I am beginning a week of teaching at Muskoka Bible Centre—one of my favorite places in Ontario. As I begin with back-to-back morning services, here is one of those occasional Sunday A La Carte articles.
How the Shortage of Young Men in Churches Affects Marriage
Joe Carter: “American churches don’t just have a deficit of men—they have a shortage of unmarried young men. This trend makes it harder for young women find mates who are spiritually compatible.”
Was E-mail a Mistake?
Yes, I think it was (and is)! “The dream of replacing the quick phone call with an even quicker e-mail message didn’t come to fruition; instead, what once could have been resolved in a few minutes on the phone now takes a dozen back-and-forth messages to sort out. With larger groups of people, this increased complexity becomes even more notable. Is an unresponsive colleague just delayed, or is she completely checked out? When has consensus been reached in a group e-mail exchange?”
Top Ten Tips on Leading a Time of Prayer
Tim Chester gives ten helpful tips on leading a time of prayer.
Fear or Faith?
“I often say that God is sovereign—meaning he is totally in control. Not one thing happens that he is not in control of. Having that level of power could be a very scary thing if it were to fall into the wrong hands. Thankfully, I also know that God is good. That level of power in the right hands could be a great thing. Thankfully, God’s hands are not only the right ones, but the perfect ones.”
3 Ways to Kill Gossip
This is a sin we need to put to death. “There are few more sinister and Satanic assaults on the inside of the church than gossip. Like a parasitic demon, it often creeps in under the guise of victimhood; whispering to its host, ‘You really need to share your hurts and opinions with someone. It’s the Christian thing to do.’”
The Reward of Sin
What a vivid illustration!
What Apostates Don’t Say
“When people walk away from Christianity, there are some common reasons they give. They often stem from an unwillingness to maintain the Bible’s authority in the face of mounting criticism from an increasingly secular world. In some cases, it’s because of morality, other times it’s science, still others it’s the resistance of institutional authority.”
