Holiness Reeducation

Each tribe within the church body has its own peculiarities, beautiful elements and rituals. Whenever I gather together with my brothers and sisters of the Church of the Nazarene I am reminded of what it is that makes us who we are. Today I write in celebration and simple recognition of the things that make [...]

There is a great article by Kevin Ulmet, pastor of Nashville First Church of the Nazarene that appears in Holiness Today. I highly recommend all my Nazarene brothers and sisters give it a read.Here is a brief excerpt. I have been in Nazarene ministry now for 30 years; I wouldn’t change a thing if I [...]

What does the culture and church in Europe have to teach us about the North American church? That is one of the primary questions that I went into our European expedition asking. It is a question I have been pondering for some time. When we began to talk to people about this trip, I kept [...]

Our time in Rome thus far has been marked by two distinctive images for me. Their contrast is staggering and worthy of contemplation. The first image is from our visit yesterday to the Vatican. It was my first time in St. Peter’s Basilca and I was awed by the experience. The beauty of St. Peter’s [...]

On Monday I am heading off to France, Spain, Portugal and Italy with a group of pastors from my district. We are going because we want to vacation in Europe without our families on a visioning trip to prayerfully consider how to partner churches here in NW Indiana with churches in these countries. Our district [...]

  Most of you will be familiar with the scene in the movie the Matrix where Neo has to choose between taking the red pill or the blue pill. If he takes the blue pill he will wake up in his bed and his life will go on the same as it always has. If [...]

In Christian Smith’s new book The Bible Made Impossible we encounter an in depth look at Evangelicalism’s foundational beliefs about the Bible and their implications. This is a challenging and important book for all of us who teach scripture, debate theology, and defend the authority of scripture to read and discuss. Last week I began [...]

How are the Crystal Cathedral, the Church of the Nazarene and Syria alike? (Insert joke here) Tourism is being hurt around the globe by recession and violence. Countries such as Syria are suffering mightily because of the effects of unrest on their tourism industry. This is leading to even more unrest that is spurring once [...]

Is a poor theology of salvation working against our mission in the evangelical church? For the past several weeks we have been discussing David Fitch’s new book The End of Evangelicalism? You can see the earlier parts of this conversation here and here.  Today we continue by examining the “Decision for Christ”, how our theology [...]

How can a Slovenian philosopher/cultural theorist who is self described as being part of the radical left help us understand the culture of evangelicalism? That is the question from The End of Evangelicalism? by David Fitch that we are examining today. Last week we began looking at this book with a wonderful analogy by said [...]