Category Archives: Current Affairs

James Meredith: An Idiosyncratic American

Yesterday I gave an overview of James Meredith’s new book, A Mission from God. Today I follow-up that blog with reflections on the final chapter of this moving civil rights memoir. After telling about his interesting and rather eccentric life … Continue reading

Posted in America and Americanism, Books, Culture, Current Affairs, Education, Freedom, Politics, Poverty, Race and Racism, The Future | Leave a comment

A Mission from God – Inspiration from James Meredith

I remember the fall of 1962 like it was yesterday. John F. Kennedy was president and the South was in deep turmoil over race and white supremacy. The struggle was now centuries old and the race problem still fundamentally unchanged … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Civil Rights, Culture, Current Affairs, Free Speech, Freedom, Personal, The Future | 1 Comment

Is the “Dark Night” of Christianity in the West Inevitable?

Are we living in a “dark night” for Christianity in the West? The church, and culture shaping Christian influences, have both been losing ground since the late 1950s. The only people who seem unaware of this are Christians of my … Continue reading

Posted in ACT 3, Church History, Culture, Current Affairs, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Renewal, The Church, The Future | 2 Comments

Our Global Future – How Will We Respond?

Growing population and poverty are inextricably linked together in the modern world. Very few Christians in America recognize this problem for what it is nor do they seriously discuss solutions and responses. It seems to me that a simple, basic … Continue reading

Posted in Current Affairs, Missional Church, Poverty, The Church, The Future, Wealth | 10 Comments

Evangelism, Evangelization and Missional-Ecumenism (4)

Over the last three days I have written about evangelism and evangelization, from both a Protestant and Catholic perspective. I have attempted to show the meaning and importance of these respective terms and the theology that lies behind both of … Continue reading

Posted in American Evangelicalism, Culture, Current Affairs, Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel/Good News, History, Kingdom of God, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church | 3 Comments

Evangelism, Evangelization and Missional-Ecumenism (3)

Yesterday, I provided the first three major characteristics of Pope John Paul II’s 1990 encyclical Redemptoris Missio. This encyclical spells out the “new evangelization.” My purpose in these blogs is to show how the words evangelism, evangelization and mission are now being … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Gospel/Good News, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future | 9 Comments

Evangelism, Evangelization and Missional-Ecumenism (2)

Yesterday, I wrote about the term, and teaching emphasis. which is called the new evangelization within the Catholic Church. I showed how this movement has been building and how it has impacted both Catholics and non-Catholics globally. While evangelicals have … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Gospel/Good News, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future | 3 Comments

Evangelism, Evangelization and Missional-Ecumenism (1)

The subject of Christian evangelism notoriously raises problematic questions for those who believe that it is one of the clearest imperatives that Christ gave to his church. Now, in the last few decades, a new term (with slightly different meaning) … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future | 4 Comments

Of What Purpose Is Interreligious Dialogue? (2)

Evangelical Christians are slow to embrace thinking about dialogue with non-Christians and their religious faith. One profound reason, as we saw yesterday, is our deep fear. We are often fearful that unless we preach the gospel to others we are … Continue reading

Posted in Current Affairs, Religion, Roman Catholicism | 10 Comments

Of What Purpose Is Interreligious Dialogue? (1)

One of the great insights of Vatican II was the Catholic Church’s expressed desire for dialogue with non-Christian religions. This insight is generally misunderstood by most evangelicals and rarely appreciated by many Catholics. As an active ecumenist, working from within … Continue reading

Posted in Current Affairs, Freedom, Religion, Roman Catholicism | 8 Comments