The Lion Who is the Lamb: Reflections on Revelation 5 in a Time of War

The Lion Who is the Lamb: Reflections on Revelation 5 in a Time of War

Over the past few days, as I have watched the scenes of war coming from Ukraine and as I have prayed for and communicated with my friends in Ukraine, I have found myself turning to the Book of Revelation. I don’t turn to Revelation to read it as a code for deciphering the particular events of this evil invasion, or to determine whether or not this war is a sign that the end times are near; to do so would be to abuse the purpose of Revelation. Rather, I turn to Revelation to allow this remarkable text, one of the most astonishing pieces of literature ever written, to do just what it is supposed to do: to anchor my soul in the eternal vision of God, to put the terrible, temporal events in eternal context, and to hear the Word that gives the Church the conviction to persevere in following Jesus, even as evil runs riot on the earth.

The Pastor as Ethicist

The Pastor as Ethicist

When I teach hermeneutics—in the church or in the classroom—I often boil down points of application to two questions; “What is true? What do we do?” What is true of God? Of Us? Of the world? How do we live out any particular text? What concrete actions should we embody or avoid in our context? So many of these questions can be expressed in these two questions.

What Is Church Theology?

What Is Church Theology?

For a long time, academic theologians have told the Church that what they write is theology and that if her pastors were learned they would read their stuff. By and large, the Church has listened to the Academy’s claims (if not it’s demand to read its books!) and her pastors have given way to its theologians. Pick one: you are a pastor, or you are a theologian.

Collecting Advent: Four Meditations

Collecting Advent: Four Meditations

How does one keep a good Advent? Not easily, certainly not in America. One of my old teachers, a Catholic theologian of German extraction, always got a bit cranky at the end of the fall semester: we just didn’t do it right. Too quick to sing the wrong hymns, too busy buying presents, too soon – the horror! – to decorate our Christmas trees. Well. Tempted as you might be to revel early in the joy of Christmas just to stick it to our Teutonic brethren, it’s hard to deny that the church sojourning in this strange land isn’t exactly wired for a spirituality of waiting. Let alone meditating on the vanity of the world, or preparing for the coming judgment.

Baptizing Young Children: A Via Media between Infant Baptism and Believer's Baptism?

Baptizing Young Children: A Via Media between Infant Baptism and Believer's Baptism?

My own tradition, Pentecostalism, has typically emphasized the baptism of believers only. However, there are some exceptions. For instance, from the beginning, the Pentecostal-Holiness Church (IPHC) allowed parents to decide whether to baptize their infant children or wait to baptize them as “believers”. The 1911 “Constitution and General Rules of the Pentecostal Holiness Church” stated:

All candidates for baptism shall have the right of choice between the various modes as practiced by the various evangelical denominations. Christian parents and guardians shall have liberty of conscience in the baptism of their children.

Takeaways from the CPT Conference on Confronting Racial Injustice

Takeaways from the CPT Conference on Confronting Racial Injustice

The following represents my interpretative summary of a handful of major points within the presentations of some of the speakers at the CPT Conference on Confronting Racial Injustice, October 18-20, 2021. Each one of these points merits much more discussion, some of which can be found or linked to in the authors’ various works and social media pages listed below. The interpretive summaries reflect my own recollections and are not the views of the Center for Pastor Theologians.

The Greatest Care Is Needed: Augustine on Moral Discernment and Church Leadership

The Greatest Care Is Needed: Augustine on Moral Discernment and Church Leadership

Augustine of Hippo was one of the first and greatest catechists of the church. He was a pastor in a time of great conflict and schism, a time when the church was beset by external challenges and internal turmoil. And one his most important pastoral responses to the crises he faced was the work of catechesis - the instruction and formation of men and women in the truths and implications of the Christian faith. A fruit of that ministry was a catechetical handbook he wrote for his fellow pastors, On Instructing Beginners in the Faith. It’s a remarkable combination of theological conviction and practical counsel, and from that little volume I’d like to draw two implications for pastors today in our own time of turmoil - specifically the turmoil caused by abuse within the local church.

When Pastors Are the Victims of Abuses of Power

When Pastors Are the Victims of Abuses of Power

Cain lured his brother out to the field where he “attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (Gen. 4:8). We could describe this first, primal sin after humanity rebelled against God in any number of ways, including the misuse and abuse of power. Cain had the strength—the power—of mind and stature to destroy a life. From marriages to the military, the typology of this tragic tale has replayed itself across the rough cut scenes of history. People with power—strengths of mind, body, authority, resources, and more—all too often neglect the proper use of power and instead mis-use and ab-use it. The last half-decade has displayed such ugly scenes, as #MeToo has trended on our screens and #ChurchToo has reminded us that the bride of Christ is not immune. Stories of powerful pastors and Christian leaders like Bill Hybels, Ravi Zacharias, and Mark Driscoll demonstrate the ways that power can accrue to a person and that person can grossly abuse people with that power. This is a problem, clearly.

How Proverbs Can Help Us Wield Power Selflessly

How Proverbs Can Help Us Wield Power Selflessly

The fallenness of our leaders is one of the most potent arguments against Christianity. Barna’s 2017 study, The State of Pastors, produced in partnership with Pepperdine University, spoke of “the credibility crisis of today’s pastors.” At the time, only one-quarter of all U.S. adults held a very positive opinion of pastors in general. The number of high-profile defections and instances of immorality since 2017 certainly hasn’t improved the pastor’s reputation. No need to cite specific examples: Google preserves all the gory details.