Blog - Page 116 of 318 - John H Armstrong

True Ecumenism Creates “Open Space”

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:36-05:00May 13th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

The Global Christian Forum, is a marvelous modern expression of missional-ecumenism. Its guiding purpose is to “create an open space wherein representatives from a broad range of Christian churches and interchurch organizations, which confess the triune God and Jesus Christ as perfect in his divinity and humanity, can gather to foster mutual respect, to explore and address together common challenges.”

I profoundly agree with the desire to “create an open space” for orthodox Christians to “foster mutual respect, to explore and address together common challenges.” Honestly, I do not see how any Christian could oppose such an idea, though I am quite aware that many (most?) still do.

In the spirit of John 17:21, “that all of them may be one,” we can all work at deepening our commitment to God’s Word and mission together. This seems like a bottom line concern for me. I wish more agree with that assessment but I am dedicated to promoting it as widely as possible.

We can, and […]

My New Role with Acton Institute

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:36-05:00May 12th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3, Acton Institute|

I have noted, in various blogs and comments, the value and importance of the Acton Institute for several years. I have been a blogger for Acton, attended a number of their events as a guest, and assisted them in several ways in public ventures. (I will be a part of the program of the luncheon on May 5 in Chicago.) In general I have been an open supporter of Acton’s vision of freedom and virtue in public theology. Acton provides a unique partnership for ACT 3 since it is a think tank that includes wide religious participation (Catholic/Protestant/Orthodox/Jewish) while it embraces what I call missional-ecumenism as one of its core values. The specific mission of Acton Institute is “to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.”

Now I have personally been given an opportunity to work with Acton. On April 1 I became a Senior Advisor, with particular emphasis on reaching the Protestant evangelical community. I work very closely […]

The Creed: A Mirror

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:36-05:00May 11th, 2011|Categories: Biblical Theology, Creeds, The Church, Unity of the Church|

The famous St. Augustine (354-430) once said, “Let the creed be like a mirror for you. Look at yourself in it to see whether you really believe all that you claim to believe. And rejoice every day in your faith.” I love that counsel: “Let the creed be like a mirror for you.” I have learned the great value of this mirror after not seeing it in my early Christian experience as a young man.

If you look at the early church creeds as mirrors they will reflect back to you the true image of what is and of what should be. Without these essential, core convictions the faith will dissipate into drivel and incomprehensible nonsense. The creeds are our friends, not restraints on praxis or true faith.

I was taught as a young Baptist (I am not a Baptist now since I am a minister in the Reformed Church) that we had no creed, only the Bible. While I understand the lovely Christ-honoring sentiment behind this it is, […]

Does Faith Require Definition?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:37-05:00May 10th, 2011|Categories: Creeds, Theology, Unity of the Church|

While I concur that postmodernism has brought about some insights to faith that are welcome there is a huge danger that many younger Christians do not see here. Does faith properly require definition or do we make it up as we go along?

It should be noted, as a bedrock premise of all speaking about God and Scripture, that faith requires more than emotions, aesthetic ideas or empty words. Faith is not about words but about reality. But the God who is has revealed himself and given us his name, as we saw yesterday, reveals himself in and through words, or speech. The God who reveals himself has revealed his being and thoughts in words. Faith is, therefore, about reality and reality is rooted in truth claims that come by words.

For this reason the church has always defined faith and non-faith, if you please. This is, the church has reasoned, Christian faith and this is not Christian faith. This has been done in condensed formulas that we call […]

Does God Have a Name?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:37-05:00May 9th, 2011|Categories: Biblical Theology, Creeds, Jesus|

Yesterday I wrote about God being ONE, not two or three.

How then do we think of this one God? Or, asked in a different and very engaging way, “Does God have a name?” If so what should we call him?

The most important name by which God reveals himself in the Old Testament is YHWH, or with the vowels added, Yahweh. This is the name given by God to Moses in Exodus 3:14. It is translated, “I am who I am.” That is an odd way of naming: “I am who I am.” But this is crucial to understand. The words reveal that God is self-existent, the creator and God of the whole world, not just of a tribe or group of devotees. He is the creator, preserver, covenant partner, liberator, judge and savior. What’s in a name? All of this and much more really.

Quite clearly God does not wish to remain incognito. And he does not want to be revered simply as a “higher being” that is sensed or surmised through some equation of human process. He is personal and wishes to be known, loved and worshiped […]

Celebrating Mother’s Day

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:37-05:00May 8th, 2011|Categories: America and Americanism, Church Tradition|

I have always honored Mother’s Day in my family traditions. I thanked my mother for her life and love regularly and now I remember her with warm appreciation for her deep faith and abiding love. But I do not need a special day to do this if the truth is known. A good son should honor his mother at all times.

When I was still the pastor of a local congregation, between 1972-92, I gave special attention to mothers on this day. Since then I have found that some evangelical churches do not want a guest to preach on anything but motherhood on this day if I was a guest in their pulpit. I have always found this request more than curious. (These same churches oppose any doctrine about Mary’s importance in salvation history, especially the core orthodox affirmation that she was theotokos, the “mother of God.”) Now, given the history and development of this special day someone ought to at least think about this a little more. […]

Why Believe in Only One God?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:37-05:00May 7th, 2011|Categories: Biblical Theology, Creeds|

Christianity is a monotheistic faith, as is Judaism and Islam. Jesus taught us, in Mark 12:29-30, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

But what makes this affirmation so important? Why should we believe in only ONE God? I answer very simply: According to Holy Scripture and Jesus himself there is only ONE God. And according to all logic if there were two gods, then one god would be a limit on the other. Neither could be infinite and neither would be the true God. The experience of Israel is clear on this point: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

I recently read through the entire Old Testament in the course of two months. I was struck by many common themes but none is more obvious than this one – the law and the prophets continually exhort Israel that God (Yahweh) is the true and only God. “For I am God, and there is […]

How Missional-Ecumenism Became Praxis at Cape Town

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:37-05:00May 6th, 2011|Categories: Evangelism, Love, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

More than a few Christians leaders will admit that missional-ecumenism lines up with the teaching of John 13:34-35, John 17:20-23 and John 20:31. But the problem often arises when it comes to praxis, or implementation. The question is rather obvious: “How do we actually put this vision into practice?” The Cape Town Commitment answers this as beautifully and succinctly as anything I’ve ever seen or read.

As I noted yesterday the Cape Town Congress wanted to reaffirm core doctrinal convictions while at the same time it sought to address the oft-neglected practices that should flow from good theology. This is why Part 2 of The Cape Town Commitment is so important for missional-ecumenism.

Part 2 is titled: “For the World We Serve.” It begins: “Our covenant with God binds love and obedience together. God rejoices to see our ‘work produced by faith’ and our ‘labor prompted by love,” for we are God’s workmanship . . .” And then it adds, “As members of the worldwide Church of […]

The Cape Town Commitment and Missional-Ecumenism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:37-05:00May 5th, 2011|Categories: Evangelism, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

The last few days I’ve written about the Lausanne Movement and the recent Mission America Coalition meeting in Orlando, April 4-6. The Lausanne Movement held its third Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, October 16-25, 2010. This historic gathering included 4,200 evangelical leaders from 198 countries and was extended to hundreds of thousands more who participated through online meetings around the globe. Perhaps the only noticeable absence at this gathering occurred because the Chinese government refused to allow delegates from China to attend. This third Lausanne Congress included far more non-North Americans, thus far more people from countries where the church is rapidly growing; e.g. the so-called two-thirds world. The Congress also included a significant number of women and younger delegates. These goals were set intentionally and this has moved Lausanne from being a Western, white, male movement to a genuinely global, church-wide movement.

The purpose of the Cape Town meeting was to bring a fresh challenge to the global church to bear witness to Jesus Christ […]

Mission America, Orlando 2011

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:37-05:00May 4th, 2011|Categories: Evangelism, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, The Church, Unity of the Church|

I mentioned yesterday that I was invited to participate in Mission America Coalition’s annual conference April 4-6 in Orlando. This was my first experience at a MAC event of this type.

One of the major ministries of the Mission America Coalition (U.S. Lausanne Committee) is to convene groups of Christian leaders to focus upon how we can be more effective in ministering together so that believers can faithfully invite as many people as possible to become disciples of Jesus Christ. (This is, at its core, missional-eacumenism, at least as I define it!) The Mission America Coalition is an unprecedented coalition of Christian leaders committed to one another in order to mobilize the church for praying, caring and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in deed and word.

MAC has been used in many ways including the following:

MAC/USLC serves by convening leaders of leaders, people who have high impact and strategic influence potential. This is my own passion thus ACT 3’s mission: “To equip leaders for unity in […]