to cognitive knowledge. Consider A.N. Wilson, classmate of Richard Dawkins writing a book in 1991 against religion but in 2009 penned an article “Why I believe again?” What changed - working with those in poverty and seeing human qualities. Also Tom Holland, an avowed atheist but in 2016 wrote how he was wrong about Christianity. But not yet a believer in Jesus as Son of God. Also New Atheist thinker Ayaan Hirsi Ali in 2023 states she is now a Christian. Early part of 20th century saw a contradiction between suffering and pain and all powerful and loving God. Gave rise to secular humanism. 60s and 70s focused on individualism, sexual freedom and social liberation and then nihilism (no laws or institutions) of Seinfeld. Then Christian philosophers emerged. New focus on human dignity (all people have value and deserve respect). John Locke said an objective standard must be present. Humans rights are asserted but the ‘why’ behind them is often left out. 

Called to Kenya's Chinatowns - Reaching Chinese people in Kenya by Sophia Lee. And the story of a young man that eventually got commissioned to minister to the Chinese people. Some working long hours - 6am to 10pm 7 days a week and have no need for friends. Kenyans and Chinese don’t necessarily get along. President in China building tollways globally and then trying to collect tolls but no one uses them in Africa because they can't afford them.

Then an article called “Pastors Heart, Lawyers Mind” about a lawyer turned pastor in the United Methodist church that opposed Lesbian bishops and eventually helped start a new denomination in 2022 called the Global Methodist Church. He used humor and good sense to help persuade others. “There has to be a way Christians can disagree and separate” he said. Like Abraham and Lot, Paul and Barnabas.

Calling’s Dark Side (Calling is more than your job) by Steven Zhou about understanding one's calling; work is to a Christian discerning God’s plan for our lives. Career and calling may not be the same thing. And maybe calling is not on a grand scale but can be seen in smaller areas like a calling to write found in writing columns for the monthly church newsletter. And this discernment of calling and/or fulfilling it is not a condition for godliness. Callings may get sidetracked for a time but don’t give up on them. 

That Europe May Know (What it takes to plant churches in Europe) by Ken Chitwood about Global Church Network meeting in Zurich to add 100,000 pastors in the next 10 years. Assemblies of God, Pentecostal and Church of God, Foursquare, Nazarene and Wesleyan Church. But new churches often result in people leaving after a while. Need to do the hard work of developing relationships. We need to try meeting people where they are at, like starting a discussion in a pub; it is creating a space where people feel welcome.