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open doors: Helping Persecuted Christians

open doors: Helping Persecuted Christians: Today a man from open doors came to speak to us about the Persecuted Church – specifically those in North Korea. Due to the nature of his work, and the dangers that go with helping illegal churches within North Korea, there is no video of his talk to protect his own identity, and those he helps.Who is open doors?open doors supports persecuted Christians with Bibles, Christian materials, training, livelihood skills, advocacy - and in a whole host of other ways - so that they know they are not forgotten and can stand strong to serve their communities. So that they can give life....

How to Start a Blog (part 2)

Think about how you want to help people. While you want to know your broad subject area, you need to focus your blog topics more narrowly, so that it has a clear purpose. Here are some ideas for ways that your blog can connect with your intended audience: Teach something. If you're passionate about a particular subject, and you have a lot of experience in that area, then you can offer your knowledge to both people who are new to the subject and others who are as experienced as you are. Provide the latest news and trends. Write about the latest developments related to your topic. You want to be someone who's viewed as the ultimate insider so that you can c...

Organic Church

I was reading an article on Christianity Today (amongst other blogs) earlier on about the subject of "organic church" and its possible success and probable future failures. Now, I'll admit I didn't (don't?) know a great deal about organic church other than I've heard the name thrown about before. According to the article it includes " at least three ingredients" to be counted as "organic". First being "Frustration with the-church-as-we-know-it" - well I'm sure there's quite a few people who would fall into that category, I know I do! The second ingredient for this recipe for church is "a focus on people (vs. progra...

Hell and all that damnable stuff

So on light of all the Rob Bell controversy, it resparked my desire to look into the traditional doctrine of hell. My thoughts on it all began long ago before I went to study theology about 5 or so years ago now. A good close friend of mine was struggling in her faith over the traditional hell concept and found it hard to rectify or justify in her mind. It was the usual question of "how can a loving God burn people forever?" infinite punishment for finite crimes. I had thought about it before then but never in any great depth as I just didn't know where to begin, being a fairly new Christian at the time. I did my best to try w...

Book review on Rob Bell's “Love Wins”

This book was quite openly condemned by some prominent Christian leaders when the book was first announced back around Spring 2011, mainly mainly accusing Bell of being a universalist and denying the existence of hell. Lots of leaders formed opinions about the book and thus lots and laypeople took on various opinions as their own without much insight or research. The problem was that these leaders hadn't even READ the book! It wasn't released yet at the time. They decided their opinions based on the blurb and promo video which posed provocative questions about the doctrine of hell. The book starts up asking lots of questions c...

What Happened to Hobbies?

CONTRIBUTORS COPY BY Daryl Lindsey PHOTOGRAPHY BY Nick Turner It was my first day at my new job. I was nervous, excited, and my head was swimming with all of those I’m-in-over-my-head-what-did-I-get-myself-into feelings that come along with taking the big leap towards career advancement. A new co-worker, whose desk was next to mine, turned to face me in his swivel-chair. “So what are you into?” He asked. I turned to look at him, dumbfounded. “What?” I asked. “You know, what sort of stuff do you like? What are your hobbies?” There was a time in my life where I would have b...