Posts by Don Johnson
The Church after Covid – Where Is It Going?
A recent Christian Post article reports on a Barna study of church participation during the recent “lockdown” weeks of the Covid-19 crisis. The Christian Post article opens with this: One-third of all practicing Christians haven’t been watching either their own church online or another church’s streaming worship services since the state lockdowns in response to…
Read MoreHow Early Christianity was Mocked for Welcoming Women – Canon Fodder
Sociologist Rodney Stark estimates that perhaps 2/3 of the Christianity community during the second-century was made up of women. This is the exact opposite of the ratio in the broader Greco-Roman world where women only made up about 1/3 of the population. This means that women intentionally left the religious systems of the Greco-Roman world…
Read MoreA ‘Sober Curious’ Quarantine Broke My Perfectionism | Christianity Today
While researching young adult ministry, I discovered the younger generation had something to teach me about my approach to alcohol. …No longer is sobriety seen as just the last resort for people whose lives are falling apart. Many in the sober curious set would not label themselves as traditional alcoholics, but they do wonder if…
Read MoreThe Miracle of Marriage
We had a rather strange event in our family last week as one of our sons was married. The fact that he married a lovely Christian young lady was not so strange, what made it strange was that the wedding was Covid-19 style – hardly anyone in the congregation. Despite the strange circumstances, those members…
Read MoreWhat’s Behind the Movement to Defund or Abolish the Police?
What’s Behind the Movement to Defund or Abolish the Police? More Than You Probably Think Huge Worldview Issues Behind the Calls for Transformation of the Justice System The Task of Reckoning with Historical Symbols: NASCAR Announces Ban on Confederate Flag Source: Thursday, June 11, 2020 – AlbertMohler.com Al Mohler gives some background to the current…
Read MoreIt’s Time for Revival
When we consider the state of our world — full of fear, frustration, overreaching government, faithlessness, clamoring media, vicious politics, neighbors set against neighbors, restrictions, job losses, illness, and deaths — would you say we might come away a little defeated? Many things in the news every day get us down. That was true even…
Read MoreTo Live Stream or not to Live Stream
advice for the small church in a challenging time What are we to do in a time when government in its wisdom dictates that we curtail all public meetings for reasons of public health? How can the church function as a body of believers in circumstances like this? One solution already in place for many…
Read MoreThe Sword and the Famine and the Pestilence
These days, the paramount thing on everyone’s mind is the Corona Virus pandemic. Schools are closing or shifting to “online only” formats. Churches wrestle with how and when to meet, if at all. Stores grapple with panic buying (even hoarding) of staple items. Headlines are apocalyptic – you only need turn to any one of…
Read MoreHonesty in Politics — too much to ask?
We all have an interest in politics. Though the constant wrangling, arguing, shouting, noise, gimmicks, dirty deals, endless scandals, and genuine nastiness that inhabits the political world turns us off, still our interest remains. Political decisions affect us all. Some political stands by people we oppose produce fear and anxiety lest they should come to…
Read MoreThe Gentile Gospel
One of the themes of the book of Acts involves the struggle the early Christians had in defining the Church. Was the Church a new sect in Judaism? (The “Messiah-Is-Here” sect?) Or, was the Church something new entirely, a separate and distinct new body of people? If the latter, what place did Judaism now occupy…
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