Prayer and Purpose

“We have learned that ‘politics is downstream from culture, not the other way around . . . . Real change has to start with the culture.’” (page 18 of Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey) I have been reading about apologetics a lot recently. Thinking about its usefulness both inside and outside the church. After all, we are called to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19) and while the truth of God is evident in nature (Rom 1:20), I believe sound apologetics within the church can help people walk through their doubt more easily. With Easter season just recently behind us, I had a memory brought to mind frequently in the last few weeks. When I was a Freshman at Pacific Lutheran University, I attended the Easter Chapel service. One of my friends was in the choir group that was singing at this service, so I was especially excited for some Easter selections sung by the ensemble she was a part of. The homily was to be delivered by a professor rather than one of our campus pastors. The music...

Introduction Rather than withdrawing from culture, the emerging church movement (ECM) dives in headfirst. In doing so, the ECM welcomes great numbers into their churches and is more palatable to modern culture. Prominent figures in the ECM include Brian McLaren who was named to TIME’s “25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America” list, and Rob Bell who was recently a guest on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday . With this platform for reaching people, McLaren, Bell and others in the ECM could allow themselves to be used by God to reach a great multitude of people so that they might come to know Him. However, some of those in the ECM are embracing postmodern thinking, which encourages liberal theology and bibliology, leading to a low view of Scripture; the result is the loss of Jesus’ identity and His teachings. The Emerging Church Movement In the late 90s . . . Christianity in America, it really wasn’t working the way we thought it should be working, and so. . .   people . . . want...