Happiness or Holiness?

What is marriage for? Have you ever wondered that? I mean, sure, there are lots of reasons that marriage exists and that it works. It is for companionship. We are wired for relationship, and marriage is the ultimate realization of relationship at its most intimate level. It also provides a basic building block for society. Our world would be in real trouble if the family unit broke down completely and ceased to exist.

Challenges for 21st-Century Preaching

I have visited many parts of the world in which the challenges to the 21st-century pulpit look rather different. So part of the purpose of the rest of this essay is modest: to stimulate thinking that will help others flesh out this list and modify it for different cultural locations.

For a Few Rupees More

These days, American businesses seem to be outsourcing more and more products and services. Call a firm for information about Aunt Ethel's airline flight, or to get help with a computer problem, and you're more likely to talk to someone in a cubicle in Bombay than Buffalo. (Although those outsourced workers tend to adopt American-sounding nicknames - think "Buddy" with a distinctive Indian accent.)

New Barna Research on Technology in Church

Protestant churches across the nation are using various forms of emerging technology to influence people's lives and enliven their church experience. But the pace of technology adoption seems to have slowed in the past two years as some churches focus upon making the most of what they already have, and other churches attempt to get by without incorporating such tools into their ministry mix.

Preaching Doctrine that Dances

Preaching a sermon in the Internet age comes pretty easily. In fact, spend just a few hours doing some research on your text, copy and paste from a few different sources, squeeze in a personal story or two and you are set for Sunday morning. But if you prefer doctrinal preaching, you are going to have to work for it. It is as intense a workout as you will ever get as you pore over God's Word in preparation for the sermon.

Forum Releases 2008 Study on Religion, Politics

Can a minister, rabbi, imam, or other member of the clergy endorse a candidate from the pulpit or speak on political issues of interest to voters? Is a church or other house of worship legally permitted to register voters or distribute voter guides?

Did He Really Say What I Said? The Challenge of Preaching Through an Interpreter

More and more churches are responding to the call of short-term missions. Traditional missionaries invested their lives in one mission field, learning the language, absorbing the culture, and eventually becoming part of their surroundings. Short-term missionaries may visit a number of different mission fields for periods ranging from a few weeks to, at most, a few months. Almost inevitably, this brings with it the challenge of preaching through an interpreter.