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Christian Living

What Do You Expect From Church?

Push Aside the Past to Worship God Today To the homeless man who complained about our church service, I said, “It sounds like you wanted a Baptist experience.” When he continued his rant, I became more direct: “If you want a Baptist experience, you need to go to a Baptist church.” I later told my […]

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Christian Living

Do You Live in a Theological Silo?

In farming, a silo is a tower used to store grain. The business world, however, turned silo into a metaphor, such as information silos or organizational silos, symbolizing assimilation and isolation. These business silos function as a repository of information or power—hoarded and not shared, either by plan or by practice. With silos, there’s an […]

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Christian Living

Should a Christian Community be Homogeneous or Heterogeneous?

It’s fun to be in the company of likeminded individuals. It’s comfortable to hang out with people similar to us. But are fun and comfortable, necessarily good things? Do they promote personal growth and advance understanding? Being with people like us?—uniform or at least similar in perspective—is a homogeneous experience. The opposite of homogeneous is […]

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Christian Living

Three Places Where I Find More

Last week I posted that while the Sunday morning church service can be good, I desire more. And I do occasionally experience more. Sometimes it’s in those solitary moments with just me and the Almighty. But the sweeter times are when I experience more in community. There are three situations when more can occur. 1. […]

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Christian Living

What is a Spiritual Community?

As a writer, I write alone; it’s a solitary activity. So it’s good for me to periodically emerge from my self-imposed cocoon and spend time with other people—and other writers are the people who understand me best, those with who I am most comfortable to be around. I just returned from a Christian Writers conference. […]

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Visiting Churches

Why is Community Important at Church?

For the past 19 weeks, my bride and I have been visiting different churches to expand our understanding of how others worship and understand God. We call this initiative “52 Churches” and I blog about the experience each Monday morning. However, friends frequently ask for more: “What are you learning,” “Is your journey changing,” or […]

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Christian Living

Let’s Get Together: Celebrating Community

Spend Intentional Time with Other Faith Seekers and Fellow Spiritual Pilgrims Instead of celebrating community, in the individualistic society in which we live, most who pursue spiritual things do so in an individualistic manner—by themselves. This is not good, and it is not wise. Living the spiritual life is best accomplished in conjunction with others. […]