Blog - Page 125 of 318 - John H Armstrong

An Open Letter to the Presbyterian Church (USA)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:51-05:00February 12th, 2011|Categories: Renewal, The Church|

I so profoundly resonate with the following open letter that I happily publish it to provoke thought and prayer for renewal in the PCUSA in particular and the mainline Protestant denominations in general. The Presbyterian Church (USA), much like other mainline churches, is clearly dying. Millions of people have left and scores of congregations (maybe several hundred more still) are thinking about leaving. In the end staying or leaving is a question of conscience. But a number of pastors of the largest congregations in the denomination, and the leaders of renewal ministries much like ACT 3, have issued an open letter that expresses a different way to understand this crisis and a direct way to respond to it in faith joined with real missional hope. Some of the signatories are good friends and one is a former ACT 3 board member. Here is the letter without any editorial changes.

An Open Letter to the Presbyterian Church (USA)

February 2, 2011

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

To say the Presbyterian Church […]

Acton University June 14-17

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:51-05:00February 11th, 2011|Categories: Culture, Economy/Economics, Leadership, Money & Stewardship, Wealth|

I am honored to be on the faculty for one of my favorite conferences in America, the Acton University. AU meets June 14-17 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For four days each June, the Acton Institute convenes this wonderful ecumenical conference of pastors, seminarians, educators, non-profit managers, business people and philanthropists from more than 50 countries. It is simply one of the most interesting and impactful events that I have ever attended. I have been several times in the past. This year I will go to teach “Protestant Social Ethics.” (See the faculty link below.)

600 people of faith gather at AU to integrate and better articulate faith and free enterprise, entrepreneurship, sound public policy, and effective leadership at the local church and community level. With this week of fellowship and discourse, participants build a theological and economic infrastructure for the work of restoring and defending hope and dignity to people around the world. This is the core of what is called Acton University.

Registration is now open for the […]

Christian History Magazine: A Periodical Worth Your Time

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:51-05:00February 10th, 2011|Categories: History|

I do not sell or promote the sale of items as an end in itself. I do encourage readers to take advantage of resources that I sincerely believe are useful to Christians in general and leaders in particular. This I see as consistent with the mission of ACT 3: “Equipping leaders for unity in Christ’s mission.”

One of my favorite periodicals over the years was Christian History Magazine. Begun by the late Ken Curtis, about whom I wrote a personal tribute a few weeks ago, CHM was later a part of the Christianity Today family of publications. A few years ago issue #99 became the last issue CT published of CHM. (By the way, a wonderful CD of the first 99 issues is available and worth your purchase and use as well.) You can also find excerpts and a list of back issues at the CHI site. Now, the Christian History Institute in Pennsylvania, under the leadership of Ken’s son Bill Curtis, is re-launching the magazine […]

Deacon John Green, Emmaus Ministries and Missional-Ecumenism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:51-05:00February 9th, 2011|Categories: Uncategorized|

When I wrote Your Church Is Too Small I wanted to tell stories to my readers that would clearly demonstrate the power of the idea that I was advancing for the future of the church. This is why I included ten different examples of missional-ecumenism in the next to last chapter of the book.

I have heard both Catholics and evangelical Protestants insist that we can share in pro-life, and related cultural issues, as Catholics and Protestants but we can never share in evangelism and making disciples for Christ as partners in mission. I reject this conclusion. I once held this view very tenaciously so I have great sympathy for those who still hold to it. I was over 50 years of age before my mind was changed about this matter.

One of the things that forced me to change my thinking was meeting Deacon John Green in Chicago. When I saw how Emmaus Ministries worked with people I had to intentionally refuse the obvious or walk away in unbelief and, for me at least, disobedience. Emmaus uses various people in their mission from many churches and […]

The Annual ACT 3 Board Meeting

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:51-05:00February 8th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

Our ACT 3 board met on Monday at noon to adopt our 2011 budget, to choose a new member of our board (Sean McCallum), and to hear our executive director Tom Burns lay out a vision for 2011. As many of you know Tom came to work with me last September 1, 2010. He brings over thirty years of business experience to ACT 3 as well as an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Tom left a lucrative and successful business to serve the kingdom in mission outside of his first half of life. He is a coach, a mentor and a trained Christ-centered leader. He champions my vision of missional-ecumenism with clarity and precision. He took the lead in our meeting yesterday and showed us all how the Lord has opened new doors that invite an intentional and prayerful response from ACT 3. We will share more about this in coming weeks. It is late on Monday evening […]

Transforming Mission

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:51-05:00February 7th, 2011|Categories: Church History, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism|

By far the most important book that I have read about mission, and I have been reading and studying mission since I did an M.A. on the subject in 1973, is David J. Bosch’s magisterial book, Transforming Mission. I assign this text to every class that I teach on missional-ecumenism. In the judgment of a large number of missiologists this book is the magnum opus on the subject. The author tragically died in a car accident in South Africa shortly after the book was completed and before it was actually published. I will say more about this great book in the future but I want to encourage serious readers regarding its importance. If you are a pastor you ought to read it. If you are a church planter you must read it. If you are young, emergent, passionate about all things related to postmodernism, interested in framing a new paradigm of mission, then this is the book you should read. Even if you are not formally […]

An Updated Bio for the President of ACT 3

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:51-05:00February 6th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3, Personal|

I was asked this last week to provide a new and updated bio for a writing and video assignment I did for another ministry. I had not done this for nearly two years so it was helpful to delete a few items, correct one or two things that needed changing, and bring my sketch up to date for 2011. I will post this on the ACT 3 Web site as well but I thought readers of this blog might want to be the first to see the updated version.

I share this in order to:

1. Tell you more about the author of these daily musings about God, the church, ecumenism, mission and life in general with all of my curious and sometime eccentric interests.

2. Ask you to pray for me more faithfully based upon a better understanding of my background and work.

3. Encourage you to help me in this work if you would like to do so. You can contribute, as well as sign up for free weekly mailings, at www.act3online.com.

Here is the new biographical sketch:

[…]

Byron Borger on Your Church Is Too Small

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:51-05:00February 5th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3, Books, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

I met Byron Borger, the proprietor of Hearts and Minds Books, several years ago when I was a speaker at a Jonathan Edwards conference in Annapolis, Maryland. He ran the book table for that event. Byron is my favorite book seller in America! He knows the industry very well but more importantly he knows good books. He is fair-minded, thinks deeply and offers a fantastic service to those who want to keep up with new books by reading solid reviews and comments before they decide to buy. You might pay slightly more to buy books from Hearts and Minds but you could not buy them from a more reputable source who deserves your support in every way possible. Go to Hearts and Minds and sign up for Byron’s reviews as emails. You will thank me if you buy new books and desire good counsel on them because this is a great source. If you can get to the small Pennsylvania village called Dallastown you can even stop in and visit Bryon and his wife in person.

Byron wrote a brief review […]

Catfish: A Film With a Twist and An Insight Into Social Networks

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:52-05:00February 4th, 2011|Categories: Evangelism, Film, Social Networking|

I discovered the documentary film Catfish in my local library as I browsed new films before the big blizzard hit Chicago this week. I had absolutely no idea what the film was about or how much controversy had swirled around it until I had seen it and then began my own Internet search.

Catfish is a 2010 American film that involves a young New York City photographer, Nev Schulman, being filmed by his brother and friend as he builds a romantic relationship with a girl on Facebook. The story begins when Abby Pierce, an eight-year-old artist in rural Michigan, sends Nev a painting of one of Nev’s photographs. They become Facebook friends in a network that broadens to include Abby's whole family, including her mother, Angela; Angela's husband; and Abby's attractive older half-sister Megan, a songwriter. Ariel and Henry then begin to film Nev as he pursues what he believes to be a “real” long-distance relationship with the beautiful Megan. This relationship is conducted entirely over […]

Perhaps the Most Bizarre College Football Signing of the Day

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:52-05:00February 3rd, 2011|Categories: College Football|

High school athlete Floyd Raven says his mom was just trying to help when she forged his signature on a letter of intent to Mississippi on Wednesday morning. Instead, she only caused confusion. Floyd had decided to go to Texas A&M but mom had different plans.

"Long story short, my mom thought she was helping me out," Raven said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday evening. "I wasn't home and she sent it in. I never told her I had changed my mind to Texas A&M. I forgive her for it. It was an honest mistake."

Once Mississippi coach Houston Nutt learned that the letter of intent was forged he declined to get into specifics about the incident. All he would say was Raven's "mom really wanted him [at Ole Miss]. Mom wanted him here in the worst way."

Raven, a highly regarded defensive back who played high school football at East St. John in Reserve, La., said the Ole Miss coaches were "very understanding" during the […]