Evangelistic Worship

Is church for the Christian or for the non-Christian? This links to a good article by Keller Evangelistic Worship | 9Marks:

On one hand you have pastors who are trying to reach non-believers on Sunday, on the other you have people assuming that they are speaking to Christians. If you think about it, it's really one of the first questions on the flow chart.

The Mission of the Church: DeYoung, Gilbert, Kelly – The Gospel Coalition Blog

Another interesting video with the colour turned down, this one is on the mission of the church: The Mission of the Church: DeYoung, Gilbert, Kelly – The Gospel Coalition Blog:

In this video, young pastors Kevin DeYoung, Greg Gilbert, and Ryan Kelly seek clarity for the missional buzzword as they consider the particular calling God has given the local church. Jesus commissioned the apostles to make disciples and proclaim the gospel (Matt. 28:18-20). So is that the extent of the church’s calling today? Or should the church branch out into other good ventures as part of its mission?

More on Multisite

I do like the 9Marks guys: More on Multisite – The Gospel Coalition Blog:

Due to tremendous interest in the multisite conversation between Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, and James MacDonald, I thought it would be helpful to feature several other resources on the topic. These articles should fill in several gaps left behind by the 10-minute video.

Theological Acumen from the IRS

The US Government hasn't done too bad in their definition of a Church...Theological Acumen from the IRS – Kevin DeYoung:

The U.S. Court of Appeals recently ruled that religious groups who primarily offer radio and internet worship services do not meet the IRS definition of church. .... In addition, the IRS has outlined 14 criteria for determining what is and and is not a church

And here are the 14 points of a Church, according to the IRS

A Lost Letter to Wormwood

Kevin DeYoung writes another Screwtape letter, mostly aimed at student attending a church:

A Lost Letter to Wormwood – Kevin DeYoung

A Lost Letter to Wormwood (conclusion) – Kevin DeYoung

students today love the idea of community. Do everything in your power to keep them loving the idea of community rather than loving their community. As long as they love their vision of community instead of loving the actual fleshly people around them, they will never have real community and they will stay far away from church.

Jason Helopoulos on Good Reasons for Changing churches

This has some good reasons as to why or why not you should change churches. Jason Helopoulos on Good Reasons for Moving On, eg:

New Pastor—A new pastor is not a sufficient reason to change churches. It doesn’t matter how stiff, impersonal, unfunny, etc. he is. The list is endless. It doesn’t even matter if he is not the most interesting preacher. He is the man God called to this church for this time. And this is your church. Again, unless he is unbiblical why move on? You haven’t covenanted with a man, but with this body.