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The Obliteration Of Penal Substitutionary Atonement - You Can't Get There From Here

The Obliteration Of Penal Substitutionary Atonement – You Can’t Get There From Here

In the book; “A Community Called Atonement: Living Theology,” Scot Mcknight says; “Atonement language includes several evocative metaphors: there is a sacrificial metaphor (offering), and a legal metaphor (justification), and an interpersonal metaphor (reconciliation), and a commercial metaphor (redemption), and a military metaphor (ransom). Each is designed to carry us, like the pole, to the…

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#Atonement #Justice #Theology

What if Missionaries Started Being 'Done with Church' Too?

What if Missionaries Started Being ‘Done with Church’ Too?

The sentiment of being ‘done with church’ is on the rise. In fact, In Bill Muehlenberg’s Culture Watch, he recently posted an article called “On Leaving Church,” where he states; “There are many Christians who have stopped going to church. They have not given up on God, have not renounced their faith, have not denied Christ, and have not become pagans. They simply are no longer going to church.…

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#Church Planting #Ecclesiology #Making Disciples #Missiology #The Church #The Dones #The Gospel

Is Romans 3:19-26 'The Heart of the Gospel?'

Is Romans 3:19-26 ‘The Heart of the Gospel?’

“The single passage in all of the Bible that most clearly and completely explains the gospel is Romans 3:19-26. A minister friend of mine calls this passage “The Heart of the Gospel.” This quote comes from ~ Jerry Bridges book, The Discipline of Grace: God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness Let’s take a quick look at it: 19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those…

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#The Gospel

'And While You're Out, Make Disciples.'

‘And While You’re Out, Make Disciples.’

I had another one of those discussions about the ‘Great Commission’ yesterday where the good intended, but erroneous assumption was that The “GO” in Matthew 28:19 really means ‘as you go,’ and should be translated something like this: “As you go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Or maybe this: “Having gone,…

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#Discipleship #Go #Making Disciples #mission #Missional #Sent #Sentness

I Witnessed A Baptism, and it Made Me Mad as Hell.

Yesterday, while making my rounds in the small community of Mindo, Ecuador I witnessed a baptism. The folks participating in the baptism were not from here and had come from Quito, one of Ecuador’s major cities. They were dressed very well and their attire was certainly not the norm for people coming from outside to enjoy Mindo’s biodiversity and abundant tourism activities. I watched as they…

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#Baptism #Christianity #Cults #Faith #mission #Trinity

That ‘I’ Might Save Some...

That ‘I’ Might Save Some…

Paul the Apostle, in talking to the people of in the city of Corinth said this: For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law,…

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#Becoming Indigenous #Culture #Indigenous #Ministry #mission #The Gospel

From 0 (Zero) to Mission in 5…4…3…2…

At the outset, I will say that this article is not about the woes of short-term missions. That topic has been treated exhaustively by me and others. Additionally, I have been without power and electric for the better part of a week, so forgive me if the formatting here is a bit choppy, I wrote this from my phone. A little background: I am a missionary in the Andes Mountains Cloud Forest…

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Losing Your Missional Rhythm?

I have been participating in what’s commonly called a ‘drum circle’ for the better part of the last 4 months. People from all over the world have come to our tiny town in the middle of the Andean Cloud Forest to sit in, sometimes with the most bizarre percussion instruments, and make beats. It’s a very odd but fun community of hippies, nomads, and regular folk looking for a diversion. Many of the…

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#Christian Mission #mission #Missional

Let’s Rescue Missionaries from the ‘Pastorate.’

Insanity, according to Albert Einstein is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The ‘pastorate,’ an unfortunate term, has caught many a missionary by the tail and impeded the work of God in the world. When the lasso of the pastorate is thrown around the missionary, and even the assumption; ‘all missionaries are pastors,’ is subliminally imposed, is has grave…

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#Hierarchy #Missionaries #Missionary #Missions #Pastorate #Pastors

Can a Local church (ekklesia), be Born in a Day?

Can a local church (ekklesia), be born in a day? On the surface this would appear to be a simple question, but unpacking it with our own experiences, assumptions, and theologies can be prove to be a bit challenging. Before you attempt to do that, here’s a brief story. Last week, with a team of short-term missionaries, I visited a place which I will not name and that up to that point, had little…

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#Church Planting #Evangelism #Making Disciples #mission #Short-Term Missions

What About Plowing In Short-Term Missions Trips?

If we’re honest, much of short-term missions is about harvesting. The unsettled urgency to ‘win souls,’ and the expenditures towards that end drive the reaping, plucking, and gathering of ‘fruit.’ In many cases that fruit is considered to be a hesitant incantation of an unripened heart. In Jeremiah 4:3, The Lord says “”Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among…

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#Missions #Plowing #Service #Short-Term Missions

When White Chocolate Missional “Sent-ness” Becomes a Yoke Not of Jesus’ Making?

At the outset, and with all the transparency I can muster, I admit that I believe every believer is sent. What does that mean to me? It means I believe that deep within the Image of God DNA that we as believers have inherited, is the impulse for movement from where we are, spiritually, attitudinally, and physically, to other places. It’s genetic. (John 17:18) Those other places don’t have to be…

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#mission #Missional #Religion #Sent-ness #Sentness

How exactly, are we supposed to be ‘led by the Spirit’ in Missions?

The idea of ‘being ‘led by the Spirit,’ is often touted and dropped in cliche-esque fashion into Christian conversations. It’s use by others tries to invoke an “ah ha” moment, but after only a bit of self-reflection it retracts into what everyone already assumes. Namely, that the same Spirit that moved over the face of the waters in creation (Genesis 1:2) is the same mover of recreation,…

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#Christian Mission #Led by the Spirit #Missiology #Missional #Spirit-Led #The Holy Spirit

You've Never 'Caused' Someone to Sin or Stumble? Really???

You’ve Never ‘Caused’ Someone to Sin or Stumble? Really???

“We don’t cause people to sin or stumble, people choose to sin or stumble all on their own.” Ever heard that, or something like it? Is there any truth in that? Before answering, consider these:

We can be an agent of temptation.– “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!” (Luke 17:1) Can you recall a situation in which you might have tempted someone to sin…

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#Christianity #Discipleship #Sin #Stumbling Block

Is Making Disciples 'The Mission?'

Is Making Disciples ‘The Mission?’

What is God’s mission? Perhaps, and for now, it’s the reconciliation of all things. (Colossians 1:20)

What is humankind’s mission? That’s where it gets a little sticky. With the renewed fervor in Making Disciples, many are saying that it is the mission. I’m sure you’ve heard that as well. Let’s repeat that to make it very clear.

Making Disciples IS The Mission.

Is that too encompassing? Can…

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#Making Disciples #mission #The Great Commission #The Mission

Mission or Fruitless Mimicry?

Your Christology, or theology of Christ is the starting point of your mission. I say ‘your mission,’ because there are differing views about who Christ is and what His message was. These different views, when it comes to mission, have different results. Those who claim to follow Christ can either be transformed into His image by Him and His word and lay hold of it as if hitching a ride, or mold…

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#Christology #Existentialism #Missiology #mission #Missional

The Final Word on Whether or not All Christians are to be Missionaries

It’s chic to say that “Every Christian is a Missionary,” or that every Christian ‘ought to be’ a missionary. Look at the following proposition;

“If God is a missionary God, and we are created in His image, then the people of God should be a missionary people.” ~ Miguel Labrador

Seems somewhat reasonable, doesn’t it?

The problem is one of language. Should God’s people be missionary-ish? I believe…

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#Christian Mission #Church #Missiology #mission #Missionaries #Missionary

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