Faithlife Blog

By   |   Leave a Comment

Is Your Love a Performance? The First Ordained African-American Minister Responds.

Lemuel Haynes was a patriot in the American Revolutionary War but also the first African American man to be ordained as a minister. May We Meet in the Heavenly World: The Piety of Lemuel Haynes includes both a biographical essay and selections from Lemuel Haynes’ writings, revealing an Edwardsian sense of spirituality that constantly lived in view of eternity. 

Well acquainted with difficulties, suffering, and death, Haynes’ ministry was infused with unfailing hope, as we see in the following excerpt.  (more…)

By   |   Leave a Comment

Lent: What It Means—Plus 4 Ideas for Celebrating It at Your Church

Image courtesy of Faithlife Media

By Ryan J. Pemberton

“Is this something we do?” I remember asking when I first heard the word “Lent.”

Even though my father is Catholic, I grew up in a Protestant house where Lent, Ash Wednesday, and fasting were as exotic as Rome, the pope, and crucifixes. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I saw Christians with crosses of ash smeared on their foreheads and heard of friends giving up coffee or chocolate for a season. [Read more…]

By   |   Leave a Comment

Why Today Could Really Be Called ‘Great Commandment’ Day

Did you know today is Random Acts of Kindness Day? Sure, it’s one of those made-up holidays, but unlike National Doughnut Day (June 5) or International Dog Day (August 26), this one can get us thinking. 

As Christians, shouldn’t every day be Random Acts of Kindness Day? What would happen if we poured more focus into putting love into action?  [Read more…]

By   |   1 Comment

14 Bible Verses about God’s Love for Us

Today is Valentine’s Day, a day on the greeting card calendar for celebrating romantic (or what the Greeks called eros) love. We’d like to twist this day a bit (though there’s nothing wrong with hearts, flowers, and chocolate) and turn our eyes heavenward to the One who offers a different, perfect kind of love.  [Read more…]

By   |   Leave a Comment

What Does 1517 Have to Do with 2019?

By Dayton Hartman, excerpted from Church History for Modern Ministry: Why Our Past Matters for Everything We Do from Lexham Press.

“Martin Luther was a chump.” Yes, I said it. I used to believe it. . . .

So what if Martin Luther (1483–1546) ignited the Reformation? Who cares that he preached a biblical gospel? Today many evangelicals consider much of Luther’s thought to be in error, or at least in poor taste. Worse yet, although he was arguably one of the greatest theologians of his time, the most average of theologians today seems undeniably superior. [Read more…]

By   |   14 Comments

Engaging Post-Christian Culture: Bonhoeffer’s Religionless Christianity

bonhoeffer

This guest post is by Prayson Daniel. Prayson, who blogs at With All I Am, has been using Faithlife Groups since 2012, and created the Natural Theology group. Prayson is from Tanzania, and he earned his BA at Harvest Bible College. He is currently pursuing his graduate studies at Aalborg University in Denmark. Prayson’s greatest desire is to inspire others to admire God through critical thinking.

What does engaging post-Christian culture mean?

“What keeps gnawing at me is the question, what is Christianity, or who is Christ actually for us today? The age when we could tell people that with words—whether with theological or with pious words—is past, as is the age of inwardness and of conscience, and that means the age of religion altogether. We are approaching a completely religionless age; people as they are now simply cannot be religious anymore. Even those who honestly describe themselves as ‘religious’ aren’t really practicing that at all; they presumably mean something quite different by ‘religious.’” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Read more…